Today I talk with Eileen Johnson.

Eileen is the founder and director of FlowerSchool New York.
We talk about her new book, The Art of Floral Arranging, and some of the master florists including, Michael George, Charles Masson, and Remco Van Vliet who teach at her school.

“If we have accomplished one thing in setting up FlowerSchool New York, it is to make beautiful flowers less intimidating and more accessible to those people who love them and fall under their spell as I have.“ ~Eileen Johnson

above: FlowerSchool New York

above: The Art of Floral Arranging by Eileen Johnson

SHOWNOTES
Music Must Be A Way/Risk of the Roar/Kim Miller
Book Little Felted Animals/Marie-Noelle Horvath
DVD Telling Stories with Collage and Pain/Ann Baldwin

Steiff Animals
Tibetan Singing Bowls

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I’m taking the next few days off. I’m not a fan of the term ‘down time’, so I’m calling it ‘up time’.

Long weekend, here I come!
Be back Tuesday with a new podcast.

Ps. thanks so much for all your votes at the Blogger Choice awards! Keep ‘em coming….. I need all your support!

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I had to laugh when I found myself doing just that, watching some paint dry.

It’s actually some liquid emulsion I’m playing with. I found it on the Golden Paints website. I have applied it to canvas and am waiting for it to dry before cutting it into sheets and printing on it. I’m using a canvas with a lot of texture, and am interested to see the results I get.
Stay tuned…. time to check if its dry…

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When I was 3, I had a babysitter that would pull out of her purse a set of colored pencils to keep me occupied for an evening. I can still remember looking forward to drawing with those pencils. Each pencil was divided in half with a different color on opposite ends. I loved the one that combined red on one side and blue on the other.

They were definitely magical.

So I signed up for a colored pencil class this summer. Basically… why not. Try something I knew little about with a three year olds experience of the medium.

Pencils now are much more refined with an extensive color palette. Very seductive. Our first class exercise was to draw an apple. We were shown how you can use water on a brush and turn the pencil strokes into watercolor. I’m excited to see where this goes.

They’re still pretty magical.

above: first pencil still life that I ate when finished!

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Today I talk with Ms. MaryJane Butters.

Mary Jane lives the organic creative life, and hearing her speak, you can’t help but get inspired to reconnect with good food and the good life!

Check out her website, where she sells high-quality organic foods. Then there is MaryJane Farm Magazine, which is a little bit Martha, a touch of Oprah, a tad Laura Ingalls Wilder, and a whole lot of MaryJane’s organic lifestyle.

Her new book, Outpost, Unleashing Your Inner Wild, got me to go “Glamping”. (that’s where Glamour meets Camping)

Oh, I love to get a little wild!

above: a page from MaryJane Butters website

above: MaryJane Butters

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Show links:
Music Courageous/James Casto

Book 1000 Artist Journal Pages/Dawn Devries Sokol

DVD Sherri Haab/Resin Jewelry

Great Games for All Labyrinth, Shoot the Moon, Gobblet

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I’m getting away for a few days. Be back Monday. Have a great weekend!

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I have been working, then playing and working, then working some more on an exciting new line up of Master Classes. The subject matters are a mix of HANDS-ON and HEADS-ON!

The next one is taking place in August with a tentative date of Tuesday the 12th. There will be 2 LIVE classes offered, at different times of that day. The goal is to accommodate all the time zones you live in.

The topic will be: Transfer That! How to transfer images to a variety of materials

I know it’s a popular subject. I myself have stacks of books and earmarked magazine articles, all on the subject. Plus whenever I bring up the concept to any of my artist friends, inevitably someone says, “Oh I really want to learn that!”

More information will be announced next week.

Here are some of the other classes in the works:

Creative Sparks Time to plug into a CREATIVE charge
Color Palette Explosion Risk and explore new color choices in your work
Finding your Unique Creative Voice Clearing up the haze around your creative expression

Sew this! Tips and secrets to getting the fit you want
Perfect Finishes Learn some polymer clay how to’s
Mixed Media Medley Where to begin when you want to play with it all

above: one of my image transfers

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I have to brag about my students. They are all fiends and work really diligently, pumping out amazing and unique work.

It’s always a privilege to teach, and then such fun to see what people do with their new skills.

Here is some work from the beginning and intermediate classes.

above: students work in fine silver and copper with stone and glass accents

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Last week I posted my results from using Katherine Palochak’s silver patina recipe. If you saw the post comments, Katherine wrote some great advice on how to get better results and more control over the process.

“While looking at your photos of the patina setup I noticed your liver-of-sulfur solution is too strong (dark). If you dilute it some more so that it resembles a light straw color, you’ll have a better range of colors, from golden yellow through a range of blues, greens, reds, magentas, and purples. It goes slower, but you have more control over the colors.

Also remove the ice from the ice water bath so you don’t get a splotchy color. Make sure your metal is squeaky clean before using a patina.

The patina can be used by dipping, dipping parts, painting, using paper towels soaked with the patina solution, or in a fuming setup.”

I was excited to try again and this time got much more intense results.

Thanks Katherine for sharing your knowledge!

above: 2nd try on fine silver resulting with a greater range of colors

above: Heart by Katherine Palochak

above: Katherine Palochak’s patina results

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Today I talk with Joan Tapper and Gale Zucker. They have an informative and visually appealing new book called Shear Spirit, featuring 10 fiber farms across the country. I got to learn all about raising alpacas, sheep, goats and llamas, plus the seductive fibers they shed.

Experience an enjoyable cross-country fiber adventure without leaving home.

above: Linda, from Goat Knoll Farm, in her ‘own’ cashmere socks

above: Alpacas head for the pasture at Victory Ranch

above: Alpacas waiting for their close-up

above: Designer, Dean Cheek, created this lace shawl pattern

Musical Guest: David Martin/Something in Your Eyes
Featured Book: MaryJane’s Outpost
Featured DVD: Exploring Fabric Collage with Lesley Riley

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Call the CRAFTCAST™ “create-spiration” line and listen to this week’s message and leave one for me.
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