"Zhostovo" Workshop with Misha

Hello Dear painter friends:

I had the fortune to attend for a second time a "Zhostovo" workshop ....

These are my 2 finished projects: 

a metal plate 

and a salt blue box....

with the Master Painter Mikhail Lebedev, AKA as Misha.

Misha comes strait from Zhostovo, Russia and teaches his workshops in various cities once a year in the spring time in the USA ...I consider myself very lucky to live near San Jose, California and be able to attend his beautiful workshops!

a bit of History:
"Zhostovo" is a 19th old century folk handicraft of painting on lacquered metal trays from Russia.
Its most used motif is a bunch of mixed flowers, the trays usually have golden edges and finished with 3 layers of light lacquer.
This art form represents a whole unit in itself in the Russian folk art and it is know as "Zhostovo Factory of Decorative Painting"
It is still painted in a factory in the village of "Zhostovo" near Moscow by master painters, such as Misha.

These are some of Misha's works ...

plates...

sample boards

wooden boxes...

in browns

and a collage/details of his beautiful flowers...

2017 workshop

This time around I took the time to document the whole process and now I can share it with all of you...

This year we had the huge task to make 2 amazing projects...
a salt blue box (here it is my finished box)

and a plate...
(my metal plate)

here is Misha working in the salt blue box

his setting: a large bucket of water, a palette, some brushes, paints (DecoArt),  paper towel and that's it!!!

even if he has several brushes he only used throughout the whole project these 3 brushes!!!!

here are some shots of the participants...

I will share with you some of the very basic steps 

of the salt blue box project that we did in class

at home, in order to accommodate the 2 projects into the length of the workshop
we had to do some prep work before going into class...

Salt Blue Box

step 1;
We used throughout the whole workshop acrylic paints from DecoArt, Americana line...
basecoating the salt box

placing the pattern onto the salt box...

base coating all the flowers
this is the lid of the box...

step 2;
in this 2nd stage, now in class, we added some shadows to the flowers and leaves (lid)

step 3;
some more shadows (lid)

step 4;
now onto the highlights (lid)

step 5;
at this point we added final touches, highlights and filler stems and leaves (lid)

here it is my setting and working on my box

view of the back and front of my salt box

This is my finished blue box...

side view

view from the top

back

The second project done in this workshop was a wood octagon plate...

Plate

For this project I decided to provide my own surface, a metal plate, that I bought at a garage sale for $1.00 !!!
I, first spray it with a metal spray grey primer...

step 1;
after tracing the pattern, I basecoat at home as the blue box before class, all the flowers

another view of my prep work before going into class...

here it is the finished center bunch of flowers of my metal plate

 details

finished plate

 

 next workshop???

We have the fortune to see what he is going to teach next year in 2018...
a beautiful trunk!
details of the different panels...

here it is the lid of the trunk for the 2018 project!
gorgeous right?

BTW; if you would like to order patterns with all the instructions/
or buy a DVD with step by step of a floral arrangement from Misha's work...
and or order some wood surfaces (such as the salt box)
contact Susie Lockwood,
who is in charge to distribute Misha's patterns here in the USA at 

"Creative Woodworks"

Thanks for the company

 in this long post

but worth while in order to

have a glimpse of what goes behind the creation of one of 

this Zhostovo masterpieces created by Misha. 

A wonderful and old style of painting 

from the region of Zhostovo in Russia

 that can not be forgotten...

Hope you liked it!!! as much I did ...

see you for another project!!! 
 

SUPPLIES

InLinkz.com

CRA Painting Convention with Josonja

Hello Dear Painter Friends:

The California Rosemaling Association (CRA) organized recently a seminar having as a special guest the "Vesterheim Gold Medalist" (VGM) master painter and teacher Josonja Jansen.

I had the fortune and the opportunity to attend

Here are some of the highlights of that great painting convention!

So grab a cup of coffee, sit, relax and enjoy these photos...

because it is going to be a bit loooong :)

 _____________ o _______________

The convention was held in the Northern town of Eureka in California

We made 2 different projects; the first one a Norwegian utilitarian box called "tine" [tee-nah]  and two Norwegian sandwich boards both in the "Telemark" style.

Day 1:
On this day we had to 'prep' our surfaces...
here is my place setting... having my boards and "Tine" box all painted in the designated background colors...

We were around 70 to 80 attendees
and I was lucky enough to be at the front sharing my table with my new painter friend Beth

Among the  attendees they were two of my favorite and experienced teachers from whom I have taken classes.
My dear teacher and Friend Marley Wright Smith and my current Decorative painter teacher Carl Larson
on this photo as well on the front is Cheryl Banwarth, president of the CRA (in yellow)

Day 2:
We started painting the "tine" box...
 This is Josonja's box

close up of the lid

and this is how Josonja sets her painting table with her palette, projects , camera, sketches etc...

On the seminar I got to see many cool ideas and new "gadgets" for painting
Look at these fabulous paint brush caddies...

and these "tools" are so cool and necessary
1-Josonja uses a heart pillow filled with lavender to support her wood projects.
These are amazing, they support your project fantastically
2- the 2nd photo on the top right is a Beautiful painted clip board to display your instructions and/or photos...supported by a wood quilt ruler holder...how clever!
I will be making one of these for sure!!!
3- and the last one is the handy screwdriver that Beth, my painting neighbor, had in her supplies!

For the convention, I made my own version of the Josonja's lavender Pillow...
Mine are filled with with beans and made out of hand wash clothes and in green of course to match my place setting :)

my beany bags in action...

Some shots of the progress of MY "Tine" box...

close up of the Unicorn, the tiger and lastly the bouquet of flowers...

Day 3:
We continue and finished painting the "Tine" box...
For teaching purposes she paints on watercolor boards...
These are her teaching boards

In the evening we had a nice banquet with some food and performing some music from the "Barbershop Quartet" photo top right

Also, Gayle Oram, MDA and VGM came to the banquet dressed in traditional Norwegian clothes wearing the "Bunad"

At the banquet they were present 4 "Vesterheim Gold Medalists" 1st photo on the left:
Jurene While ; Josonja Jansen; Gayle Oram; Karen Nelson
top right 4 of the original founders of CRA: Marley Wright Smith (dressed in blue) among them, Jurene While and Hilde Henry...
and below the 2016 CRA comittee

Day 4:
Here is Josonja giving some advice...

The previous day we started painting the "sandwich boards"
here it is my basecoating  and pattern traced...

on this last day we got to finish the boards...
steps of my progress...

but it was not all just painting time during the convention...
in the evenings we had fun and nice get togethers sampling the local restaurants that Carl knows so much...
in photo Marley, Carl,  Peggy and Carol...

and during the day between breaks we had shopping time at the trade floor...
I got some unfinished pieces, raw wood, brushes, patterns, magazines and of course paint!

I step out as well to visit Josonja's studio and Museum; which was one block away from the hotel

her classroom

These are some of the wonderful works that I saw during convention...
amazing "Rosemaling" plates

and wonderful painting projects done by Josonja

some more inspiring pieces...

during class Josonja shared with us her incredible collection of sketches, ideas and magazine articles all on Rosemaling

Here is the map of the different regions in Norway, from where the names of the painting styles come from...such as Telemark,  Hallingdal, Veat-Agder, Os etc...

her beautiful sketches/studies

After this intensive and very creative painting seminar, I decided to visit the northern California red wood forests, the vineyards and towns (in photo Mendocino)...
what an amazing collage of landscapes...

and enjoy the beauty of the Californian coastline...
From the window of my B&B and some shots from Mendocino

before arriving home, in the San Francisco, Bay area 

I want to thank the CRA for organizing this special seminar 

Josonja for sharing her passion with all of us and gives us some tools to pursue our dreams...

I had a wonderful time with my old and new fellow painter friends...

and my wish is that I can continue perfecting my painting skills on Rosemaling and maybe who knows down the road be able to teach and transmit the legacy of this "old" and almost forgotten style of painting!!!

Thanks to all my loyal readers that stayed until the end ...

I know it was a very LONG post

  I hope it brought you some good souvenirs 
(for the ones who attended)

and some insight for the ones that could not be there...

Cheers, 
until next post...

and Happy Thanksgiving week!

If you like what you see here subscribe to my blog...