Several weeks ago I spent three days in a workshop sponsored by the Contemporary Artists of Southern Arizona – www.casaaz.org . They had brought in the popular and excellent teacher, Jackie Sullivan, www.jacquelinesullivan.com to do a class on working with texture.

For me the workshop was extremely informative and productive. I don’t judge a workshop by how much work I finish because I am a fast worker and usually complete several pieces in a class. I judge workshops by how much I learn and how hard I am pushed by the instructor to explore my “edges”. Jackie did that very well! I left feeling I had learned some new “tricks” and I ended up with a number of pieces ready for mats!

I particularly liked Jackie’s way of transforming aluminum foil into an interesting collage material. The way she layered pieces on to her work to give work additional dimension was interesting. Her use of mediums was fun to revisit, and her unique way of building a painting was new to me.

Jackie likes sparkle and she had a number of ways to incorporate “glitz” on to the page. Years ago she and Victoria Pittman developed a wonderful class that was presented at the annual calligraphy gathering at Sonoma State in 2000. While I did not take that particular class, I have taken that same metallics workshop three separate times and have learned something new each time. I don’t think Victoria is offering it any more, but Jackie does include some of the techniques in her texture class.

I won’t give away Jackie’s secrets but she said many of the techniques that she taught are demonstrated on the video offered for sale on her website.