Workshops

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Bountiful Blocks


I've got to share a bit of history about my Bountiful Blocks. I first had the idea to do collage on blocks while Howard and I were in Italy last October. I was thinking how cool it would be to use different shapes of wooden blocks, add text as a background, and then add colorful images and embellishments. I sketched out a little drawing of what I had in mind and tucked the piece of paper into my purse. The idea gurgled around in my mind, I even shared the concept with Sven, my Artist's Way check-in buddy in Portland, but I never did any type of prototype and the idea stayed tucked safely in my purse.

Then, about a month ago, an art group I belong to, In This House and Garden, facilitated by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn, had a member of the group post about a swap she was organizing. That someone was Susie LaFond and her swap is entitled Around the Block. It involves, you guessed it, arting up blocks. I immediately thought back to my idea to do collage on blocks and thought that joining this swap would be the jump start I needed. The Around the Block swap involves being in a group of five, buying a block, being creative on one side, then sending it around to the other four ladies in the group. However, there was an outcry by some of the participants who said: Hey, I don't want to do just one block, I want to do three. I was one of those rebels and I'm in a select group of five that are doing three blocks and sending them on to the other four participants (are you still with me? there's more). So I started playing around with my three blocks (they can't be bigger than 4x4 inches), going with a Mother Mary theme. I've got a bit more to do with the embellishments on my round robin blocks, but here's the beginning:


As I was working/playing with my three blocks, I kept thinking about my original idea from almost ten months ago and I found myself gluing text onto a whole batch of various sized blocks. Then I started to add collage images. Then I started to glue on bits. Then I thought: This is an idea for a new class. And thus, Bountiful Blocks was born. Here are some images of my initial blocks and, finally, the prototype for my new class:












Aren't they fun?

I plan to offer my new class in Salem and hopefully in Portland (I've submitted a proposal to the DIY Lounge to teach Bountiful Blocks there). As soon as I get my fall schedule fine tuned, I'll be posting class registration information here and on my website.

9 comments:

susi said...

WOW! You certainly have been busy!

Karen D said...

Wow these are just great. Such a fantastic idea.

Have Fun.

Kim Palmer said...

What a fabulous idea. The blocks look wonderful. Great twist on the usual swap ideas.

Peshe said...

so, when you're feeling blocked....

Bobbie said...

These look wondermously incredibly crazily fun....I LOVE the bong one and the dots!!!! You come with the BEST ideas!!!!

Ruth Armitage said...

This are really cool Dayna. Looks like a fun class!

Bobbie said...

I meant "BOING" hahahaha!!!!

Destree said...

Fun Fun! I miss you...I've tried to come by a couple of times, but I keep missing you. Hope to catch you soon...

Anonymous said...

Dayna, I love the way you show your projects step by step! Pat