TIME FOR A NUDGE

Is there anything better than finding something like this on your doorstep, upon coming home from a hectic day?

I could see that big bold BLICK from quite a distance and, in case you are unaware, that word just screams art supplies! Believe it or not, what with double weddings, the birth of our first grandbaby, and a sister with health issues, I haven't picked up a sketchbook or paintbrush in several months. Not that I'm complaining. It's been one helluva year! Still, one can only let these kinds of lapses go on for so long, right? Therefore, when I saw something on facebook saying that Paper Paintings artist Elizabeth St. Hilaire was coming to New Braunfels in early August to teach a three-day workshop, I just had to sign up. I knew it would be just the nudge I needed, to get back into my daily art routine.

There's nothing like having a good excuse to order a few art supplies...

only thing better being if you also happen to have a nice fat Blick gift card that Santa brought, which you never got around to spending!

I discovered a new love for collage when I was working on these pages in my travel journal, and found myself picking up bits of colorful paper to glue onto my sketches.

The only thing I didn't like about it was having to use thick, stiff, opaque "scrapbook" paper to get the variety of colors and patterns I wanted.

So, when I discovered that St. Hilaire would first teach us to paint our own collage papers using things like those big rolls of rice paper above, as well as decorative papers such as this Lokta paper below...

Lokta Paper

along with the geli plate and huge stash of stencils I already had? Well, a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do!

Two and a half weeks, and counting...