Richard LaLonde's Glass Studio

inspired by Picasso's "The Bathers"      pre-fired

our six slumped bowls, after firing

Richard LaLonde's Studio

Indeed, the places we go!!!!  A whole Tuesday at Richard LaLonde's glass studio with 5 other sketchers.  We were in Heaven!  Poor Richard, tho.  He had no idea how hard it is to herd sketchers! He had a lovely project planned for us, carefully thought to appeal to our inner sketchers.  He'd gotten all the materials ready ... BUT each one of us said, "Nope!"  An excellent teacher, he was on his toes!  He pirouetted and pivoted and changed course and made sure each of us had the experience we wanted.  We all proceeded in our own unique way, first creating a flat piece of glasswork and then creating a second slumped piece.   Above is my flat piece, a riff off Picasso's "The Bathers" ... a painting I've always admired.  Also, the 6 slumped bowls post-firing.... mine is the Frida.  The slumped bowls were quick spontaneous and fun pieces ...  Thank you, Richard!!!  

Oh, the places we go

Recently, we created small planning groups to help schedule the sketching venues. The nice thing about this (besides that we care about Sue and how hard she was working) is that everybody knows of a unique place, person or event. We have had wonderful demos/workshops.....origami cranes, Yupo and Zen-tangle. We've been invited to artists' studios, private homes and other places you just wouldn't get to see otherwise. It's fun to spread out the workload - but even more fun to see what each group comes up with for their planning month!

a few sketches from Janet King's felting studio

a few sketches from Paula's string quartet

Musical sketching!!!

Aaaarrrrrgggghhh!!!! I have a pen in my kit with a great nib, but crappy ink that NEVER dries and ALWAYS smudges. But do I remember that? no And do I use it anyway? yes And does it smudge? Why, yes, yes it does. poop
But, had just a stellar day Friday sketching at Paula Pugh's fabulous Whidbey Island home above Saratoga Straits. She invited us to enjoy the weekly gathering of her "Stilton Quartet" - two violins (including hers), one viola, and one cello. 15 of us Sketchers were more than eager to accept!! Music, sketching and happy hour afterwards; in the woods overlooking the water and mountains - Pacific Northwest life at its most sublime!!

Stilton Quartet

John Berg

Another privileged day with the Sketchers!  Paula Pugh and the Stilton Quartet changed their usual practice venue to play for us this Friday.  I LOVE sketching musicians ... a simple tip I've discovered and will share with you is that tho they move constantly, musicians repeatedly return to the same movement yielding many opportunities to "get" that arm, hand, bow, or whatever.  I plopped on the floor behind John and loved this perspective of his concentration.  Fun painting his shirt ... I learned a ton from this sketch ... capturing patterns, shadows, folds quickly.  

Zen Doodles

Thank you, Claudia!  I've never Zen Doodled before ... it's such an experimental noodling process ... fun to think about patterns, shapes, rhythm, filled in vs blank spaces.  One could get lost.

Zendoodles at Claudia's

Amazingly lovely day in the rare sunshine on the deck!

Sketching Outside the Box at Claudia's

I got there late and never did get started on a Zendoodle. So, once Happy Hour got going, I poured myself a nice glass of Siegrebbe and sketched Jean who was sitting opposite me at the other end of the table against the backdrop of the gorgeous view.

Jean sketches outside the box

I like the way her sketching hand was ended up outside my frame, ergo the title. Color added at home.

A Dress of Many Colors

I was completely seduced by the luscious colors and textures at Janet King's felting studio. If only we lived in a world where one could wear a dress like this. Maybe Whidbey needs an annual costume ball.

This is Janet demonstrating her process for us. She's also wearing one of her felted creations.

Janet King Felting Demo

Doodling at Claudia's House

After missing 4 (or maybe 5) Sketcher Fridays, yesterday I joined the gang at the lovely island home of Claudia Fuller, our dedicated Zentangling teacher, on the channel side in Clinton for a Tangling/Sketching day. All the travelers were home from Mexico, Costa Rica and Hong Kong, and I felt relatively healthy, so it was a good day in a Full House! I haven't Doodled in a while, but I had my "dedicated Doodles" book with me so I eased back into it. This is Catsy Cline on her soft chair in the big window's sun.

Richard La Londe's Fused Glass Studio

Recent Sketches

 This is from the WICA Costume Loft.

Janet King's Felting Studio :

 

This is the landscape from Claudia Fuller's home.

Janet King's Felting Studio 3.11.16

 

I spent all my time in the back room enjoying the colorful purses, accessories, and especially this coat of many colors.   Thanks Janet!

Fused Glass workshop

This is an amazing opportunity to learn from and interact with a well-known pioneer in glass fusing. He is the author of two books considered "the bible" in glass fusing - Richard La Londe: Fused Glass Art and Technique, and Richard La Londe & Friends - Book II.  He has created large scale public art projects all over the world, including the massive gates at the International Arrivals at SeaTac Airport.

We consider ourselves very fortunate to have an artist of this caliber in our area! When we sketched at his studio in February, we found him to be humble and fascinating, his studio was warm and inviting. Now Richard has created a one day workshop specifically for The Whidbey Island Sketchers (and friends) with techniques that will appeal to sketchers. No glass experience is required. He will pre-cut the glass and fire the final piece for us.

We have a few spots left and would like to fill it to make best use of Richard's time and energy. We hope you will consider hanging out with us for a most unusual "sketching" day and a super inspired potluck lunch!  Please contact him directly if you have any questions.  

Sketchers One Day Glass Fusing Workshop 

at Richard La Londe Studio, Freeland (Whidbey Island)

Tuesday March 29, 2016

9am to 4 or 5ish

$85 -  all materials included

Bring a Potluck lunch item to share

•    Project: 8x8 Multi-layer Art Glass Tile with color fields and line work

•    We will sketch with the “liquid glass line”, sift color glass powders, use stencils and silver foil and other techniques to create imagery in glass

•    Richard will fuse for us and mount to aluminum mount with hardware to hang on the wall (mounting is optional)

•    Minimum 4 people, Max 10 

•    email him soon to see if space still available:  lalonde@whidbey.com

•    Once your space is confirmed, send a check directly to Richard's studio

see more at richardlalonde.com