Artful Adventures

Too much fun!

Don't you just love doing something arty & kind of messy all at the same time?  Well, I do!  We hauled out my grandfather's (maybe gr. grandfathers, can't remember) wallpaper table, set it up on the patio, and proceeded to attempt doing nature prints.  If you remember back a few months, I wrote about a book I had just gotten written by LK Ludwig.  Just by looking through Mixed Media Nature Journals, I knew this was something I was going to love doing-and I was right!  Check out some of what I got from my first attempts at this, can't wait to play around more with this technique.  The possibilities are endless!

Is this cool, or what!  LK is teaching a class in Sept. at my favorite place to be, Valley Ridge Art Studio.  I'd love to go to class and see what other tricks she has up her sleeve!  Will have to see what I can do to make that happen, not sure how yet, but the mind is whirling:)

A summer full of classes coming up

 Even though I just recently posted a photo of allium, just had to share what they looked like wide open.  The picture was taken yesterday, but it rained hard last night so today they look a little beaten up today, will cut some & bring them inside-may as well enjoy them while I can!  Last fall we found out that there was a blacksmith shop on the property when it was first built.  Between that & the way metal & garbage in general was disposed of throughout the years, Gary's been finding all kinds of interesting metal pieces while he's digging, transplanting & planting.  And he's been having fun with it, looks like a metal detector might be a good idea for Father's Day, keep him busy doing something he enjoys.  He's also been stressing out over the 2 classes that he's taking with me this year, all worried that he won't keep up, but he'll be fine.  But all his talk about classes keeps reminding me about the classes I'm taking, making me even more excited than other years for the calendar to roll around to class dates.  Not that I'm in any hurry for summer to end, but I am in a hurry to get myself into the classroom! 

The first class will be in July at Peninsula Art School, my first visit there so that'll be a treat.  The rest of them will be held at Valley Ridge Art Studio, and you all know how much I love it there!  First there's Nina in August for her Gatherings class, and you also all know how much I adore Nina and can hardly wait to see her again.  Followed by Misty Mawn 2 weeks later for her Mixed Media for all Seasons class. Misty & I have known each other online for a long time so I'm very anxious to meet her, and I admit a tad bit intimidated at the thought drawing & painting in front of her-yikes!  The last class of the year for me is in September with Katie Kendrick who is teaching Intuitive Mixed Media Collage, an absolutely perfect way to end my classes for the year.  Besides that being a beautiful time of year at Valley Ridge, Katie & I have been online friends for probably as long as I've been doing mixed media (and that's been awhile) yet we've never met in person, making this long overdue.  I've adored Katie's work from the beginning, and have thoroughly enjoyed watching her grow as an artist, and have the successes that she's had.  We're about the same age, each have 2 kids about the same ages, and enough in common that I feel like I already know her.  Have you seen what her students did in her Collaged Faces class at Artfest this year?  If not, click here and be prepared to be blown away!  I can hardly wait to learn that technique, along with everything else that she's going to teach!  The only way to make it better than it already will be, is if a bunch of my online friends all descended upon Valley Ridge and met for a class-sound like fun?  Seriously, if you've never been to Valley Ridge yet, you owe it yourself to go there at least once (although I know you'll want to go back again & again---) and for those of you have been there, you know what I mean-it's a special place with special instructors, and a place where magic can happen and frienships for life are formed.  

So now you know why I'm anxious for classes, but on the other hand am not wishing summer away.  I'll just look at it as the perfect way to end the summer:)

And on that note, I'll end this with Gary's creation from some of the metal that he's unearthed lately.  And he's worried about classes?  He's got an eye, now he just needs a little more confidence.  Jeremy will be home for the week end, so I may not post again for a couple of days-enjoy the week end!

HOme again, home again--

These are the 2 women that created another memorable weekend at Valley Ridge Art Studio.  Kathy is always the perfect hostess, making sure that everyone is comfortable & providing a wonderful studio space so that we can concentrate on learning, and just leave the outside world behind us for a couple of days.  The class was "Backstage Pass", taught by Michelle Ward, what a treat!  Having taken a class from Michelle a couple of years ago, I knew it would be a fun filled learning experience, and it certainly was all that and more!  With her guidance, we each constructed an assemblage, with a journal to accompany it, learning lots of techniques along the way.  (My assemblage isn't quite done, so can't show it yet, but so far I'm pleased with what I got done & where it's going.)  After demonstrating her spray painting techniques, Michelle decided that as long as the paint was out she may as well add a little color to Kathy's picnic table, she had that thing looking like a masterpiece in no time at all:)  I loved watching her spray paint, the way she went at it you could tell that she knows it well-and enjoys every second of it!                                                                                         Before we all left on Sunday, we all put our work together on a table, and discussed a little of what we did, a closing ceremony of sorts I suppose, which is how most classes end at Valley Ridge. This was my last class for the season, now it's time to settle in for the winter, practice what I've learned, and anxiously wait to see what classes are in store for me next year.  Valley Ridge is more than a classroom, it's where you get to really know the teachers, make new friends, see old friends (which reminds me-Linda, please get a blog so you can share your wonderful art!), take a deep breath & relax!  And that my friends, is my story, and I'm sticking to it:)

Heading out!

Tomorrow morning I'll be hitting the road, heading for

Valley Ridge Art Studio to take a class this week end with

Michelle Ward.  Michelle is so enthusiastic about what she does, that you can't help but get caught up in it, making the week end go by way too fast!  But all week ends at Valley Ridge go by far too fast, it's just a good place to be!  Normally, I'm in a panic, packing at the very last minute & always end up leaving later than planned.  This time around, I have most of my stuff all packed already-can you tell that I'm anxious to go:)  Hope everyone has a good week end, and I'll see you next week!   

A quick trip--

A few weeks ago, an opening became available in Nina's Sticks & Stones class at Valley Ridge Art Studio for this past week end.  Even though I took the class last year, I knew I'd pick up more pointers and that it would be well worth it-and it was!  The fine points of the infamous "Nina Knot" had eluded me, not for lack of trying on both my part & NIna's-as soon as I'd get home from a class it was like I'd forgotten how to do it, frustrating to say the least.  But now I've got it-I 've really got it!!  And to make sure, I'm making a knot a day to keep it fresh:)  I'll get a photo of the necklace I made taken & posted later on today.
For any of you out there who have not had the pleasure of taking a class at Valley Ridge , you owe it to yourself to go there, seriously.  The instructors are always the best, and Bill & Kathy always make you feel right at home & see to it that everything runs smoothly-they both go above and beyond, and they do it with a smile.  Here's a great example from last week end-one of the women in class had a little incident & tore the muffler off her vehicle, and was understandably upset about it.  Bill got right in his car to go look for it, found it & brought it back (intact) and saved the day.  Now, THAT'S service!
Here's a few photos of the studio, a few classmates, Nina & Kathy-enjoy!