The Book Dummy finale

Students from "The Book Dummy" class, 2015 at RISD-CE

I posted pictures and info about the last day of my Book Dummy class to my webpage blog. Click here to see it.

Post about Watercolor Intensive Workshop on my website

Marcia did a great job with wet-on-wet trees.

I have two blogs... one associated with my website, and one here on blogger. It's a mish-mash of work/fun/family/travel/garden stuff, and I've been trying to figure out how to organize it in a way that makes sense.

So... I'm trying to put work related posts on my website blog, and more personal posts here.

In the meantime, I'll try to offer links from one blog to the other.

In June I posted about a watercolor workshop that I taught at RISD ce. To see it, click here.

RISD Winter Weekend Watercolor Intensive, 2015

This past weekend, I enjoyed the beautiful views of Narragansett Bay from RISD's Tillinghast Farm in Barrington, RI, while working with students eager to learn more about watercolor.

We spent all day Saturday doing exercises to explore materials, mark- making, color combinations, properties such as staining and granulating, and the interaction of wetness, paper and pigment. 

Bethany worked on a dog portrait.

Michael did several paintings using a big brush technique.

Kate worked on the subtle gradations of color to create this beaded jewelry.

Priyankar took a step away from his usual work as a chemical engineer.

We laid washes, used salt and resists, and went through step by step procedures that watercolor artist's use.

On Sunday, each student came prepared to work on a personal project or two to put their new skills into practice, and we shared and critiqued the days work before heading home.

A big thanks to each and every student for sharing your talents and enthusiasm... teaching this class was a pleasure!

Stephen had a great view as he worked on painting puffins.

Barbara used washes, salt, and resist to complete her paintings

Fred did 3 paintings, including a monochromatic landscape that had great impact.

Richard worked to improve his watercolor skills for the natural science illustration certificate.

Amanda used blues, violets and roses to create wet on wet skies.

Rayne used resit to create wheat colored grasses against a dark blue sky.

Mandy underpainted layered washes to create space, and planned to glaze colors next.

Here is is after Mandy finished glazing the colors on at home.

 

Gloria used Derwent Inktense pencils to add texture to her abstract painting.

Donna dropped colors into her background wash to add interest.

Catching up with 2014!

©illustration by Cheryl Kirk Noll

Book Dummy 2014

2014 is gone! How did that happen?
It was a great year, and here are just a few of the highlights since my last post.

My Book Dummy class was small this past fall, but the creative energy from the stellar students lit up the room.

As the holiday season neared, I was honored to receive printed books from students I've had in other book dummy classes.  What a thrill!

My Mom, Uncle Bud (the birthday boy @ 90) and Aunt Dot

I missed my Uncle Bud's 90th birthday party celebration, but I celebrated with him from afar. Here he is flanked by his two sisters, my mom on the left and Aunt Dot on the right.

Dave and I began the holiday season with a rousing concert at Beneficent Congregational Church with RPM Concert.

Judith Moffatt adding a festive air to the RISD party

Lori, Cheryl and Judith

Among many holiday festivities, I especially enjoyed a party for RISD folks at Wood-Gerry in Providence, where I met fellow instructors Judith Moffatt, Lori Surdat Weinberg and Sandy Valpey Cordts.

Story Spinners and friends (and Willow)

Another holiday highlight was a dinner party with my writer's group, Story Spinners, and an extended group of talented writers that have connections to the group. This year's get-together, complete with goal-setting for the coming year, was particularly meaningful.

I took the train to spend a week visiting my mom for Christmas. (a loooooong ride) Unfortunately, she came down with pneumonia! We celebrated anyway, and the family was very understanding about me preparing Christmas dinner... the first one I've ever done!!!

I got to visit with old friends Lydia and Merrie, went shopping with my sister-in-law, Steph, and tried to take care of my mom with a fraction of the TLC she's shown me over the years. I'm happy to report that the doctor declared her lungs to be clear, and she is feeling much better.

Family gathering at my Mom's with brother, hubby, sister-in-law and nieces.

I feel very blessed that 2014 was filled with loving family, caring friends, talented and hard-working students, gratifying work and much more.

Warm wishes to each of you for a happy, healthy, creative and satisfying year in 2015. 

RISD Weekend Watercolor Intensive, Summer 2014

I had a grand time with 13 fabulous students last weekend. They were all ready to spend a weekend learning more about watercolor. After a full day of exercises on Saturday, they painted their own pieces on Sunday. Here is one of the student paintings, a class portrait.

A painting of the class in action done by student, Susan Klare.

 Below are pictures of most of the students, with their work in progress.

Susan and  Whitney came for some artistic mom-daughter together time.
Ben (how did I miss getting a picture of Ben!) drove up from DC for the weekend.
Several of the students enjoyed Waterfires after class on Saturday evening.

Whitney is building up courage to add layers of paint.

Here is an early stage of Susan's class portrait.

Jane worked diligently on color swatches

Cheryl did a lovely scene of rocks, water and flowers.

Birch used resist techniques, and mixed red and green... complementary colors... to get his dark background.

Lowry originally hoped for an absolutely flat sky, but her delicate clouds turned out even better.

Lynn did a painting of her grandparent's farm.

Alessandra took a break from law school to do several paintings.

Anna, our best equipped student, added energy to the weekend.

The students had a wide range of backgrounds... from total beginners, to people who had some experience with watercolor but wanted to learn more, to experienced artists who were looking to learn another media.

Ben experimented with wet-on-wet and Yupo paper, and Miyoung created textured backgrounds with salt. Anne did a floral still life from a blooming kalanchoe. Lois worked on letterforms with delicate colors that she later planned to layer, overpaint, and even stitch into art pieces.

We had a photographer spend a few hours with us, so pictures of the class will probably show up in future RISD CE catalogs.

Thanks to all of the students for your creativity and enthusiasm! It was an exciting and fun weekend for me!

Another Book Dummy Class is Done

I love teaching "The Book Dummy" at RISD CE. Every class is as exciting as the last, with students bringing in their own manuscripts and creating prototypes of their own children's book, called a "dummy" in the industry.

We begin with storyboards, small thumbnail sketches that help to create the design and pace of the book. Manuscripts are reworked (ie: slashed, revised, honed, refined, and on and on and on!!!)

Alison's story was about
Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

Alison shared a quote she'd heard that summarized the class for her.

The difference between a dream and a goal... 

is a deadline. 

 Twelve weeks passes quickly when you are turning a story into reality, with character development, color studies, layout, design, manuscript revision, and finished art.

It was a joy for me to watch each student bring their ideas into reality.

Karen rewrote a Grimm's folktale.

Jessica dummied up a poem by Peter S. Beagle,
with the author's permission.

Anne worked on a story written by her mother.

Marcela's "Sisters" reflects her own experience of living in two different countries.

Roya and her husband Luc collaborated on a book about Colors.

Sarita wrote her original manuscript in Marlo Garnsworthy's
 Children's Book writing class through RISD CE.

Rebecca's story was about growth and the cycle of life.

Lori Surdat Weinberg's Illustration I class joined us, and I look forward to
seeing many of them in a future Book Dummy class.

...and I brought my own dummy.

               Many thanks to Marcela Staudenmaier for sharing
               her photos of our last class.

Summertime Students

It's been a great summer. I taught a wonderful group of students at RISD Summer Studies. What a hard-working, talented group of young people they were! The six weeks flew by! 

RISD Summer Studies Children's Book Illustration Students, 2013

Life is Sweet

Illustration Friday # 28: SWEET, RISD CE graduation, and chickadees

Life is Sweet  ©Cheryl Kirk Noll

You can see the passage of time... here the snowbell flowers are budding.

Spring is my favorite time of year. Classes finish up. Students graduate. Flowers bloom and babies hatch.

This year has been particularly productive for my garden. A cute little birdhouse that my dad gave us at least ten years ago has it's first tenants this year.

The flowers have blossomed. Breath in the fragrance!

A black-capped chickadee couple made Songbird Hollow their home. The birdhouse hangs from a styrax obessia (Fragrant snowbell tree) right outside our back window, so we were thrilled to watch the pair nest-building. On Tuesday, I heard the babies peeping for the first time when their parents arrived with food. Within two weeks, they should be flying away.

It's a life-affirming process to watch.

After the 4 day heat wave, the snowbells are gone, but roses are out!

My job as the adviser for the Children's Book Illustration certificate program at RISD-ce is a thrill for me too. I often meet students when they start the program, and I always have them for at least one class, meet with them for the final portfolio critique, and have the honor of handing out their certificates.

 I'm thankful to my brilliant program coordinator, Francoise McAree, to the CE staff, and to the fine teachers in the program who have led these students along the way.

I'm so proud of this year's 11 graduates. I'm as proud as a mama chickadee, and I can't wait to see where they fly, now that they've left the nest.

l-r sitting: Roya Ma, teacher assistant Susan Novich, Sherry Brodeur, Sarah Luz, l-r standing: Laura Foltz, Jeanette Bradley, Instructor Judith Moffatt, Mary Jackson, Emily Laramee, Meg Sodano, Peter Sentkowski, Anne Wert (missing: Karen Sculos)

To see more about the graduating students and the program, go to the programs informal blog,  Drawing Together .