And then the sun came out

The sun came out in SF and guess what happened?
Sun prints!
Some people call them sun prints but they are really called cyanotypes. You need sun and that isn't always easy to come by in San Francisco in the summer.  I know, the tourists don't believe that either and thats why they all have to buy sweatshirts that say they love San Francisco -- because they are freezing. But I digress....

You can make cyanotypes with all sorts of things, flowers and leaves have been popular for  many, many years -- google Anna Atkins if you don't believe me.
But a lot of artists, like Linda Clark Johnson are trying out new ideas and making the old process new. Check out Linda's work on her web site and FB page and Instagram and you'll see what I mean.
Linda came down from Sacramento to give us -- Monica, Leslie, Dorothy & me -- a workshop.
When you get a group of artists together, you get art.
If you live near Sacramento, you can take a class from Linda -- highly recommended.

See that fern?

Here it is on a piece of cyanotype paper with the sun doing it's thing.
The process is a pretty simple one, coat watercolor paper with cyanotype chemicals and press between two pieces of glass or plexi, expose 10-15-20 minutes till the paper turns kinda brown, wash in water and dip in a peroxide bath and hang to dry......
That's the simple version. You can look it up if you're interested in learning more.

This is how the paper looks after exposure to the sun.

And this is how it looks after the wash.

We all tried different ideas out to get an idea of what worked and what didn't...

There was a lunch break (of course!)

A bit of hanging out in my studio and then back to work/play......

We look like we were having fun, don't we?

The next day, we trooped over to Leslie's studio and we tried out toning the cyanotypes.

We cut our least favorite prints into ATC size and we tried out a variety of different toners.

Green tea, black tea, red wine, onion skin, beets and Borax.

Look at some of the results! Pretty interesting...

So, here I am, back in the studio with my prints. What should I do with them?

I cut this print up into Rolodex cards for my Rolodex art project. Kind of nice. You can cut the prints up for ATC's or rolodex cards or collage or if you really like one, you can frame it.
I'm thinking of some pages for my altered book.
So, there you have it. Two days of cyanotypes and yesterday was the Vintage Paper Fair.
Life is good.

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

Oh Hell Ya!

You get invited to an all day art field trip and what are you going to say?
Hell ya!

San Francisco-to-Sacramento
Chico-to-Sacramento
Davis/Sacramento-to-Sacramento

Cars of artists all arriving at the same place at the same time. Yes, you can count me in.
This group of women have been meeting once a year for years and many are old friends who went to school together.
I was honored to be invited along.
Thanks to all the lovely women I met who made me feel welcome even though it was my first time with the group.
I hope it won't be the last.

RAFT
First stop - RAFT in Sacramento (Resource Area for Teaching)

My first visit to RAFT. A little like our beloved SF Scrap. A resource for teachers (and a few artists thrown into the mix too).
I managed to find a few things. Mailing envelopes are certainly always useful.

Teachers like stickers.

Lots to look at with thoughts of creative reuse.

PANAMA FACTORY GALLERY
Next stop - Grand opening of the Panama Factory Gallery.
Artist studios in a fabulous old pottery making building which still has a giant (walk-in size) kiln.
Panama Pottery
4421 24th Street, Sacramento CA
I recommend a stop if you are in the area. Very interesting place to explore.

Inside Panama Pottery -- lots to see!

LUNCH
Next Stop - lunch! Of course when you get about twenty artists together you've got to have lunch.
And amazingly we found a restaurant with a big enough table to all sit together.

AFTER LUNCH
After lunch there was an afternoon of talking, snacking, sharing, show & tell and art demos.
My pal Monica is on the left and she is showing an assortment of little books she makes in her workshops.

All sorts of origami folded booklets and envelopes......everyone wanted to sign up for a workshop from her.

Another artist, Linda Clark Johnson, brought a box of her beautiful cards and let everyone take one. Kim brought her wonderful BE KIND stickers.
Read about her Be Kind Project by clicking here.

Cyanotypes in the making.....
At lunchtime we also saw a show of wonderful cyanotype collages by
linda clark johnson
You can see some by clicking he link above. Linda showed us all how to make ATC sized cyanotypes by laying leaves on the coated paper and leaving them out in the sun.

Here she is washing the them after they are finished being exposed to the light.

I love the blue color and now I am excited to get busy making some cyanotypes of my own.
But I wonder if we actually have enough sun here in SF to do it...better not try it on a foggy day.

There was also a demo on painting tee shirts....

I missed out on that one but the tee shirts sure came out cool....

More show-and-tell -- origami this time.

The whole afternoon just flew by!

There was still time for a piece of cheesecake before everyone hit the road.
Two hours home to SF and two hours to Chico.
Sacramento was a great place to all meet up and share some art and fun.
What a wonderful tradition this is -- friends and artists meeting once a year for a day dedicated to
looking at, talking about, showing
ART.
I wish they would all make a trip to San Francisco sometime!

Special thanks to Monica, for inviting me and Melissa for hosting everyone in her house.