Mixed Media with Julie Haymaker Thompson

Day  4 at  Art and Soul.  (I will get back to Day 3 in another post.)  I decided to extend my visit by an extra day and randomly chose a class, whose teacher was recommended to me by Lisa Kaus.  I think the title was "Learning to Fly"  or something like that.  I read up on the teacher, Julie Haymaker Thompson and something about her seemed familiar.  She had worked at Hallmark years before but I still did not recognize her face.  Eventually, I discovered she was the same Julie, who was my first art advisor when I started out in re-design at Hallmark.  She had changed somewhat from the corporate employee I remembered, to a bohemian artist. Well, her class was gangbusters.  I learned so much in that one day, it was truly inspiring.  She works with a multitude of materials; paper clay, sheetrock compound, resin, foam core, iron paint, rusting solution.......it was a new world to me.  Check out her website, she is always creating new techniques.   

Lisa Kaus-Grid painting

Day 2 at Art in Soul with Lisa Kaus.

I attended a mixed media painting class where we created a large "grid" piece.  In some ways it was not as intimidating as the day before as it was composed of small design blocks.  This was more comfortable to me being a former greeting card artist.  I was use to working small, 5" x 7" is best.   But as the day wore on, I became overwhelmed by,  "so many little boxes to fill!".  After the painting was complete, a thin layer of beeswax was applied using a heat gun. Lisa uses beeswax as a final finish on her art.   I also remember a small fire erupted  on the wax table. What fun we artists had!

Painting class with Lisa Kaus

A few years ago, I discovered the wonderful world of Art & Soul.  Art & Soul offers art workshops across a multitude of mediums.  I was introduced to Art & Soul through one of the artists I worked with at Demdaco, Lisa Kaus.  I loved her art and wanted to learn her techniques.  I was fortunate enough to attend Art & Soul in Las Vegas (strange place for an artists' retreat), and take three classes from Lisa.  Below is the first piece I created in her class.  Believe me this was a scary adventure.  No time to sketch and refine.  We just started working on our "board".  As you can see, when I am under pressure, I draw a rabbit.