Rebecca Wachtman

Sophie & Kingston Ready For Xmas I've taken a month off from posting to my blog and spent a good deal of time during the last month, enjoying time with my family and friends during the winter holidays.  Now that the holidays are over (boohoo), it's time to get back to the business of making art.  I don't know about you, but it seems like I am always game to review the business-side of my art!  (probably because it allows me to procrastinate instead of actually making art!).  But I do honestly think that reviewing your business once or twice a year is very good idea!  While I am not one for making New Year's Resolutions, I think it's the perfect time to review and making small (or even large) changes.  What do I mean? Well, I been taking a class from a website called  www.ArtistsU.org  which has offered some great insight and new ways of looking at myself and my art business.  My little group meets once a month and so far, I've fou...

Hooray!  In spite of nasty weather, the threat of power loss, and serious time constraints due to muggle life interfering with art life...   I FINALLY managed to finish (and take pictures of) my latest silk and resin sculpture!  WHEW!   Just in time to submit it to a couple of art calls that I REALLLLLY wanted to get it in to! SO here's the sculpture.  I've tentatively titled it "Risen again". It was originally a painting that I created to be a part of a quad.  But they didn't turn out as I had hoped.  I then removed the painted silk from the canvas and had been playing with it - trying to figure out how I was going to use it.  Originally I had thought to incorporate it into a mixed media piece with acrylics. But this turned out to be a MUCH better option!!  Have I mentioned, I just love Ice Resin!?

Have you ever heard the chirpy little saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". I've always found that saying to be rather annoying... perhaps it's because I happen to strongly dislike lemonade!    Plus it the saying makes it sound like it's just sooo easy to just turn your lemons into lemonade.  Well I don't have the right tools, I don't like drinking lemonade (even with tea or fruit flavors in it!), and I think the whole saying downplays the real-life drama and frustrations that come with receiving lemons instead of whatever you thought you were supposed to receive! SO I've decided that when life gives you lemons, you need to take a few moments (if possible) and re-imagine what those lemons could actually be! When I am stuck, I've found it best to let my mind think about the possibilities, and then augment my mind's processes with some good, old-fashioned research.  I'll look at Pinterest, my favorite blogs, my favorite F...

Oh My, Camellia! Resin-a-bowl Star(t) and Starter So much to do in the next month!  I've just sent out a box containing 2 paintings (Oh My, Camellia! and Pocket Full of Tulips) and 2 silk & resin bowls (Resin-a-bowl Star(t) and Resin-a-bowl Starter), to the Summit Gallery at the Community Summit Conference in Wenatchee, WA.   It's such an honor to be included in their show! Now that those pieces have been shipped off to Wenatchee, it's time for me to focus on my next art adventure - which is teaching a workshop on Silk Painting and a workshop on Resists and Ice Dyeing.   Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to teaching workshops at Allied Arts in Richland, Wa! This week I'm starting to go through my supplies and order new/replacement materials to use at New Serti example for class Allied Arts.  I've been going through my stretcher frame supplies (ie. pvc pipes and joints) and making sure I have enough for everyone  (plus a few extra...

A Resinable Trio I am thrilled to announce that one of my new art pieces was juried into the 2016 Surface Design Association show (the show is entitled Fiber Fusion)!  The piece they accepted is a trio of small resin and silk bowls entitled A Resinable Trio (ok, I have to admit, do love playing with words!) The Fiber Fusion show opens June 1st at Allied Arts in Richland, WA and runs through the 23rd of June 2016.   After that, the show moves to VALA in Redmond, WA where it will reside from November 2016 to January 2017.   From VALA, Fiber Fusion moves to the Northwind Gallery in Port Townsend where it will be available for viewing in February 2017.  And for it's final location, Fiber Fusion will be at The Schack Art Center in Everett, WA from March through April 2017.  My Latest example of the Serti technique - made specifically as a demonstration for my silk painting class. I am so honored to be included in this show!! And I also t...

By Pablo Picasso (inspiration only!) I have a wonderful friend who asked me to think about creating a Picasso-inspired art piece for he and his boyfriend.  LOVE the idea... but um... that's a new style for me.   So I took a look at a bunch of Picasso and Picasso-inspired art on Google and Pinterest - and then got to work. Face-in-face Cubist Face I have to say I had a BLAST!  I'm not sure that Picasso would be impressed, but it is a LOT of fun to do!  So much so, that I'm now incorporating abstract-style faces into my daily drawing/doodling.  It's a great opportunity to practice drawing skills, play with shading, and step outside my normal, realistic style of drawing and painting. My friend wanted either a face-in-face style or a cubist-style or abstract face.    These are my original drawings (trying to get a feel for what he was looking for). He liked them both and asked me to try creating a face-in-face of him and his b...

Thousands of Silkworm Cocoons (Photo courtesy of A of Doom)   When I started painting on silk, I gave little thought to it's original origin.  And now that I am pretty firmly entrenched in using reclaimed silks in my art, I find that while I personally know I do my best to stay eco-friendly - I have wondered about the processes used to manufacture silks!  I happened to run across a great post from www.organicclothing.blogs.com about this exact subject.  They supply a LOT of great information.   I'd highly recommend reading their post  " Raw & Organic Silk: Facts behind the Fibers " if you're at all interested or concerned about buying silk fabric or goods. I'm going to be sharing their post with my students.   They also have a lot of other informative articles - overall I'd say they were a great resource! OH, and my conclusion to the question I posed (is silk fabric organic, sustainable, and eco-friendly?), is a big MAYBE.  Yes, mu...

I don't know if you've had the chance to look at Strathmore's free online workshop s, but they usually have an interesting variety of options.  Sometimes painting or drawing, sometimes journal-making...always interesting - and always taught by some pretty wonderful artists!  They are go-at-your-own-pace and include discussion groups and a gallery to share your work. This year, the workshops include:  Sketchbook Fury – the Art Ninja’s Guidebook.  Taught by  Graham Smith  Starting March 7th, 2016.   A 4 video series by Graham ” the paper junkie” Smith: MMA (mixed media artist) Black Belt, illustrator, filmmaker, and nerd – on sketchbook strategy, building drawing skills, developing ideas, and executing finished art.  The workshop will cover:  Build Your Dojo,  Overcome Fear,  Plan the Attack, and  Art Battle The Mind of Watercolor.  Taught by  Steve Mitchell  starting May 2nd, 2016. Watercolor is one of th...

Applying resin As the title of the post suggests, I have been SUPER busy lately! I am working on how to set up my studio in a slightly larger space (with better lighting and more walls).  I'm trying to figure out if I can fit in all my furniture PLUS a table or two for teaching small classes (not sure it's going to work.. but I am trying!!) I am diligently working through Jacqui Calladine's Wild Creative... which I've discussed in previous posts.  I'm finding it very helpful -- but a bit distracting too (because I want to do more of it!) Of course I'm a mom, wife, and have a full-time muggle-job... that all keeps me very busy as well! And I'm working feverishly on my resin bowls (which take a lot of time, but my mind is just HUMMING with ideas!). A pink bowl at the very beginning stage Of course, the creating part is what I want to spend most of my time on, but it is hard to focus solely on that with all of my other activities! ...

A View From The Ferry (now awaiting reuse!) Have you created things that you don't like, didn't sell, or otherwise just didn't work for you?  I sure have!! Some of my art pieces that haven't sold, now grace the walls of my home.  But I have a small home, with little wall-space...so it behooves me to figure out another way to use my artwork - specifically, my silk paintings. IF I've wrapped my silk paintings around a canvas or board, and attached it with pins or tape (in other words, easily removable), then I can simply unpin or untape it and it's ready to use for something else (A View From The Ferry is one that I've unpinned and am now trying to decide how to reuse it).   Sunflower Quad BUT if I've attached my silk painting to a canvas using Acrylic Matte Medium... well that's a whole new experiment in how to reuse/recycle! My latest idea is to remove decoupaged silk from the canvas - leaving the canvas in tact (but with a really coo...

Original photo used for Magnolia's Life Recycled In a previous post, I told you that I'm following Jacqueline Calladine's Wild Creative .  She's encouraging her followers to open their hearts and souls to be more creative, more inspired, and more in tune with their true wants and desires (both in their art, as well as in their personal lives).  This last week, she challenged us to think about what is holding us back from creating... and from stepping forward to begin our next project.   I thought long and hard about it and found that I actually have 2 issues when it comes to creating.  My first is just as Jacqui said in her Facebook post: "Have Courage To Take The First Step". Cropping in on what I want to paint To begin a big art project (or any size project really), seems daunting (if not flat-out overwhelming) because there is often SOOOO much to do.  So instead of beginning  my art project, I am amazed at my ability to find other things to ...

Tulips Revisited (notice the fine line details?) I am feeling rather good - I managed to finish 2 silk paintings this week (which is pretty good for me because I work full-time and am a mom and wife!).   The first one I finished is another tulip painting.  I am rather pleased with how it turned out.  I used the same base design for it as I did for Stained Glass Tulips Too.  My motivation for that is to show everyone (both online, and in shows) the differences between the traditional Serti method (or painting with resists that prevent dyes from flowing outside of the resist lines), and the Sistek method (a stop-flow method which uses a variety of chemicals to greatly reduce the speed at which dyes flow).   Stained Glass Tulips Too (The dark resist lines make it look like a stained glass piece) As you can see, in Stained Glass Tulips Too, there are big lines outlining all of the major shapes (the lines are left by the resist), and while shading is...

Steller Jay (with gorgeous light  blue eyebrows!) Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and readers!  I hope your holiday was fabulous!! A very shy, Spotted Towhee Mine was spent watching snow fall but then it melted away (boohoo!).  Actually, mine was really spent watching all the little birdies scrabbling around my feeders.  That was a LOT of fun! And I have been thinking about my focus for this year - which is to try and paint as much as possible... so the birds fit in perfectly!!  I literally focused on them!  LOL This lovely-but-shy lady is an Evening Grosbeak! So here are a few pics of some of the VERY shy birds who were hopping around my feeders on New Years.  I am hoping to turn some (or all?!) of them into paintings! Varied Thrush (female)   I got pictures (not great as far as pictures go, but acceptable for bird-studies!) of Varied Thrushes, Evening Grosbeaks (my personal favorites!), Downy Woodp...