Work in Progress

I am continuing to work on the Retreat project.

I really love the mixed textures, the paint, the gels,

the fabrics, the beads, the...

well - I could just say that I am Lovin' this project!

I'm adding different little touches - you know,

Making It My Own.

Here's a peek or two...

Jeez- what a mess...and I straightened up for the photo's...

I'm not sure about this ribbon part. I will probably add a different embellishment on top...

still gotta add my charms and beads to the ends too.

Every single day.

Observe.

Your.

Creativity.

Observe the Silence as well.

Give that creativity time to grow, to be nourished.

Use the seasons of your creativity to your advantage.
Seek solace, reflect.
Observe nature.




Always seeking knowledge.

Give yourself Time To Grow.

Creativity IS my Nature.

What's yours?

Wow...

OK. I've got all of my clothes unpacked (yeah, I know - that was the easy part!)
but the art supplies will take a little longer...
especially since I keep stopping and doing things with the supplies
as I take them from their case...
I decided to go ahead and load up some of the pictures that I took.
The first few are pics of other folks projects.
We did the "Field Guide to Creativity" theme.
We took wooden cigar boxes and altered them.
Then made a canvas Field Guide to place inside.
Enjoy the photos of some very amazing art work!
Above is Donna Williamson's project. I loved her color palate!

This is the front of Jane Bradley's beautiful Field Guide (above). Notice the heavy crackling she got on the background piece!
My buddy Tonya Peters. I love how she altered the Altoid tin and

placed it in an arrangement on the altered cigar box.

Nothing is safe in the artist's world...

My buddy Crystal Chappell. I love the teeny tiny glass jar

with even teenier tiny glass beads in it! Awesome!

And look at what my friend Mary Ann Schuler did!
She used vintage rulers to make the birdhouse. And then added some of those
teeny tiny green glass beads to the lower right hand corner...
can you see how wonderfully they cascade down the arrangement?
Love it!

This is Nancy Isom's tribute to the Smokey Mountains. Great job Nancy!

And look at Sally Casper's little teaspoon fairy! How cute is that?!

Here's a picture of Sally's altered box. Love it!

Sally had a miniature table saw that we all used.

It was SO cute and quite functional.

The next couple of photos are from the

"Farewell Tea" that we have every year.

This year the Retreat was at a different place

and they really handled it well.

The food was great, rooms were very , well, roomy and

great air conditioning!

All of you menopausal women out there will appreciate that!

Thank goodness my room mate liked the room cold also.

Now here I've added some pictures of my project. I almost completed the box itself at the retreat.

I only have a few beads and things to add on the inside.

I wanted to work on the actual Field Guide at home.

I did get a couple of the pages started though.

So no pics of that for you right now...

When I was a little girl, my family called me "The Bag Lady"

because I always carried a paper bag with me.

You can look at pictures of me as a child and I've always got that bag clutched in my hands.

And it was full of all kinds of treasures...bird feathers, rocks, leaves, twigs...

the same kind of things that I collect now.

So, when we were told to bring items from nature -

all I had to do was walk into my studio and

*wa-la*

I had an abundance of related items on hand.

Driftwood from kayaking

rocks from the river

Indian pottery from Keowee

bird legs from back yard

twigs from the apple tree

rust items from who knows where

my growing collection of heart shaped rocks

animal bones

Well...you get the picture.

I am an avid watcher, collector and lover of Mother Nature.

She rocks my world.

And just where do YOU get your Inspiration from?

Does "love" make you see the world in a different light?

Are you trying to Be Bold in your creativity?

Maybe "play" is important to you. It is to me.

Perhaps you need to "foster" your creative spirit.

I love the tree that was made from a twig from our apple tree.

We wrapped it with this and that, wound a little bit of magic around it

as we added few beads, baubles and affirmations.

Here are some of my heart shaped rocks.

Oh, and the little bone too - notice the hole is heart shaped also.

We all have to Be Brave, don't we?
That key?

The Key to my creativity.

I'm going to hang a tiny copper tag

with that on it as well as a couple of beads and things.

The little tea bag tag reads "Enjoy the Experience".

Bird legs, dried cranberries and background collage all by little ol' me.

A reminder to myself...
This next picture shows the front of the altered cigar box.

I used bark from a tree in our yard, dried flower from my garden,

vintage ruler pieces, shells beads from Hawaii, seeds from our magnolia tree, seeds from canna lily in yard,

wooden button for the moon, Indian pottery (lower left hand corner), driftwood and a little coyote that my son gave me.

It represents my own tendency to howl at the moon from time to time...

I hope that you enjoyed the visit.

Maybe next year you'll join me and 50 of my good friends in Blowing Rock.

Dates are set already...Sept. 9 - Sept. 12, 2010.

Believe in Yourself.

Believe

I've got my trades all ready...(that's them - above)

clothes all packed...

Mr. Wonderful has carried it all out to the car...

he filled it up with gas...

even washed it for me...

(he really is wonderful!)

I'm ready to go but now I'm having

those pangs of emotion at leaving my husband at home.

I always hate

this part of traveling without him.
Maybe next year he can plan his work around Blowing Rock
and just go with me.
I have a wonderful roommate Madelyn.
This will be her first year at the retreat.
She's going to love it!
I had a little time yesterday
to work on the artists' paper that I've been layering.
I had used the tip of my paintbrush to write some
secret messages in the paint.
In the next layer or two I applied
a glaze of light raw umber paint
and the messages magically appeared!
Isn't that cool?
I left part of the writing without glaze so
you could see what a difference the color made.

It's time for me to finish getting ready -

hope that you all have a great week.

Be creative!

Field Guide to Your Creativity

Look at this yummy project!
Last year I went to the "Believe in Yourself Retreat".
It was truly a life changing experience for me.
I met so many great women - the kind that foster your creativity,
they encourage you,
they "get" who you are,
accept all that you are
and hold your hand (OK -deliver swift kicks when necessary) while you
find yourself.
What I just described is My Tribe.
My Kind of Peeps.
Tomorrow (squeal!) I'm gathering back with My Tribe.
We will spend three whole days painting, cutting, gluing, stamping, sewing, laughing, consuming local grape juice, and who knows what else Kristi and Susan have in store for us.
I'm so sorry for you if you missed it this year
but put it on your calendar for next year -
cause it is a yearly thing, ya know.

Now to finish packing...

Artists' Paper

I've been working on layering some artists' papers.
This is a really good thing to do when you're avoiding other things,
umm, I mean when you want to
Create Something but you're just not sure what you want to do.
I take 60 pound paper, slather some gesso on it (both sides - dry in between),
then begin the process of Layering Things...
masks, stencils, inks, paints, glazes, writing...
you get the picture.
Oh, hey!
You DO get the picture -
enjoy!

These are not finished yet - I still have some work to do on them. And it's a great way to use up all that cheap craft paint that you have around...

add some glazing medium or polymer medium to it and it works great!

I hope that you all have a great holiday weekend.

Be safe and by all means,

Be Creative!

Studio Helper

Here is one of my helpers in the studio.
This is another one of those things that I made and gave to my mom -
now she is back, living with me...
another case of the bird leaving the nest
then flying back again?
(or the cat I mean...)

Meg Fowler

Have I ever talked about my buddy Meg Fowler?
NO?!?
Well, let's remedy that right now...
I met Meg at my favorite place - yep, Random Arts in Saluda NC.
I'll tell you right now that she wouldn't let me take her picture cause her hair is kinda short right now...
all you ladies certainly understand that, right?
Maybe next time Meg.
Anyway- she is a mixed media artist -an awesome artist at that!
She has done a lot of fiber art pages (like in a fabric book) but not art quilting.
She made - or tried to make- a log cabin quilt many many moons ago
but since then - no quilt.
Until this summer.
Meg decided to make an art quilt.
Just.
Like.
That.
My pictures are not good and I do apologize for that
because her quilt is just wonderful.
Just Wonderful.
Pictures (even great ones) would NEVER do this wall hanging justice.
Enjoy Meg's river art quilt.
All of the center section (the blue water) is hand stitched and beaded...
heavy beading.
The brown sections are the river bed. She even used beads to depict the pebbles along the river shore...
The outside sections are so heavily textured that it is unbelievable!
Gotta love that Sulky!



You can go to Meg's Facebook page and see a couple of other pictures.
And a picture of her feeding her "pets" - her raccoons!