Summer Art Camp

So, where did I leave the story at?

Oh, yes, the front door of Art Camp For Women.

Now, I figured the women that came up with the idea of Camp had to be pretty cool gals, right?
They must be creative, visionaries, fearless, talented and oh so much fun...

How right I was!

Lori and Lorri (yep, it was either "Hey Lori" or "No, the other Lorri" all week!) are dynamos that have this Camp "thing" down pat.
They both met me at the door with a hug and a helping hand.
I felt like I had known them for ages by the time that I got there though. We had talked on the phone several times as well as emailed back and forth.

The energy there in that large, open cabin was palpable.

I looked around at all of the art supplies, the books, the smiles, the projects in various stages of completeness and figured that I must have landed in Summer Art Camp Heaven.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking, meeting some wonderful women, sipping wine and getting my bearings again.
And putting on my "Art Camp For Women" apron (love the hand dyed aprons ladies!).

It's so difficult to put the emotion, the energy and the excitement into words.
Going to an art class is wonderful in and of itself. But being seeped in the creative process for several days (with no interruptions from the outside world) is just fantastic!
I had created a brand spanking new book making class for these ladies. I made sample book after sample book, timing myself to make sure that they would be able to complete the project in the amount of time that we had.
Even though I've been teaching several years now, I still get a little nervous. But it's always from the standpoint of "what if I forget something? (they had plenty of supplies if I did)" "what if the menopause brain fog takes over?" (it did but they all understood)...I've learned to deal with it.
I guess it's kinda like an entertainer that gets stage fright...you take a deep breathe and keep on going.

The view from the cabin was inspiring (to say the least).
Have a peek at this.

This is the view from the left side of the
cabin porch.

Beautiful snow-capped mountains

This may be my favorite shot. The sun
setting over the mountains make them appear to be pink.

We even watched a wedding from the front porch!

The bride walked down a dusty trail to her groom.

Someone said that it must be a "fad" type wedding-
all the guys had on overalls and sported facial hair...

But the girls held out for beautiful turquoise dresses!

One morning (at about 0700), we heard shouting out front.
We got new neighbors the day before in two (maybe three) of the cabins to our left.
Lots and lots of (supervised) ninjas!

The adults kept the kids very busy with exercises like the ones above.

The main book class was almost three days long. The last day was for catching up, getting help with anything that you didn't finish the day before and just being able to use all of the supplies at their disposal.
But these ladies did so great on their books (they completely finished the book construction in the first two days!) that we spent the last day embellishing the pages.
I pulled out a stack of my personal thermofax screens, demonstrated how to use them, showed a few more embellishing techniques and let them go.
They had a great time filling in page after page of glorious color with paint, inks, thermofax images, stamps, drawing, writing and all manner of mark making.

I can say, without a doubt, that Art Camp is one best teaching experiences that I have ever had!
These ladies thought of everything that anyone could need.

Did I mention that we had a chef (waving to Emily!) there preparing our meals? And then there was Liz, the beautiful assistant to the chef (kiss!kiss!).
These two young ladies are artists in their own right.
One day they gave us a fashion show of beautiful and fun aprons that they make.
Check them out at their Etsy shop (Sparrow Waits).
Funky & colorful fabrics and the designs are just wonderful. They will also take commissions if they can find the fabric that you want.

If you could go to an "adult art camp" where you have the best supplies, talented and experienced teachers, wonderful techniques and projects, no cooking!, nightly Happy Hour all in the most beautiful setting then this is your place ladies!
All you have to do is take your clothes (and you can wear your pj's all day if you want!).

Just remember to leave a little bit of space in your suitcase to take your project home!


Thank you Lori and Lorri for inviting me to teach at your Camp. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Here are a few photos of the completed books. I missed getting shots of three books...two of the ladies left before I could photograph theirs. And Lori - where was your book during all of this?

Patti's gratitude cube

Inside of Ann Lynn's book

Inside spread of Carole's book

Group shot Linda, Lorri, Jane, Patti, Ann Lynn

We added Mary Lou's on the left
and Tania's on the back right

Jane's book

Linda's book

Lorri's book on the back
and Jane's (her mom) on the front

Mary Lou and Linda

Mary Lou's book, art journal and gratitude box

Patti's book, art journal and gratitude box

Tania's book, art journal and gratitude box

What a great Colorado trip I had.
A great big "thank you" goes out to everyone that helped me along the way!