Students works from March online class

My online class "Decorative Pictures in Vintage Style" is finished. This time my students did two decorative artworks of varying difficulty level. I was glad to have so many students that managed perfectly with their work. And it's always interesting for me to see how other people realize my idea with different materials.

Since I got positive responses to video format of the class tutorial, I will go on to work in this direction. 

How to treat banana skin for pressing, mini-tutorial (video)

I prepare new class for beginners where we will use pressed banana skin and leaves under snow that I like so much. To press banana skin is often the issue for beginners. If it turns out too thick, you can't glue it down entirely. Also the skin may get moldy for pressing. So I decided to make small video that is a part of another tutorial to help those who wants to start working with this perfect material.

March 2017 Professional Workshop "Decorative Pictures in Vintage Style" with video tutorials

I'll teach students at this online guild class during March.
In the class we will do two decorative pictures of varying difficulty level with the birdnests. This time I captured all principal working stages on video just to show how I make these things.  
 I explain in detail to the students:
-how they may do nice vintage background for their pressed flower art using laser-printed pictures, stencils and stamps;

- what plant materials to take for depicting realistic images;

- how to create different shapes (a birdnest, eggs, a bird, tree branches) using the pieces of plant material;
-  how to decorate a frame in the same style using simple methods and accessible materials.
The class is easy and intended for the beginners. If you come to understand the basic skills of working with the plant materials, you will be able to further to make any images from pressed leaves and flowers.
Besides of that these two pictures are perfect Easter presents for your family members and friends. 
I'll be glad to see you on my class!

How I make large branches (video)

Yes, at last I've done it! This is my first video. I'm preparing my March professional workshop and decided to catch on video the small part of my work. Hopefully it's clear even for a beginner at Pressed Flower Art.
For making trees and branches I like to use the leaves under snow. You can read in my article "Last year's leaves" why I take this material for imaging branches.
I prefer first to make large branches and trunks on separate piece of thin paper and then glue them down onto a picture. Next I complete other branches of the tree just right on my work.
The large branch that I make in this video is horizontal so the light falls down on it.

Sorry for unideal quality of my pilot video :)) I'll try to improve my skills in the future. And do not hesitate to ask me any questions.

2015 WWPFG Conference in Charleston, South Carolina

In this November I was invited to teach at regular conference of World Wide Pressed Flower Guild that was held in Mariott hotel, Mount Pleasant (Charleston, SC).
It was my first visit to US and coference as well. And for me as teacher, this class was first real, not on-line class in the guild. Of course I was exciting so much.

At last I have met in person those people which I knew for my on-line workshops, guild competitions, etc. Nice to meet you, all my petal friends!
Mila, Lisa, Jacki, Denise, Kate, Barb, Loretta, Sally, Hendrica and dear Chinese ladies! I was so happy to see everyone!

Mila and me

We started first day with Denise's class and learned to make initial/number cards. I've made this for mom.

 Then we learned encaustic technique with Mila Garro. It was very interesting to get fantastic images with hot wax. 

I had fun. My experiments

Next class was by Xianghuan Liu from China. She taught to make decorative work with lotus flowers and gilded background. I liked to work with gold flakes.

First part of my class was in second day. The task of the class was depicting realictic water reflections for different subjects. In this part I have demonstrated how I glue the sky, make the foliage and depict distant trees, house and shore. I hope it was very useful for all to see how I work with tweezers to make the foliage of tree, 

Then all practiced

After lunch Mila Garro has shown how to work with pond scam.
Then we did the landscape using soaked scam for depicting tree branches.

Next Kate Chu taught to use contour stikers for making beautiful butterflies. And Betty Green has shown how she does flower fairies.

My picture

In last day we did nice picture with cute petal lambs by Li Wang from Beijing, China. Then after lunch my students continued to work with their landscapes. Of course we had not enough time to finished the picture but I hope everyone has understood how to cut strips for depicting water and reflections. And I will see the artworks completed soon.

Finally we had flower exchange. It was so joyful thanks to Jacki and Denise.

And these are cards by Guoyo Zhao that I got for gift exchange

Thanks to all who worked and organized the conference and Mila for hosting and translating to English. I liked downtown and historic places of Charleston

 and specially loved sunny November weather here! This time already winter is in my city in Russia. And here we were swimming in ocean! 

     Also I  thank my husband Vlad for the trip and assistance in English. 

     Wish everyone to enjoy new techniques and ideas and hope to meet again one day!

Last year's leaves

Spring came early this year in my area and snow is almost melted already. So it is time to stock up with very useful plant material. These are dead leaves that have been laying under snow for all wintertime.
They are dirty and unsightly

But I can say that it is one of my most favorite materials. Having laid under snow the leaves become gentle and flexible and you may simply cut off  from them narrow strips with scissors to make tree branches, blades of grass, etc. Also the leaves from under snow are good material for depicting the bark of trees since they have a lot of  brown shades. Often last year's leaves have many dark spots on them and look like natural bark patterns too.

    

You can make great stones from these leaves as well

Sometime in the fall the trees shed their leaves of green color. They keep this color through to spring. You can use those leaves for depicting a grass or some marsh plants:

Pick up the leaves in the spring. They have different colors from light beige till dark brown and almost black. And then all leaves have various texture. For example, the leaves of maple (Acer platanoides) and ones of linden tree (Tilia)

  

There are times when some insects eat off fallen leaves. Then natural skeleton leaves come in. That is very useful material too. 

  

You can do monochrome artworks from them. They are applicable for making winter trees, shadows, some distant subjects. 

This is winter landscape by artist Tatyana Berdnik (Kiev, Ukraine). She used those skeleton leaves here

and artist Tatyana Sokolova (Saint Petersburg, Russia)  used the same material for her winter scene

If you will blanch skeleton leaves, it is possible to use them for making transparent curtains, clothes, etc.

Well, you need to soak your dirty leaves collected in water for a time. Then rinse off all dirt from them. Dry the leaves with paper towel and put under some weight or into a press as usually. Let them dry entirely and try to work with this great material. You will like it!
Finally very important point  is the color of last year's leaves will not turn in time. It means your artwork will have very long life.