Designs in Gesso and Altered books

Greetings everyone,

I wanted to highlight the two classes I'm teaching this weekend. The first on Saturday is called Designs in Gesso. In this class I will teach the technique that was just published in Somerset Studio in December 2009. You know Gesso is an incredibly versatile medium. It can be used to prime a canvas or glue the pages of an altered book together. It can be used as paint and in the case of Designs in Gesso it can also be used to make texture. And because it dries matte its not sticky which makes it the perfect medium to add texture in an altered book. Here are a few of my samples:

Here are the particulars of this class: Saturday Feb. 20th Where: Art max in Seaside Class: Designs in Gesso Class description: Further exploring the use of Gesso as texture we will create a small canvas with Gesso and collage. We will stamp into, stencil with and draw freehand in gesso. Will you choose to color your Gesso or leave it white? Come and Explore! Please bring scissors and paintbrushes and gel medium. Time: 11:00 to 2:00 Fee: $40.00 If you wish to sign up for this class please email me at connie@isbjorn.com.

And while I'm on the subject of altered books; my second class on Sunday is Altered Books #1-How to begin. This will be the first in a series of 5-6 altered books class. Each class will highlight a new technique to help bring variety and interest to your altered book art. At the top of this page you can see some scans from my new altered book: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Sunday Feb 21st Where: Scrapbook U in Fremont Class: Altered Books #1-How to begin Class Description: Have you ever heard the quotation “so many books so little time”? It’s never more true than when talking altered books! So what is an altered book? An altered book is creative reuse at its best. Think of all those unwanted books ready to be thrown away. Why waste them when you can turn them into works of art! In this first class in the altered book series we will focus on what book to choose and where to find it, content, how to prepare and strengthen pages, what materials can be used and finally a full collage spread. In this series of classes students will gradually build up an altered books “kit” of favorite supplies that will be handy for use at any time. This “kit” should be brought to every class. First kit items to bring: Paint brushes, scissors, gel medium and a book if you have one in mind otherwise I will bring a box of books with me. Time: 1:00 to 4:00pm Fee: $35.00 To sign up for this class please call Scrapbook U at 510 490-5065

Yes as you can see its going to be a fun creative weekend. How about treating yourself to a class? See you soon!