365 Days of Art – Back to Simpler Times

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..days 85 and 86

I’ve decided to go back to my sketch books and rework some old pieces and draw at least one new piece each day. This way I keep my hand moving and working on my drawing skills at the same time.

The first piece is one of the collages that I made with my two year old granddaughter. I added some line detail. I’m not sure that I’m done with it but it was very relaxing and therapeutic at the same time. The second piece is a sketch of my walking shoe that I was literally wearing when I sketched it.

365 Days of Art – Days 65 and 66

Posted on April 7, 2018 by Mama Cormier

Back to sketching with ink. I love drawing. I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to sketch. This time I sketched a daffodil plant that I received at Easter and the remnants of the bouquet that my father gave me.

365 Days of Art – Day 56

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….getting papers ready for my Inspired by Lives and Letters class

Lendon Noe has encouraged us to make some art papers using inks, watercolour paper and tissue to use in future projects. I mixed up my walnut crystals to make walnut coloured ink and I experimented with purple and red ink.

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The next step is to cut up these papers into squares and rectangles.

On the white tissue paper I used three different techniques. One was crumpling up the paper and dipping it into ink. Using red ink gives it the appearance of blood (not sure if that was a wise choice). The second technique involved folding the paper multiple times until it couldn’t be folded anymore and then dipping the edges into ink. The last method involved folding the paper like a fan and then running a water soluble ink pen down over the folds. All these techniques involved spraying the paper with some water. Not too much or the paper falls apart.

365 Days of Art – Unconventional

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….day 51 uses unconventional art tools

Tuesday’s prompt from Carla Sonheim was to create a piece of art using unconventional tools. I chose to use a toilet paper roll, a chop stick and a wooden skewer.

On a piece of heavy watercolour paper I placed the toilet paper roll upright and dropped a small amount of two or three acrylic paint colours and some white down the middle of the tube. I also surrounded the tube with some white paint as well. Then the fun begins. You start moving the tube around and the paints mix to create an almost marbled effect. If I try this again I’d use less paint and have three or four tubes on the paper in different locations.

When the paint dried I put a dollop of black ink on random areas on the painting and then using the chopstick and the skewer I moved the ink around to add some visual interest to the piece.

Here’s the final creation.

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365 Days of Art – Text Pages

Posted on February 3, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..day 33

Today’s class with Carla Sonheim was to create art papers using text. I enjoyed this process. I used watercolour paper and a variety of pens and ink to create these papers. I found a couple of poems in my Roald Dahl Treasury and I copied them onto some of the sheets. The idea is to fill the paper with words and try not to leave too much white space. I plan to use some of these in my next collage assignment.

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A Week of Art

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….. I didn’t do much else but I did fill up one sketch book and am pretty close to filling a second one

Please don’t think that I filled up two new sketchbooks. My goal is to go back to older books and fill in the empty pages. The first book that I filled up was a small book to begin with and had only 8 pages left in it. On three of those pages I made journal notes.

In my second sketchbook, I’ve done more doodles, line drawings and portrait sketches.

Even though I’m on holidays my mind is never far from my next lesson at school. Before the break I started teaching the children how to make a simple 3D house out of paper. After folding the paper the children were encouraged to draw windows, doors, lights, numbers and any other details they wanted on their house. The last step is to apply watercolour and add more black line detail. While home I decided to finish the front and two sides of my sample.

So that was pretty much my week. Today we’re going to see the travel agent and book our flights to Italy this summer. So exciting!!!!!!!!

My First Art Assignment

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….my Fantasy Art and You

I can’t believe that I actually got this done on time. I’m not sure if I’ve hit the mark or am completely off. I’ll find out in the next couple of days when I get my mark back.

Close-ups:

My artist statement:

Artist Statement

Carol Cormier

Assignment: Fantasy and You

Title: My Life

My art work consists of acrylic paint, India black ink and collage done on hot press watercolour paper, 140 in weight.

In this piece I am trying to create a series of images that convey the path my life has taken. The left side of the paper is backed in lighter colours of yellow and green, representing the the happier periods in my life while on the right side the mood is definitely more somber. The top half represents the first 20 years of my adult life and the bottom half is a portrayal of the last twenty years and the years yet to come.

I’ve always felt that throughout my life someone has been watching out for me, either physically or spiritually. My early life was filled with children and pets as I did a balancing act between work and home and trying to keep everyone else happy.

At forty I experienced a very dark period in my life when death took my mother from us at the age of 61. For the next five years the ‘tentacles’ of death continued to take away very close friends and family members.

The bottom right hand corner represents the cancer that my husband has been fighting with for the last 3 years. The arrows represent the chemo trying to fight off the bad cells and the tiger jumping through the TV represents my husband’s remission.

I used to look for quick fixes for my weight problem for most of my life, hence the pill bottle. It’s only been in the last year that I’ve discovered that a healthy me involves healthy eating and exercise and a healthy mind is nourished with books and on-line courses. I’ve never been happier or healthier and I look forward to exploring the world, now and in the future.

Your input is always appreciated.

Cheers!