Linda's Review of The Artful Gathering "Leonardo Loves Zia" Class By Christina Zinnia Galliher

If you follow my Linda's Blog you know that I love taking online arts & crafts classes and could, literally,  spend 24/7 just doing this.  So, for sure I was looking forward to taking two classes at Artful Gathering this year.

In 2012 I discovered the Artful Gathering online classes and fell in love with them. They offer online art retreats that are available in the Spring and Summer each year that are are taught by some of the most unbelievable and creative artists I have ever encountered and whose creativity is beyond measure.

Artful Gathering was established in 2009 by Christina Zinnia Galliher, who is an exceptional artist in her own right.   For the first time this year I decided to take one of Christina's Zinnia's classes,  "Leonardo Loves Zia" and could hardly wait.  

Artful Gathering 2019 Session 1 "Leonardo Loves Zia" Class by Christina Zinnia Galliher

In this class we were to learn how to manipulate paper to create two totally handmade sculptured jesters.  According to Zinnia; "My goal is to answer the question, how can we create our own sculpts and art works from every day materials, simplifying the processes as to how to express our ideas out of paper, clay, and glues before we paint them into works of art. The purpose is to engage our imagination by limiting the quantity of items we will work with. This is truly the nature of play, which leads to discovery and the potential for many new doors to open in your artwork."

Zinnia certainly did all of that and more in this class.  Zinnia is a fabulous teacher and provides extremely detailed instructions in her videos and makes any class by her a "must do."  There is so much to learn and so many different projects to try she extended the class for the whole summer, which I and the rest of the class loved.  So, much more time for creating.

If you want to learn how to manipulate paper, sculpt in various textures, learn how to use and embellish watercolor paints, blend different types of paints, embellish glass, collage everything from clay to wood to glass, create pedestal busts, create armatures, make and embellish paper hats in several different styles, learn a variety of mixed media techniques, and blend everything you've learned together this is the class for you.

It took me a long time to create all four of my jesters, paper flowers, and collage vases as there is so much involved with their creation so if you want to take this class, which you should, you will need to reserve a lot of time to watch the video's and follow Zinnia's techniques.  What you learn and the end result is well worth the amount of time required to learn everything there is to learn in this class and to create your jesters, flowers, and embellished vases.

I've always looked forward to the excellent instructing by all the phenomenal artists that teach at Artful Gathering but, what really makes the classes outstanding is the student and teacher class participation.  That's what makes all the classes so delightful.  This class was filled with a lot of student and teacher participation.

The "Leonardo Loves Zia" class was structured around a love story and Zinnia's creations beautifully told that story.  A truly remarkable class that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn from a master artist.

My Linda's Blog post with more info and pictures of my 1st set of "Leonardo and Zia" art dolls is here.

My Linda's Blog post with more info and pictures of my 2nd set of  "Leonardo and Zia" art dolls is here.

My Linda's Blog post with more info and pictures of my paper flowers and collage vases from my "Leonardo Loves Zia" class is here.