Capture Nature in Mendocino!

In my upcoming workshop in Mendocino, you will learn to capture nature in the most simple ways. My process of working with Paper Clay is fun, flexible and forgiving. You will amaze yourself with what you can make. All skill levels welcome. This is going to be the best workshop ever.

For more information about the workshop, click here.

Detail from High Tailing

Start Simple

In my workshops, we work up from the very simple, to the more complex. Everyone has success because this art form is so fun, flexible and forgiving. Working with paper clay is very meditative. Adding paint to the dried clay is very energizing. Life is good when you are making art.
Join me for my next workshop! Details here: /www.rogenemanas.com/genemanas.com/p/workshops.html
#CreativePaperclay

Paper Clay Mini Boards, dried and ready for painting!

Upcoming Workshops for 2015


Be Hopeful  18" x 24"   Paper clay and acrylic on canvas
 I am pleased to announce a couple of upcoming Paper Clay Workshops!

Mendocino Art Center
5 days in a fabulous art center on the California Coast
June 15–19, 2015 (Monday–Friday, 9:30am–4:30pm)
Mendocino, CA
An in depth, hand on workshop in paper clay and mixed media for beginners and advanced alike.
Click here for details

Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
3 Days at a beautiful art center on the Oregon Coast
September 2-4, 2015 (Wednesday-Friday, 10am-4pm)
Otis, OR  (near Lincoln City)
A three day intensive in paper clay bas-relief for all skill levels.
Click here for details

I am working on a couple of others, so check back. And thanks for visiting my blog/website!













Lotus Lilies

This project was a commission for some friends of mine. I normally don't do commissions, but could not resist this one because they let me do whatever I wanted for a special wall in their home. So I chose to do lotus lilies, a beautiful flower with magical meaning. They grown form murky mud into majestic splendor, a living metaphor for transcendence. I used gold metallic paint for this project to go in their very formal home.

All my work begins with a loose thumbnail sketch
Then I enlarge the drawing and refine it.
Here is the clay work before it was painted.

Lotus Lilies     Three 12" x 12" panels   Paper Clay on wood Panels




Paper Clay Workshop, Painting Day!

I am always amazed at how many different styles there are in class,  everyone with their own way of making art. Some beginners, others well seasoned, all fun loving, helpful and trying something new. We come together to make art, and we make friends.

I love the black and white stage.And when the colors come out, magic happens. Not everyone finishes. The day goes by too fast.  And we wish it would last. I am grateful in so many ways.
























This weekend's Paper Clay Workshop at Lincoln Gallery

Today's workshop was fantastic. So many great artists in one room,  all working with a brand new medium and making art together. I am always amazed at how well people do that have never worked with paper clay before.

Today we sculpted. Tomorrow we paint!

Can't wait!

Stay tuned...

Custom Sculpting Tools

I finally found a woodworker to make some duplicates of my favorite sculpting tool for working with Paper Clay! It took a while, but he did a beautiful job. It is fashioned after a tool I bought 15 years ago that is no longer available. It's made from hardwood and has the same neck and sculpting edge that I love.

Each one is handmade and they are $10.00 each, plus 2.50 for shipping.

If you would like one, contact me at:

mail@rogenemanas.com

You'll need to send a check or use Paypal.



 


Last of Summer Triptych    7" x 15"  Paper Clay on 3 canvases


Day of the Dead Show at Maude Kerns

Check out the Dia de los Muertos Show at Maude Kerns Art Center running from now until Nov. 7th. Lots of wonderful alters and tributes to our dearly departed.


Bona Lisa   18 x 24   Paper Clay/Mixed Media

Still a few spaces left in my November Workshop!


Sunny Day    10"x 8"  Paper Clay/Mixed Media

Paper Clay/Mixed Media Workshop in Eugene

Saturday and Sunday:

Nov. 22 & 23, 2014

9:30-4:30, Includes 1 hour lunch break at 12:30


At The Lincoln Gallery
OSLP Arts & Culture Program
309 W. 4th Ave.  Eugene 97401
541-636-3119
www.artsandcultureeugene.org

$140.00
Includes some supplies plus an
illustrated take-away instruction booklet

Register at: www.artsandcultureeugene.org/registration
Complete supply list will be emailed to you when you register.

Enjoy 2 FUN days learning a brand new method of self-expression with my inventive paper clay and mixed media techniques. Using an air-dried, paper maché clay, participants will learn to sculpt bas-relief forms onto boards, then carve, sand, and finish them with acrylic paint and collage materials. The result is a rich, textural, wood-carved effect that leaves everyone wondering how it was made. These techniques are perfect for beginners and advanced students alike, as they inspire experimentation and stir creativity, yet are flexible and forgiving.

Participants are encouraged to make whatever they like, but birds make a great and simple form to work from for learning this process. Choices of bird images will be provided.

For questions about workshop contact me at: mail@rogenemanas.com

ABOUT ARTIST

 

I used to work as a graphic designer, art director and creative director at advertising, public relations and design firms. For the past 27 years, I have owned a successful international card company called PhotoTidings that sells my designs as digital card templates to the photo and stationery industries. In 2006, I retired from this company to pursue my love of art making and teaching full time.

Art has always been my best friend. In my late 20’s, I studied painting, drawing and sculpture at the University of Oregon. Over the next decades, I traveled around the United States, Europe and Mexico studying oil painting, pastels, collage, colored pencil, assemblage and printmaking techniques with a variety professional artists.

My work has been shown at galleries in Oregon and California.  I am currently represented by Guardino Gallery in Portland, OR, and the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, CA.

Almost as much as making art, I enjoy teaching others to make art. Over the years I have taught art to children in a variety of settings, including public schools and art centers, as well as private lessons for teenagers in my own home.  Presently I teach workshops in Eugene, Portland, and Mendocino. Check my workshop section to see where and when.

November Paper Clay Workshop

Yellow Headed Godknowswhat   5" x 5"   Paper Clay/Mixed Media
(Oh you missed this workshop...see the work from it, click here.)

Stay tuned for future workshops. Sign up for email updates.


Join me for a Paper Clay/Mixed Media Workshop in Eugene!

Saturday and Sunday:
Nov. 22 & 23, 2014
9:30-4:30, Includes 1 hour lunch break at 12:30

At The Lincoln Gallery
OSLP Arts & Culture Program
309 W. 4th Ave.  Eugene 97401
541-636-3119
www.artsandcultureeugene.org

$140.00
Includes some supplies plus an
illustrated take-away instruction booklet

Register at: www.artsandcultureeugene.org/registration
Complete supply list will be emailed to you when you register.

Enjoy 2 FUN days learning a brand new method of self-expression with my inventive paper clay and mixed media techniques. Using an air-dried, paper maché clay, participants will learn to sculpt bas-relief forms onto boards, then carve, sand, and finish them with acrylic paint and collage materials. The result is a rich, textural, wood-carved effect that leaves everyone wondering how it was made. These techniques are perfect for beginners and advanced students alike, as they inspire experimentation and stir creativity, yet are flexible and forgiving.

Participants are encouraged to make whatever they like, but birds make a great and simple form to work from for learning this process. Choices of bird images will be provided.

For questions about workshop contact me at: mail@rogenemanas.com



Hope to see you there!

Sorry for Random Posts

Every so often I get an email from my blog of an old post. I have no idea why it happens. I certainly am not sending them. I don't know if everyone is getting them or just me. I do hope you will forgive this blog malfunction. Sorry for the unnecessary invasion!


Workshop at Mendocino Art Center

Magic things happen when a roomful of artists spend 4 days together is a beautiful, creative place. Mendocino brings out the best in people. Mendocino Art Center is the heart of this village. Art rules. We had a wonderful time, made art and new friends. I am going to miss my wonderful students and this magical place.
Mendocino Art Center main entrance.
The view from our room...lots of apartments for instructors and students.
Apartments there are clean, bright, and most importantly right near the studios!

My classroom area where we could work until 9 each night.
The grounds are beautiful.

Art is everywhere.
Flowers in Mendocino seem to generate their own light
Paper clay work was new to everyone.


And yet each person gained skills over the 4 days we worked together.

Each style unique.

Most left with work in progress.

Inspired by nature.

Flowers from the grounds.

Some with wonderful design skills.

All sculpted with creative hands.

Stylized or realistic.
Flowers never looked better.


Leaves have never been more colorful.

Poppies were popping.

Ideas were hatching.

We learned from each other.

And from nature.

Colorful iterpretations.

And meaningful memories.
Even wihtout color, the work is strong

Some work quietly away and surprise us all when suddenly beauty appears.
Colorful concepts...

By colorful people...

Like fireflies lighting up the night...

With waterlilies waiting to bllom...

Everyone practicing new skills, making new art friends and sharing their creativity.
These were the creative hands at play. I am going to miss seeing them everyday.
Sometimes in your life, everything lines up just right and you know that this is where you were meant to be in order to connect with others who share your love of art making. These art makers were here to try something new. And together, we made magic, memories and new friends. I am grateful.

Paperclay Workshop in Mendocino!



There are still a few spots left in my Paint, Paper and Paperclay Workshop at the beautiful Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, CA. This amazing venue is right in the middle of a charming, walkable, arts community north of San Francisco on the Northern California coast. I have some really fun projects lined up and a lot of new mixed media techniques to share. All skill levels, from beginners to advanced, will find this workshop intriguing and fun.

Learn to work with paper clay, acrylic paints and mediums, solvents, collage materials, and more.

Join us July 10-13 for 4 days of fun filled art making and meet new creative friends.

For more information and a materials list click here.
And to register on line click here.

 




The Burden of Guilt

I was invited to be part of a gallery show of 20 women artists doing self portraits at Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene. With this project, a portrait of myself over the past 6 months, I decided to purge what was plaguing me. 

For as long as I can remember, I have been hounded by guilt, 
as I believe most women are. Whatever I am doing, I always feel I should be doing something else. Doing something for someone, taking care of some responsibility, working on something, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, saving the world! What a burden it has been to carry. And so each time a new guilty feeling arose, I made an arrow for it. There were so many that I could not include them all. Now that I can see them, I feel sad that I have tortured myself for so long with such ridiculousness. At 64 years of age, I feel I have earned the right to let go of all the “shoulds” and stop feeling guilty. After all, this is my ONLY life, and from now on, I plan to live it for myself. 

And now I will try not to feel guilty about that.


The Burden of Guilt   24" x 36"  Paper Clay/Mixed Media
 This show is well worth seeing and runs through June 20th.




I must be crazy

I am always watching over my shoulder for that pesky Alzheimer's Disease that took my mother's brain to tea and never returned with it.  I worry that I will inherit her fate and not remember that I am me, and worse yet, that I can make art. And so each day that I forget a word, a name, why I went down 2 flights of stairs into my studio to get...what? Why I started a sentence...and then...what was my point? I forget.
I Must Be Crazy   22 x 8   Mixed Media
This and other self portraits of 20 women will be in an upcoming group show at Maude Kerns Art Center opening next Friday.

A Paper Clay Fish Tale



So...it's my husband's birthday this Saturday...and after 25 years of gift giving...I was at a loss about what to do this year. So I decided to make him some art. And about the only thing I know he would like is a fish. So I used this opportunity to experiment with making a free form paper clay piece...one that is not on a board or canvas.

I used balsa wood, matte board and tape for my backing. Unlike ceramic clay, paper clay would be too fragile and flimsy to use without a support on the back.

Below is my process. And I like how it turned out. But I need a better backing than balsa wood because it warps. But it actually gave the fish some roundness, so it worked out. But I am still on the search for a better backing material that is easy to cut.

I cut a fish form out of balsa wood and taped on, then glued the fins to it.

Then I covered it with paper clay and sculpted my fish with details.

After painting the clay with finishes, I painted it black.

Then I removed the black paint, leaving it in all the indentations.

Then I painted it with transparent acrylic paints.

To cover the back, I drew around the fish on black felt with a gel pen.

I cut out the felt and before gluing it to the back, I painted all the edges black.

I made a loop hanger out of ribbon and glued it and the felt down with wood glue.

Nice and tidy back. Important detail.

Finished fish. It's about 15" long...a good size for a fish...definitely a keeper.


New Birds at Guardino Gallery in Portland

Yellow Throated Gossiper  6x6    Paper Clay on Board


Blue Backed Nag Pie   6x6    Paper Clay on Board
Red Headed Ne'er Do Well     6x6    Paper Clay on Board
Weary Traveler  5x7    Paper Clay on Board
Waiting for Sunrise  5x7   Paper Clay on Board

Winter Solstice    5x7    Paper Clay on Board