February 27, 2018

Sketch Walk Practice and Map Making

Last Saturday I went downtown to do a test run (walk) of a sketch walk that Memphis Urban Sketchers is having this Saturday, March 3, to commemorate MLK50 and the 1968 Sanitation Workers' Strike. For more information see the Memphis Urban Sketchers blog.

It was hot and rainy - weird for February 24, but our weather is nothing but weird lately. But I pulled on my rain jacket and hood and kept at it, even though my sketches and notes got quite smudged.


















I made a map and a schedule for the day, showing the difference between our route and the original strikers' route. There's now a basketball arena where part of the route was.

Saturday I'll get more time to actually sketch, and I'm really looking forward to it!


February 15, 2018

Mixed Water Media Class at Flicker Street Studio

I am teaching a class at Flicker Street Studio in March and April called Mixed Water Media. This is a three-week class about working with a variety of water-based media and techniques to create a finished painting. It is inspired by what I learned from the late Bonnie Beaver.

I took mixed-media painting from Bonnie Beaver several times when working toward my art degree at the University of Memphis. She was always so full of energy and ideas. What sticks with me the most is the way she would coax art out of a mess of sprays and stencils and shapes.

These two paintings were from a series I made in Ms. Beaver's class some time in the mid 90s. I would put down a base of colors and shapes and then step back and see what the painting wanted next. It was fun to explore the materials and see what I could make happen.




















In this class we will use water-based media such as watercolor, liquid watercolor and inks, Neocolor (water-soluble artist crayons), water-soluble graphite, Inktense sticks, maybe a little gouache, maybe a little gesso, and anything else that wants to be mixed with water. We will use stenciling, spraying, salt, and other ways to make texture. We’ll work on big paper (22” x 30”) moving from experiments to a finished piece.

I hope you’ll join me!

Click here to sign up at Flicker Street Studio.
Mixed Water Media with Elizabeth Alley
Thursday Evenings
6:00 - 9:00 pm
March 22nd - April 5th | 3 Sessions
$150 + $25 Materials fee | Beginner and up | Ages 15 +

February 01, 2018

Assignment for Myself: One Week 100 People

Since Sunday of this week I've been trying to sketch 100 people to warm up for sketching at Mardi Gras this weekend. I love this assignment because it gets me looking for people to sketch, and if there aren't any I end up sketching a car or a tree - the point is I end up sketching something.

I only made it up to 59 today... I wonder how many I can sketch in New Orleans over the next few days!

(Stillman & Birn Alpha series sketchbook)
(click images for more detail)







Sketchwork Moved!

Please visit Sketchwork at  elizabethalley.com/sketchwork . After 12 years with Blogger, I am incorporating my blog into my website becaus...