Artful Adventures

A Must Read book!

 

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Annie Lockhart (that really does sound too formal!) at a class taught by Nina and held at Valley Ridge Art Studio, which is an absolutely magical place.  Turns out that Annie & I share a birthday, and the fun started from there, turning us into "Sweet Sistah's".  That said, I couldn't be any happier or more proud of Annie for this book that she wrote and was just released.  It is WONDERFUL!!!  Seriously, I buy a lot of books, and this is hands down, one of the best.  She makes you think about what you're creating.  After reading this book, you'll never again glue something to something-just because.  Or because it's trendy and all the kids are doing it:)  You'll think about those elements and what they mean, what do they add, and you'll soon have something that reflects you, not so & so.  Oh, just buy the book-you won't regret it!

How's Summer Treating You?

How's the summer treating you?  Are you enjoying it, looking around you to see what might be hanging around for just these few months?  If you're not, you'll never know what you may be missing that could be right in front of your eyes.  Here in WI, the summers are short and can go by as fast as a blink of the eye.  And all too often, myself included, I've seen folks so very busy, focused on a task, worrying, working too hard-----insert any word or phrase that fits, and then stop & think-----is that you?  Or me?  Or those you love?  Slow down then-just long enough to look around, drink in what nature's offered up for us, breathe in-then out-then in again-do you feel better?  Don't get me wrong, I know we all have responsibilities and can't ignore them for months on end, but we do all deserve a break now & then, a well deserved break, the kind that you don't feel quilty for having taken.  Life's just too short!

For instance, even though I'm terrified of spiders, here's something I've never seen before-a ball about the size of a ping pong ball that was a mass of baby spiders, probably hundreds of them, but I wasn't about to get close enough to count:)  They were hanging on a fern frond, and would travel around to different fronds, but stayed in a group and always ended back up in that ball shape. 

And look at what this peony looks like, up close & personal.  The parts are so intricate and grow so quickly, but the entire flower is spent & gone before you know it.  Even though the flower as a whole is beautiful, look closely next time at your flowers, they're really pretty incredible!

A butterfly that stopped for a rest just long enough to snap this picture, I think most of us are used to carrying a camera around, but if you're not, try it-you won't regret it.  Having been limited this summer as to where and when I could venture outside this summer because of my surgery, has renewed my appreciation and passion for nature.  Funny how when something is taken away from you, it becomes something that you want more than ever.  For me this year, I spent the beginning of the summer in my studio, non stop, getting ready for my show,(still time to get there, it's at Off the Wheel Pottery until Aug.22) and then had surgery 4 days later.  With this all planned months in advance, everything for the remainder of the summer was planned around all of this, including choosing classes at Valley Ridge Art Studio forgoing early classes for late summer/early fall classes, making sure I'd be able to travel.  But the one thing I hadn't factored in, was just how much that wonderful little slice of heaven has become an integral part of my summer-like I said before, take it away & you want it even more.  It just feels "wrong" to not have been there yet!  But the wait will be worth it, my first class will be Nature Inspired, taught by Tracie Lyn Huskamp, and I can hardly wait!  Not only is Tracie a sweetie, but she's combining her class with the debut of her first book, Nature Inspired: Mixed-Media Techniques for Gathering, Sketching, Painting, Journaling, and Assemblage , and she'll be throwing a party!  So come join us, Gary's taking the class along with me me (he's not missing out on this one!) and help Tracie celebrate her book release, and help me celebrate finally getting down to Valley Ridge!  I know that money's tight, but some things are just so worth it, and a
Valley Ridge experience is one those things, something that I truly wish you all get to experience at some time.  Another thing we haven't been able to do enough of this summer is get over to The Flying Pig for a dose of inspiration and some good company.  But now that it's getting much easier to get in & out of the car, and I don't need the walker anymore & am back using a cane, it's easier to get around, making me feel like now I can start my summer.  Watching the sunset at Red River Park, sitting around a bonfire, watching fireflys, listening to the night sounds, watching the landscape change as flowers come & go-some more of the things that define summer for me.  What's yours?  I'd love to hear what your favorite summer things are, favorite summer memory, favorite summer anything-if we'd all share something, we may end up finding a new & favorite thing to do.  Are you game to share?  I'll bet you are!  One last picture, 3 families of geese down at Red River Park one night with all of their young ones-that sight made a favorite summer memory.  See how easy this could be:)

A lot of Linky Love Today

In the last couple of days, I've been out & about online trying to play a quick game of catch up, in between everything else I'm doing here.  It's been fun so I want to share some of what I found.  First, did you know that Bernie Berlin of A Place to Bark Animal Rescue is running a charity auction on Ebay, with all the proceeds going to help build a new kennel for her animal rescue effort.  The auction consists of artwork that a lot of us donated to Bernie to help her raise funds for the rescue.  So if you want to add to your art collection, and help the critters at the same time, this is a great way to do it!  She's got the piece that I donated up for auction right now, so click & see, and make sure to go back often as many more pieces will be added throughout the month.  If you want to do even more shopping, go check out my shop over at MMCA Marketplace.  There are 14 shops to choose from, including Sue Minier who was featured in a recent Cloth Paper Scissors article with her beautiful fabric collages.  The one featured in the article sold right away, but there's plenty more to see-I'd love to own one of those myself!  And while you're over there, click on over to the MMCA blog and read Christine Goldbeck's book review, which is the first in a series to follow soon.  In the meantime, Andrew is doing his own interpretation of an advent calendar, as only Andrew would do, and also posted a photo essay today.  If you're not familiar with his blog, you'll be fascinated with the photos that he takes & the art that he makes.  My friend Debi, has a brand new website for her shop in Houston, Yaya Chique, if you're in the area, I'd be running over there quick to see her work in person!  And while your at it, check out her blog & see some of her home decorations.  Valley Ridge Art Studio has their 2009 line up of classes posted, how do you choose from this selection of some of the best teachers around?  Have you stopped by this blog yet, I love it over there!  It's fresh & fun, with recipes & tips in the sidebar and some wonderful free images to use, a very generous offer!  There's more, but just one more for tonight.  Last but certainly not least, Christi made a beautiful post about 29 days of giving and yes, she's giving something away for 29 days, but go read about it, the project is growing!  This should keep you busy for awhile, and if you find any fun or interesting links, let me know, remind me if I know them, but better yet everyone who reads the comments can then find even more places to pop into! 

Have you seen these new paints?

If you're new to reading my blog, you'll soon find out how much I adore going to Valley Ridge Art Studio for classes every summer.  ( the preliminary 2009 schedule is posted-go check it out, it's going to be another great season!)  In the summer of 2003, I took my first class there, it was a class on color theory taught by Claudine Hellmuth.  It was also the first time I ever bought "real paint", it was primary colors in the fluid adcrylics made by Golden.  That's how my love affair with Golden paints (and Valley Ridge-lol) started, and I've stuck to them.  But now, Claudine has come out with her own line of acrylic paints, and the colors look wonderful!  If you click here for her blog you can read all about it.  Knowing how much she loved the quality of her Golden paints, I completely trust her that these paints will be of the highest quality.  Not only has she developed her own paint line, she made this video to show how easily her colors mix to create many more colors, expanding your color palette and getting a lot of mileage out of them.  As if that wasn't enough, she made a pdf chart as a free download to reference while experimenting with these paints-can't ask for more than that!  So, even though I've been a hard core won't use anything but Golden paint kinda gal, I can see a future for these in my own studio soon, the colors are just too much fun to pass up!  Even though lately I've shown mostly jewelry that I've made, I've also been doing a lot of playing with paint, and I'm loving it.  When I think back to that first class, and how terrified I was, seriously I was sick I was so nervous, and now I'll dive right in & try almost anything and now look so forward to taking more classes each summer, I've come a long way.  And speaking of coming a long way, this was my 300th post-I can hardly believe it!!  I'll have to think of some kind of celebration in the near future for this one-stay tuned.

Life is Good---

-----especially if you happen to be at Valley Ridge Art Studio for the week end, taking a class taught by Katie Kendrick! 

How's that for a road sign?  The last trip down there, I spotted it but forgot to take a picture of it on the way home.  This time around, we got it!   

The studio overlooks a valley, and if the weather is just right, you can see mist rising up, and thisa day it never stopped.  It's a view that I never get tired of, and to be able to look up from your work space, loook out the window & see this, well it just never gets old.   

You've all heard me talk about the scenery before, so on to the class!  In this class, Katie has us constructing a visual journal out of cardboard & other various papers, showing us lots of paiting tips & tricks along the way.  Can't show you mine yet, because it's not quite finished-something I hope to have done in a day or so, then I'll share it.  It was incredibly freeing to work on something that was destined to be recycled before we rescued it & repurposed it into a book.  Not having to worry about "wrecking" something that we had spent good money on, seemed to bring out the creativeness in all of us.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here, it was a smallish class size, so we each had 2 tables to work on!  So besides having tons of personal time with Katie, we each had a 4'x4' surface to work on.  And you quessed it, within a very short amount of time, we all had the actual work space reduced to about a foot square of empty space:)  Do you do that at home?  I know I do! 

Here we all are, after lunch in the Community room, and all acting a bit silly, it's the only way to go:)  There were 3 of us that went to class together this time, Amanda and I had planned on it all along, but my friend & neighbor, Trina decided to come with us at the last minute.  This was her first class at Valley Ridge, her first real art experience, and one of the first times that she'd left the family at home to do something for herself in a very long time.  And what a perfect class for her to take!  And to watch her work & see what she accomplished, you'd never know that she wasn't an old pro-she's a natural!  When all 3 of us get our books done, I'll see if we can get them all photographed & do a little show & tell here.  Amanda just flew through, she always amazes me at how fast she can work, especially since she had a cold and felt like crud.  Then there was me, poking along as usual-need to learn how to pick up the speed! 

Even though Katie & I have been online friends for a very long time, this was the first time that we'd actually met in person.  It was long overdue, but well worth the wait, I felt like I'd known her forever.  Long before class, I was told that I'd like Katie a lot, they were right!  If you have a chance to take a class from her, and there are plenty of opportunites coming up, do yourself a favor & sign up-you won't regret it!  Her class was fast paced, and we got a lot done, but she was always available for advice, help, whatever you needed, and she always had that sweet smile on her face.  You will like her, too! 

As we drove away from the studio on Sunday, we weren't very far down the road when we spotted these 3 crows sitting in a tree.  Trina quick got a picture of them, laughing that it was too wierd having the 3 of us in the car & then spotting those 3 birds in the tree.  It really was kind of wierd, made a great picture, and will likely make a great transfer-or a good image for the books we just made.  The plan was to have taken a picture of the 3 of us standing by the jeep before we unloaded it, I swear there wasn't any space left in there at all!  For once, the husbands really were pretty safe that we wouldn't be doing a lot of shopping:)  So here we are, after arriving home Monday, the jeep was already unloaded, adn teh 3 of us were so tired, we didn't know which way was up.  But here we are anyway:)  Tomorrow, after I finiah a necklace, I'll show you what Gary made over the weekend while we were gone-you won't believe your eyes!!

Class with Misty Mawn

Being a little on the shy & quiet side at first, it was tough getting a photo of Misty, but here she is!  This was her first time at Valley Ridge, as was over half the class this time around, a bunch of "Valley Ridge virgins" with a smattering of old timers made for a great class!  Having never met her before, I was not disappointed one little bit!  She's sweet, talented, knows her technique & products well, and shared much more information than I had hoped for.  You just can't ask for more than that out of a class.

Both days she spent a good amount of time demonstrating the endless ways to build up layers & texture for a background, most of which I didn't have time to try out yet-it was mind boggling and she made it all look so easy. 

Time passed so quickly as we all gathered around the table, watching her work her magic.  And it really was magical as we watched her hands literally fly, as our jaws dropped at the many tricks she had up her sleeve, and the dramatic results that she achieved in no time at all.  Practice, practice, practice-you can tell that she has and that it's paid off, as the process seemed so natural to her.

I'm really not kidding about her hands flying around while she works, I had to switch the camera setting to running man so the photos wouldn't blur!  On the second day, she showed us how to draw faces and paint them, I was about jumping up & down, if I could:)  For some reason I assumed the class would be all backgrounds & collage, so I was thrilled.  As much as I love drawing & painting faces, being self taught, I always wondered how I could improve, and there's always room for improvement!  She had great advice & tips that I won't forget and will practice-my goal is to practice those tips daily and I'm going to make every attempt to do just that.   

We were to think seasons while we did our paintings, both in color & subject matter.  These sheets are just the beginning, there's a lot more layers to be added yet, but I decided to show them anyway.  It'll be interesting to see how they evolve. 

Again, much more work is needed on these, but I'm pleased with the beginnings.  Misty did help on the face by drawing in the ears and helping me get a more realistic nose than I had.  She was so helpful, I just can't thank her enough!  The goal is to get unpacked & reorganized in the studio today and then go at these again, using more of her tips & tricks, but still making it my own.  I'll keep you posted as I progess through them, you all will be my accountability factor to finish these 6 pieces! 

Here's Amanda, my traveling partner for this trip, and her first time at Valley Ridge.  The way I rant & rave to everyone about how much I love it there, I'm always a little afraid that newcomers will have unrealistic expectations, but once again, it was proven that I needn't worry about that.  Valley Ridge is everything I've ever said it is and then some, I've never seen anyone less than thrilled with classes there, and I doubt that I ever will.  If you want to see for yourself, meet me there for Katie Kendrick's class in Sept, it's going to be another great one!

After lunch one day, we were going to take a photo of all of our hands full of paint.  But because it was after we ate, our hands were too clean so it was decided to take a foot photo instead.  Who knows why, but it was fun:)  See that's the thing there, you can pretty much do what you want & always have fun doing it.  Like this group shot-someone had the idea to have all of us line up underneath the clothesline & hook our shirts to the clothespins for the group shot-and that's just what we did:)

Once again, another perfect couple of days spent at Valley Ridge, and being with the talented Misty Mawn just made it even better.  Thanks for everything, Misty!  Oh, and yesterday, I left you with this image:

This is what happens to your shirt, supplies, and everything around you when you drop a huge jar of gesso straight down on the floor!  I picked the jar up by the lid to set down on the floor beside me, turns out the lid wasn't on tight and it came off in my hand.  Next thing I know, I'm holding a lid in my hand and have gesso dripping off my clothes, the table, chair, supply bags, and puddles all over the floor.  Honestly, for a second there I had no idea what had happened, what a mess!  It all got cleaned up quickly, thanks to everyone pitching in, including Misty, and I'm even allowed back on the premises-lol!  I'll bring raincoats next time around for anyone that dares to sit next to me:)

The Valley Ridge Road Trip

Ever since I've had this blog, I've written about the classes I've taken at Valley Ridge Art Studio, and I still will, but this time around I'm going to be showing you some of the things we saw on the roads to get there, surrounding the studio.  There's too many pictures, so this post will be about the sights and the next one will be about Misty's class.  Sound like a deal?  I thought so:)

Amanda went with me, and at the last minute we decided to go a day early and do a little exploring.  Everytime I go, I want to take pictures on the road to the studio, but am always too excited to get to class to stop, and on the way back I'm so busy thinking about the class that I forget to stop for the photos.  So this time, we took a ride up that road the day before just to get some pictures.  Just past the studio, we saw these cows.  Now I see cows everyday around here, but these crazy things were walking way up on trails on top of a rock bluff that edged the road-they were acting like goats instead of cows!  No need for a fence, they seemed to know that one wrong step and they'd be goners-crazy!

A little further down and we found a big old pine snake sunning itself in the middle of the road, haven't seen one of those since I was a kid.  I still remember in the 3rd grade, in a 1 room schoolhouse, at the end of the day when we were all let loose, there was a huge pine snake laying at the bottom of the steps so none of us would leave the building.  Then my Dad showed up & got rid of the snake for us-he was a hero that day:) 

I'm always amazed at how Andrew stops & takes notice of all of the textures surrounding us everyday, so following his lead of paying attention, I got a close up of the snakeskin-with a zoom, no way did I get THAT close!!  Andrew would have taken it a step or 2 further with some digital manipulation, but I'm still no good at that-someday.

Once again-cows!  There are a lot of creeks or streams running through the farmland there, so we kept seeing cows in the water-not something we see around here.  It was nice to see them have the freedom to do a little rock climbing or take a quick dip, compared to around here in dairy land where they seem to live most of their lives in fields that seem too small or hooked up to a stantion. 

Becasue I always stay in Fenimore when I go for class, I come in to the studio on a back road, Hwy Q-very windy, hilly, and scenic.  Off and on, the sides of the roads were banked with these rock bluffs on either side, something we also see on Hwy 18 on the way down.  Always amazes me to see plant life thriving on these rocks, not quite sure how they do it.

Well, this photo isn't nearly as cool as it really looks.  This dead tree is really quite tall, with wood vine wound tightly all the way up the trunk, with a hint of red in the leaves here & there-a sure sign that fall is closing in on us. 

Each day we got to see these horses grazing in the field, sometimes with the company of cows, sometimes not.  The little foal never seemed to stray far from it's mama, keeping right toght behind her at all times.  I love watching horses, especially out in a field, but have a nice healthy respect for any critter that size and keep my distance.  Well, that's not entirely true, there was the time I was petting bear through their cages-but that's another story for another day:)

Speaking of another story, tomorrow I'll post about the class and tell you how this mess happened-another one of my shining moments!  In the meantime, if you want to know even more about me than you already do, head on over to the MMCA Marketplace blog and read my answers to a little Q & A.  And I'll see you all tomorrow!

Summer Treasures

Don't you just love this time of year?  Second cutches of baby birds, robins in this case, keeping the parents busy at the feeders and raising a ruckus if a cat or some other critter comes too close to home.  You can just sit outside & listen and get a good idea of what's happening, and I love watching them all frantically feeding their babies. Summer around here is fast & furious, we wait forever for it to get here, then complain it's too hot, and now worried that it's already August and almost over.  We humans are a strange lot when you think about it!

This cardinal flower, which is in the lobelia family, has been blooming this brilliant red color for over 10 years now. It's in a spot up against a very tall pale pink plumed filipendula, the contrast is gorgeous.  They're a very particular flower to grow, and it's been said that I'm lucky it keeps coming back, but it does, year after year.  Tomorrow moring, Amanda and I are heading out for Valley Ridge to take a class with Misty Mawn on Thursday & Friday, coming home again on Saturday.  It was a last minute decision to leave a day early, so I've been running around all day trying to cram in an extra day's stuff into 1 less day.  It'll be fun to have a day out of town to explore for a change and I'm looking forward to that.

Every summer the birds plant sunflowers for us by dropping seeds from the feeder.  This year, they seem especially beautiful, and the placement is perfect as you drive up the driveway and approach the house-love that!

These flowers have always fascnated me, and I love the texture when you get up close & personal.  Something I always say I'm going to use in my artwork, but still haven't.  Note to self-get on that!

And as you get even closer, you might get lucky enough to see a little critter like this bee doing it's work.  Ok, I'm rambling now and I really need to be packing instead.  See you again on Saturday!

Gathering, shopping, and a new milestone!

Still trying to gather my thoughts�from class with Nina�at Valley Ridge Art Studio�that we attended this past week end.�

The hands that we focused on while listening to that sweet southern drawl, the hands that create such wonderful art, these are the hands of a friend and teacher that so willingly shares what she knows with her students, and the hands that make everything look easy.� But it's that voice of wisdom of hers that tells us to just believe, and to let the magic happen, that convinced us all that yes we are artists, and yes we can do it, and do it we did!

Inside this building is where all that magic happens.� The summer of 2003 was the first time I saw this building, walked through that door, and took a class.� Now in my 6th year there as a student, it's a sight that I wait all winter long to see!�

There's not a detail left out, even the cream & sugar bowls are fun & funky.� Bill & Kathy always, always treat us all like royalty.� And even more so this year, with the addition of another special touch-Kathy's studio has been turned into a community room where we all ate lunch (wonderful food!) and gathered after class for an hour or so with some wine & cheese.�

An eclectic mix of tables & chairs, the competent Bill serving the food (you're always the best damn cook, Bill!) and�bright yellow walls making it cheery even on a gray day.� The perfect setting to catch up with old friends and get to know newcomers to Valley Ridge, another one of those special touches that makes�this place�so extraordinary.

The forces behind this past week end were Nina & Kathy-Nina just being Nina is something you just have to experience as no words can really explain it, and Kathy as always was the hostess with the mostess, as they say:)� But seeing the friendship and bond that these 2 women have for each other, is well, special!� There's a reason I'm using the word "special" a lot, it just fits.

Would you look at the amount of art that was created in 2 days!� There were 14 or 15 of us in class, and it didn't all fit on these 2 tables-amazing!� It was so much fun, and seeing how everyone approached it with their own unique style always leaves me wondering how we did it.� But it just happens there, it's a magical place!� There's so much more to share, but today is our 30th wedding anniversary (drum roll, please!) so I'll post more art & stories about class tomorrow, time to get ready for a special dinner.� But before I sign off, make sure you check out the new MMCA Marketplace, a new online shop that has just opened with a dozen artists, each having their own shop within these cyber-walls, myself included.� It's an exciting adventure, go see & let me know what you think!� But one more picture of Nina before I go-she always gets emotional at the end of a Valley Ridge class, we all do really, so she got goofy to offset potential tears, at least that was my take on it.� Whatever the case was, we were all laughing hysterically, a perfect ending to a perfect week end!��Nina, this was just too much fun to not share:) �

See you on Monday!

On the way out the door for a fabuous weekend at Valley Ridge for a class with the even more fabulous Nina!  Can you tell I'm excited?  LOL-I really am, seems like forever since I've been there.  And I can relax, knowing that the house, dogs, and plants are in teh capable hands of my friend, Trina.  Thank you, Trina-you're a life saver!  Be back blogging on Monday, hope you all have a great week end!