Working in Series

As you may know, I am a big fan of working in series. I almost always work on pieces in groups, and give my ideas room to breathe. Here is a short series I did a few months ago based on a composition idea. I started with a sketch and a group of painted papers, some notion of color, and went from there. I wouldn't say any of these is necessarily a finished piece, but together they represent my exploration of an idea that may or may not "work".

Composition Study 1

Composition Study 2

Composition Study 3

Composition Study 4

I have written an article for the new Sketchbook Challenge e-Zine on Working In Series. The rest of the zine is filled with ... oh, I will let you check it out here on the blog.

I Won A Scholarship!!!

I am so thrilled to announce that I won a scholarship to take a 5-day intensive encaustics workshop with Daniella Woolf this coming January through North Country Studio Workshops. NCSW offers workshop for professional artists at an advanced level, once a year, at Bennington Collage, in Bennington, Vermont. The facilities there are fantastic, and all the students are gone for the winter term, so we have the place to ourselves. Check out Daniella's website as well as her book and DVD, "Encaustic with a Textile Sensibility". And check out NCSW for future workshops.

Both images posted here are from Daniella's web site.

Video with Creative Catalyst

Hi all! I have been very busy lately preparing for a video I am shooting with Creative Catalyst Productions. I am SO thrilled with this project! Their videos are packed full of fabulous demos and useful information, and they are shot beautifully. The video is based on my Scribble Collage workshop, but much expanded to include dozens of techniques for painting and decorating papers, including staining tissue papers, and then demonstrations on how I use them in collage-paintings. It includes loads of practical information and tips on color and composition, as well as on materials and sources.

Get a preview of CCP videos by checking out some of my favorites: Anne Bagby, Ann Baldwin, Carrie Burns Brown, and Virginia Cobb are just a few of the CCP artists' videos I can strongly recommend. You can learn so much even by watching the sample clips!

One other bit of news: I got married last Saturday! To the left is a picture of me just before the ceremony, with a gorgeous floral head dress made by my friend Mego at Green Peak Farm (she grows vegetables as well as flowers). Check out Mego's blog, where she posted a few pix of the event.

Fall Workshops

My Text and Image online workshop is filling up fast! So delighted to have so many students this early in the game. Thanks to all of you who have signed up or expressed interest so far.

Here is a rundown of the live workshops I'm teaching this fall. For the full schedule go to my web site.

September 29 at Art and Soul, I am teaching Scribble Collage during the day, and Scribble Painting in the evening.


October 15 and 16 is the Sketch-In with Sue Bleiweiss at Ink About It in Westford, MA.

October 22 and 23 is my Fabric-Paper workshop at Guilford Art Center in Guilford, CT.


October 28 at AVA Gallery I'm teaching a one-day intensive on Abstract Collage.


November 4 - 6 is another Vermont retreat at the Landgrove Inn. I'm teaching a Collage-Painting workshop, which, for $480, you get with room and meals at this lovely Vermont Inn. It's kind of a shorter version of Collage Journeys in Vermont, which we had in August here in Rupert.

And my final live workshop of the year is at Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT, where I will be teaching my Scribble Collage class.

New Online Class

I'm delighted to offer a new online class, Text and Image: Telling Stories in Collage, starting October 19. In this workshop we will explore the power of image-word relationships by pushing beyond the traditional "illustrated text" or "photo with caption" formats into a world of complex layers of meaning, exciting surprises, and personal expression. Read the full description here.

And here are a few things my previous students had to say about my Color and Composition workshop, both of which I'm offering again starting January 4 and February 15, respectively.

I want to say THANK YOU to Jane and to everyone in the class for making this such an inspirational experience. I've learned so much from you all. I have to say that this class has de-mystified so much about collage that I just never "got" before. I am thrilled beyond words, so thank you!

I really appreciated the time and attention you put into doing both the written material and the video demonstrations. The printed lessons are terrific - and the exercises you suggested really did get me to focus on the material. It takes a great teacher to pull everything together like that.

I thought your course was fabulous and learned tons from watching what other people did and from reading your comments to them. I loved your videos and felt they contributed greatly to the weekly lessons and I also felt there was a very cohesive flow from one lesson to another.

I am very excited to teach this online class, as I've been working with found text and pairing it with images on and off for quite a while. I love using different kinds of text for its visual texture and pattern, and also using it for its meaning - which can be completely altered by the imagery associated with it. Fun fun FUN! Hope some of you can join us!