Jazzfest, Denton, Texas

Jazzfest is the big festival in Denton, Texas. Each year it is held in Quakertown Park the last weekend of April and brings incredible musicians to the city. (Of course, Denton is filled with many incredible musicians and I am lucky to have many of them play at the studio). They have several stages including the UNT stage which features the ever so talented University of North Texas students and the famous One o'clock jazz band. This year A Creative Art STUDIO decided to have a booth at the Jazzfest. Great music, nice weather and lots of art prevailed. I was located just outside the Civic Center and I am hoping I will get the same spot next year. Check out my booth pictures.

Beautiful Gift to the City of Denton

Last January we finally got to get a mural on the side of our building. Since opening the studio in 2009, I have always wanted a public piece of art that all could enjoy. Mick Burson, UNT student, artist and general all round wonderful person was the person to do it. With lots of paint, a very tall scaffold and nerves of steel for heights, Mick carefully primed, laid out the design and painted this incredible piece of art. His friend, Chris, wanted to learn from Mick about painting murals and was a great help through the whole project. The mural took three days to complete. (Did I mention that I thought that it would take a few weeks?). Watching Mick and Chris paint the mural was like watching dancers on the wall. As the colors unfolded I knew that this would be a gift to the City of Denton that many people would enjoy. Thank you Mick, Chris, Bill, Ann, Gi Gi and all who helped this dream become a reality.

Arts, Antiques and Auto Show, 2011

This past fall Denton Main Street hosted the Denton Arts, Antiques and Auto Show on the Square in Denton, Texas. Trophies were offered for the winners of certain classes of cars and I was asked to paint hubcaps as the trophies. This project at first was somewhat daunting but once I got started it was really a lot of fun. One of my favorite cars is a mustang so on one trophy I painted a classic red mustang and then on the other hubcap I painted an old model of an Olds. A Creative Art STUDIO also had a small booth on the Courthouse lawn and we set up a children's art station. We had a table where kids could make their own stamps and stamp art and work on a community painting. Even people's pets wanted to paint. Check out our pictures.

Beautiful Art Show at A Creative Art STUDIO

In August we had our Hot Hot HOT Summer Art SHOW. It was very hot outside (107 degrees that day) but the art in the studio was very cool. Stephanie Allen and Brian Ward kicked off the show with wonderful Jazz followed by the Boxcar Bandits. You will be able to view or purchase the beautiful art by our local artists until mid November when A Creative Art STUDIO and Gallery celebrates our 2nd birthday with a new show and once again wonderful music. Thank you Denton, Texas for having such a wonderful community that loves the arts!

Painting on Yupo or "Going with the flow"

I love watercolor. Coming from a stained glass background and working with hard pieces of glass, I find so much satisfaction painting with watercolors and watching the colors flow. Like glass, I love the intensity of the colors when painting on Yupo paper. Yupo paper is a synthetic water-resistant paper that is made from recycled polypropylene pellets. That means that when used with watercolor, your paint will dry only by evaporation and there will be no absorption by your paper (as would be with regular watercolor paper). Painting on Yupo you can get some of the most intense colors and there is sometimes a feeling that the paint is really in control. In the recent watercolor class at the studio, the students painted on Yupo. Check out the pictures of the students and their paintings in progress. Lots of fun!

Creativity with Glass

Tiffany stained glass is a type of stained glass assembly that uses an adhesive copper foil and tin and lead solder. This July the Tiffany stained glass class met twice a week for three weeks. The first class the students made a small hummingbird suncatcher and the second class began their larger project of their choice. When the projects are complete, I will post photos of their beautiful work. Here a peek at the class and their projects in progress.

Bead Class

Recently I taught a class on basic beading at the studio. I have always loved beads and their beautiful bright colors remind me of stained glass. One great advantage of working with beads is that you have something portable to take with you where ever you go. In the first class of basic beading the students learned some basic wirework and beading techniques and made some beautiful beaded necklaces and earrings. Pictured are some of the students modeling their creations. In the second class students learned to make a bracelet using a basic wirework technique and a bracelet using stretchy cord. The secret in using stretchy cord is to tie a good knot and use a dot of glue on the knotted cord. The last class in the series involves making a pendant using collage and stained glass techniques. First the students created a small collage using paint and images, then sandwiched their creation between two pieces of glass using lead free solder. The pendants are reversable with an image on both sides. Lots of fun to make and wear.....Robin