Three Horses-Joe Fettingis

If you have ever talked with Joe Fettingis you will first notice his infectious enthusiasm. He is one of those people who are always upbeat and moving forward. Maybe that personality, plus his extreme talent, has made him a fantastic watercolor artist and instructor.

Born in Germany of Lithuanian parents, Joe grew up in a small town in South America. He learned from living in South America that a creative mind can do much with so little. He has been painting for over 20 years and has instructed over 35 workshops in the United States and Canada.  As a signature member of the National Watercolor Society, Joe has been published in several national magazines.

“capturing mood and feelings is what my paintings are all about”

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If you have never attended the Ann Arbor Fiber Art Guild Holiday Sale you have missed out on seeing a vast array of beautiful handmade fiber artwork. Not to fear, you have another chance to attend on November 13th from 10am-4pm at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor.
 
This is a juried show and thus all of the items are high quality unique pieces. Felted, woven, hand dyed, and knitted items are just some of the unique gifts you can find there.  There are also many beautiful hand beaded jewelry pieces and one of a kind sewn items, like tote bags, along with other textile and fiber created works. The creativity and detail work that the artists put into their products truly shows.

I was privileged to be juried into this sale with my silk felted scarves and large tote bags. Each of the silk scarves has been hand felted with pieces of unique threads and fibers.  My large totes are sewn with distinctive textiles from around the world. They are fully lined and each has a removable handmade flower that can be worn on other garments. 

 I thought that was a nice touch since my company is called Budding Ideas, www.buddingartideas.com.

So please come and take a look at all the beautiful handmade fiber art that has been uniquely created. Who knows, you just might find a gift or two for the holiday!

Janet Kohler

What a perfect time and place to take a pastel painting workshop, autumn at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor Michigan.  And who better to teach it than the areas own Janet Kohler!  Janet is a well known landscape pastelist and has been motivating students with her creative teaching techniques for several years. 

“1st place in the pastel catagory”

She received her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI and her MFA from Eastern Michigan University. She has been recognized  with many awards including 1st place in the pastel category in the Kennedy Promotions “BEST OF” book series, Best Of Michigan Artists & Artisans 2007.

Janet Kohler

We are excited to have Janet teach with us October 18th – 20th this fall. Janet Kohler will share her extensive pastel painting experience and knowledge with you in the beauty of the Botanical Gardens. Whether a beginner or advanced artist, this workshop will take your creativity and skills to new levels. Working with design elements, you will learn to divide your format to create balance and visual excitement to lead the viewer into your composition. Pastel techniques, color theory, and color mixing will be discussed and demonstrated.  You’ll learn to see simple shapes and values to create stunning results.
 The color should be spectacular that time of year at the botanical gardens. There are over 200 acres of gorgeous landscape to draw inspiration from.  More details are listed on our website, www.buddingartideas.com.

Diane

Mark Mehaffey

We had the honor of having Mark Mehaffey teach a 3 day water media workshop with us last week. What a delight! Beyond being a terrific artist in both figurative and abstract, Mark has a wonderful personality that keeps the class interesting.

“Do away with Fear”

Two of the many points of emphasis Mark made are; “Do away with Fear” and “Keep a Sketchbook”. When he talks about doing away with fear he refers to the fear of failure, the fear of not measuring up and the fear of wasting time or materials. We need to let it go so we can move on and grow.  And Mark feels that keeping a sketchbook is imperative! Keeping a sketchbook helps us learn from our failures. Take notes, draw, plan, & write just keep a Sketchbook!

“Keep a Sketchbook”

The three days just seemed to fly by. On day one, after all the introductions, we did a study on color in a figurative aspect. He did a demo with color mixing and gave us examples on 8 different color plan options. 

Mark giving a demo

Day two was Yupo day! If you don’t know what yupo is it is a wonderful plastic painting surface that makes it easy to remove color (as long as it is watercolor), as well as to apply pigment upon it. This process I found great fun. We primarily worked abstractly on the yupo but there are no restrictions on what you can paint on it. The surface allows the water media to create wonderful patterns as the paint slides across the surface. But the fact that you can wet a paper towel and use it to remove the color from one specific spot I found fascinating. It allows for so many possibilities that traditional watercolor paper does not.

The final day we continued to work on the Yupo with various interesting techniques Mark introduced. I actually completed two pieces of work that I did not hate! I will continue to explore the possibilities on this paper and be amazed at the results it lends itself to. And, I am learning to let go of my Fear as well as keeping multiple Sketchbooks!

Mark showing a yupo paper demo

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