Day 7: ReMe Retreats' Favorite Things - Art Supplies - Hardware!

Today we'll continue the "ReMe Retreats' Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean are taking turns while sharing a few of their creative must-haves.  In the following, Jean's will share her passion for Hardware.

*************************************************************************************************

In the studio, I'm surrounded by some of my favorite finds from
Hardware Stores...anvils, snips, pliers, hammers, and more!

Whenever I visit a new town, especially a small town with a history, one of my first stops is always the local hardware store.  If I'm lucky, I discover one that's been there forever.

I generally fall in love with everything about it.  From the merchandise and plants displayed on the front sidewalk to that distinct hardware-store-smell that hits me when I open the front door; from the well worn uneven wooden floors to bin after bin of mysterious parts and pieces; from the chain, and the wire, and the tools, and the seeds, to the owner who has been there
as long as the store and always has a story to share!

You never know what you'll find at the Hardware Store!  When I walked the hallowed aisles at Brown's in Mt. Gilead, NC, I tried to do so with my eyes and mind wide open.  I want to see everything, while opening my heart to the alternative possibilities of each and every piece that I discover.  Lots of pictures are good too!

*************************************************************************************************

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to one of the questions below in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.)

My old school favorite hammer was once my Dad's.
I'm sure that he purchased it at a Hardware Store in Pittsburgh, PA.  

If a trip to The Hardware Store puts you in kid-in-the-candy-store mode, would you please share your favorite stores, sections, or finds with us?

If you know the feeling that I've described; but you just don't share my passion for all things hardware, would you please describe what stores, supplies, or experiences do make your socks go up and down? 

Thank you for visiting; be sure to check back tomorrow for another chance to win.

*************************************************************************************************

In less than two months, ReMe Retreats will return to Ocracoke,
and there’s still time to join us!

Please use the link on the left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

Penny's first starfish on Ocracoke, priceless and pure magic!

Day 6: Our Favorite Things-Art Supplies Series: Paper - Pt. Deux!

Welcome to Day 6 of
"Our  Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  

In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean will take turns sharing a few of
their creative must-haves.

Hello, gang -- Penny here, again.  Did I throw you with the title for todays post?  My love of paper is indeed voluminous -- quite worthy of spilling into another rapturous post.  Today, I am speaking specifically about handmade papers.

There is something of the luxuriant and exotic inherent in handmade paper.  Many of them have the feel of fine textiles.  The crisp translusence of rice papers offer myriad possibilities; while sturdier natural fibers in banana paper or Nujabi can easily be finished to mimic leather (!) If bold, vibrant color is your thing, there is a world of color at your fingertips as you peruse lokta, mulberry, and other handmade varieties.

I had the good fortune to meet a family of paper-makers on a trip to Seoul, South Korea in the spring of last year.  In the short time I was in their tiny, street front shop *practically a stall* I encountered fellow shoppers that included:  a mother and daughter buying HUGE sheets of handmade paper to cover the walls in their dining/living room, university students purchasing papers for art projects, and a handful of fellow lovers of the refined pulp.

Another of the many reasons I love handmade papers is for their versatility.  They make for lovely additions to many forms of creative expression -- collage, card-making, home decor, and *of course* book making.

Patchwork Papers
A sewing-themed collage with a background of handmade papers
"quilted" with smaller squares of seed catalogue illustrations.

Grass (2 of 3)
Collage on 300 lb. water color paper.

Handmade paper as book covers
highlight the construction of this journal.

So...  How about you? 
What is your favorite way to
incorporate the beauty of handmade papers
in your creative endeavors?

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to the question below, in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.) 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

It's not too late to join us on Ocracoke in October!

Please use the link on the upper left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

Stick around as the countdown continues.  We look forward to sharing with and learning from YOU.  

Day 5-Our Favorite Art Supplies: Gel Mediums and More!

Welcome to Day 5 of "Our  Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean will take turns sharing a few of their creative must-haves.

Jodi here for day 5 of our ReMe favorite supplies countdown.  I think I'm probably cheating because I'm lumping tons of things that I love within my posts and counting them as one thing, but oh well.. :)  Today I'm featuring  what I'll just refer to as "Mediums" for acrylic paints.    Brands can vary but I can see from my collection which is probably just a bit larger than the average bear, that I prefer Liquitex and Golden products for my mediums.   

Again, these are well loved and used quite regularly.  I do love to do special textural tricks with my mediums and have used many in my various classes.  Using some mediums in classes can be tricky as the dry time or curing time can vary from a few hours to a couple of days or weeks.

I get it.  It can be sooooo overwhelming to understand what does what with what. :)  And no, you do not need all of these to create fantastic pieces. However, if you are trying to move from flat to a more textured look,  acrylic mediums are a great option.

Here's one that every acrylic painter should have--Gesso.  There are many brands to choose from. This is a tiny bottle, it's a travel bottle for me. My actual gesso is gallon pail!!!!  Used to prime your surface and create a ground to which to paint on, it's also can be used to paint over mistakes and not waste more expensive paint trying to cover up something.  Veil over collages with a wash of gesso or scrape into thicker layers for a sgraffito look,  you name it, you can probably do it with gesso.

Another must have  in my opinion is glazing medium.  While you can (and I do) add water to acrylic paint, if you add too much it will break down the paint and dull your colors.  Add glazing medium to thin out your paint, and you will keep the brightness of the paint plus create a translucency when you layer over another color.

On many of my larger pieces, I will use a mixture of satin and matte varnish to finish my work.  This part can be tricky, too, if you use a lot of drawing media or water soluble media over top of your work. If you add a varnish without a barrier layer (or 2 or 3), your dry media will smear.  I use a spray varnish or fixative before I varnish with several days of dry time in between (ideally) the spray coat and wet varnish.

Over the years, I've educated myself by diving in and playing with the mediums,  reading the specs on the manufacturers websites  (check out Golden and Liquitex for lots of information), and studying books like Acrylic Revolution by Nancy Reyner or Rethinking Acrylics by Patti Brady.  Definitely buy books like these, take technique based classes (I know...everyone wants a pretty project but sometimes you just have to learn the basics!!!), and or read through the websites mentioned previously so you can make an informed decision on what you will need to create a look you are desiring.  

So what are some things you can do with gel mediums?

*Create stone like surfaces
*Use as adhesives
*Add to paint to create thinner or thicker applications
*Prime and tone surfaces
*Create a porous or non porous surface for your substrate
*Create faux finishes
*Use for image transfers
*Create dimension using stencils or other templates
*Scrape into and create patterns
*Drip tar like strings onto a canvas (think Jackson Pollock)
*Create transparency or on the opposite end, increase opacity
*Layer with one another to create untold amount of fascinating effects!

*Matte medium and Polymer Varnish used to create this image transfer of my niece (plus transfer images of several papers you can see on the left).

Many layers of glazes  and  dimensional texture created from gel mediums  (samples from my projects found on Extreme Portraits)

I used  pouring medium and tar gel for glass like finishes on my abstract textural samplers from my class "Texturize This".  

Here I use a soft body gel medium to create dimension from a stencil and gesso to veil over layers and layers of paint.  

More  effects to create the illusion of depth using glazing medium,  veiling effects using matte medium, and a top coat of self leveling gel to create a glossy/glass like surface.

Really, the sky is the limit!  

I can't live without my acrylic mediums.  

Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic but they do make me excited to see what can come of the various uses of each and every one of them!

So for your question of the day---do you have a favorite medium that you like to use when painting or collaging (or whatever you are doing)?  Or, is there something that you'd like to learn about?  Curious minds want to know~!

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to the question below in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.)

 ******************

BTW-----We would LOVE for you to be with us for our flagship ReMe retreat on Ocracoke Island this fall!


There’s still time to join us on Ocracoke in October!

Please use the link on the left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

Day 4: ReMe Retreats' Favorite Things - Art Supplies - Wire!

Today we'll continue the "ReMe Retreats' Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean are taking turns while sharing a few of their creative must-haves.  In the following, Jean's will share her passion for wire.

*************************************************************************************************

A happy find from the construction zone that is my studio!

As a child, I fondly remember my cousins fashioning rings and people from brightly colored telephone wire.  It was magical; they were older, and I was jealous!  I never would have guessed then that my creative path would bring me full circle to my love affair with wire.  If I were stranded on a desert island with only a few supplies, wire would be one of them. 

This year, when my Mother spent time as an inpatient at our local rehab center, I decided to work while I visited with her.  When I arrived and opened my tool box, I realized that I didn't have what I needed to complete my intended project.  

Instead of being disappointed in this discovery, I issued a challenge to myself.  I allowed myself to create with wire and found objects from Mom's room alone...no beads...no pliers...no other tools of any kind.  I find that limiting the materials, tools, or color palette of my work can stretch me creatively in ways that are hard to imagine.

These photos illustrate a few of the results from this project...

Day in and day out, wire also serves as the basis for many of the cold connections in my work.  From wire wrapped connections to links fabricated from wire alone to rivets made exclusively of wire; I can't get enough of this stuff! 


*************************************************************************************************

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to one of the questions below in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.)


If you share my passion for wire, please tell us how you use it or what you love most about it?

If wire isn't your thing, what is?  Please describe it to us, and tell us why you love it like you do.

Thank you for visiting; be sure to check back tomorrow for another chance to win.

*************************************************************************************************

There’s still time to join us on Ocracoke in October!

Please use the link on the left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

Day 3: Our Favorite Things-Art Supplies Series: Paper!

Welcome to Day 3 of
"Our  Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  

In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean will take turns sharing a few of
their creative must-haves.

Hello, gang -- Penny here.  In the continuation of our current series, I'm excited to share one of my favorite things with you:  Paper!  I fully realize that, to many, this will come as no surprise at all.  I am known to be quite the Paper H.O. *Heartily Obsessed*  Today, I am speaking specifically about art paper(s).


Far and away, my favorite Art Papers to work with are those from Strathmore.  I work most often from padded stock.  This is for several reasons:  
    -  it is economical (allowing one to accumulate variously sized papers for customization without multiple cuts to acheive 'standard sizes')
    -  it is frequently available at local retailers (either through Art Supply outlets, such as Jerry's Artarama -- or through mass market retailers, like Michael's or AC Moore)
    -  it is readily available in many formats/finishes, and allows me to tailor the finished project to the job it is designed for.  My favorite papers for Art Journaling are Mixed Media and Watercolor papers; while a better/less bulky choice for writing and/or sketching is Hemp Charcoal Paper
    -  it is rather easier to store than larger/bulkier parent sheets of paper. 

Plenty of options in size, format,
and paper finishes

Speaking of parent sheets (or, whole sheets of paper -- often 22x30 in. or larger), when it comes to working from larger stock it is hard to beat the luxuriant feel and substantial structural flexibility of Stonehenge -- a 100% cotton, printmaking paper made in US.

Luminous, rich, and with a superb feel
Stonehenge offers limitless possibiltiies for the book maker.

So...  How about you? 
Do you have a favorite Art Paper that is your "go to"
when building a book or
working within a commercially produced journal?

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to the question below, in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.) 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

It's not too late to join us on Ocracoke in October!

Please use the link on the upper left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

Stick around as the countdown continues.  We look forward to sharing with and learning from YOU.  

Day 2: Our Favorite Things-Art Supplies Series: Acrylic Paints!

 Welcome to day 2 of "Our  Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean will take turns sharing a few of their creative must-haves.

Happy Friday!  Jodi Here, carrying on with  our ReMe art supply love fest, day 2.

While I don’t have any pics of myself at age  5 or so to prove it, I believe my love affair with paint began one  sunny day while attending the  church pre-school.  I specifically remember me standing in front of an easel, dressed in my paint splattered smock admiring my abstract work that resembled a banana floating over blobs of color.   (My abstracts have changed only slightly since that time...heehee ;)

 (My abstracts have changed only slightly since that time...heehee ;)

“It’s brilliant!” the teacher said.  I happily agreed. 

It was perhaps the first spark of motivation that I needed to embark into a variety of painting endeavors while young.  Paint by numbers.  Coloring books that had watercolors embedded in the bottom of the pages.  Later on in middle school and high school, I clearly remember gigantic jars of cheap acrylic paint that looked good enough to eat.  And then like many,  my interests diverted to other things, some creative and some more ‘practical’.  Music, drawing, writing, and then I stopped it all for working in the field of retail management and banking.   Diversion or no diversion, the love for painting never completely died, it was simply put to rest until it was ready to come out again. 

When we first started talking here at “ReMe” about doing a favorite supply count down, without hesitation, my first supply that came to mind that I can’t live without is Acrylic paint.    The type of acrylics that I favor have changed over the years.   Having grown in my own skills and knowledge of what makes a great paint.  I truly appreciate the depth of color and the vibrancy of professional grade acrylics, despite the higher costs.  It's worth it.  Spend the extra bit of money for the vibrancy of color!      Without a doubt, there is no comparing the lush creamy pigments of a bold soft body paint. It's hard to resist colors that dance off the canvas. There are some pigments that practically sing with joy they minute they hit your substrate!  I’m in love with the sheerness of transparent fluid acrylics and have a penchant for the man made colors of the Quinicridone and Phthalo family.         When feeling playful and looking for additional ‘jazz’ to liven up my work, the shimmery quality of acrylics mixed with mica flakes in the Silks Acrylics are perfect to grab.

Some of the many fabulous Silks Acrylics that I'm enamored with.

Can you tell that these are well loved and certainly very much used little soldiers?  How I love me some Golden Paints!

I love the creamy soft body acrylics that Liquitex creates.  Yum Yum.

When you love something, just go BIG. I love Matisse paints too and have found it's just more economical to go big when you use a ton of  the colors.   Here you see just a glimpse of my table. As you can see, it's full of fun supplies and must have tools :)

I love to get my fingers into the paint.

I love the fact that acrylics are versatile and can be transformed by glazes, washes, stains, and embodied with textures while mixing in mediums.  Whether layering, scratching into, writing over, building up texture, mixing together, scraping, brushing or dripping, I’m in my happy place with acrylics.

Some of my favorite brands are Golden, Matisse, and Liquitex, and Colourarte.  If I had to choose 4 or 5 or 6 , or 15 colors that are my current favorite here they are :  Aqua Green Light (Matisse),  Permanent Violet Dark (Golden),  Australian Sienna (Matisse),  Baltic Green (Liquitex),  Green Gold (Golden),  Cobalt Teal (Matisse), Light Blue Violet (Liquitex),  Quinicridone Magenta (Golden),  Diarylide Yellow  (Golden);  Olive vine Green, Ginger Peach,  Key Lime,  Plumeria,  Snap Dragon,  Cinnamon Brown  (all Colourarte Silks Acrylics).

I’m just looking at my table right now and it’s fairly obscene how many colors of paint I own.

Who am I kidding, it’s hard to choose one color that is my 

favorite or just a few. 

One of my new abstracts...here you see several of my favorite colors in their glory and mixed with each other to come up with my own signature palette of colors.

Here you can see that my students have a love of color, too.  All across the country, I've had the blessing to be surrounded by eager students and art enthusiast that share an affinity of color and texture in their acrylic painting journey.

I hope you had some teacher, friend, family member or even total stranger tell you that you are brilliant and have a touch of magic in what you do.  It can lead you on an amazing journey of discovery and passion for that thing that will make your heart spill over in happiness.

As you can see here, one of the first affirmations I received at the age of 5 (whether it was truly warranted or not) has led to some great experiences and an ever growing love for art supplies and all things creative.

So for your question, tell me what colors are you in love with at the moment and 

brands?  Tell us who you are ‘seeing’ this week!

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to the question below in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.)

 ******************

BTW-----We would LOVE for you to be with us for our flagship ReMe retreat on Ocracoke Island .


There’s still time to join us on Ocracoke in October!

Please use the link on the left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

****************************************************************

Visit  Jodi's Etsy shop and see what's new!

Check out Jodi's online workshops which are all on sale now through the end of August.

Creative Workshops

Arte Village