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!

Colorado Part Three

I traveled to "Art Camp For Women" on Thursday June 7.
We rode over Berthoud Pass on I-70, which gave us unparalleled views of the Central Rockies in Colorado.
Beautiful.
Majestic.
Eye candy to this mountain lover.

And what a prelude to what was coming up at Camp.

I have only traveled in a small part of Colorado (around Colorado Springs) so I have never really seen the Rockies up close until this trip.
The pure majesty and the ruggedness of them is just breath taking.
There was still a little bit of a snow cap on the very tops of them. 

I was taken back by the loss of pine trees though.
I knew that the pine beetle had taken a toll but just didn't realize the devastation that had occurred.
I was told that upwards of 75-85% of the pine trees (lodgepole pines?) had been killed by the voracious appetite of the pest.
While it has opened up vistas and views that haven't been seen in decades, it has effected the wildlife habitat, watersheds, and other natural resources there.
And effectively made matchsticks of the dead trees.

The rode up I-70 was just breath taking. I can't imagine how scary it would be to drive/ride when there was ice/snow on the road though...

Camp was held at the YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch.
This place is huge and I was so thankful that our shuttle driver took us right to the front door of our cabin.

(Warning!! an aside)

Oh, I forgot to mention that instead of being picked up at the airport (since I was already in Colorado), I was picked up at a Circle K gas station.
It made the whole pick-up feel like a seedy drug deal to me...but then again, I have a wonderfully active imagination with things like that.
I was thrilled to find that one of the shuttle riders was a Camper!
From Georgia!
The minute Ann Lynn said the first word, I know that I had found a kindred spirit (her flowing hippie like skirt gave that away) as well as the only other Southern gal at the place.

(Oops, got off track again, didn't I?)

Well, maybe I will just end here and pick up next time with the tale of an adult woman at summer Art Camp.

Colorado Part Two

Back to Deb Prewitt's home studio classroom.
Her shop is the "Blue Twig Studio" and man oh man, does she have some really cool things in there!

This week, Deb is the vendor at the Las Vegas "Art & Soul".
I'd love to be there with all of those crazy ladies (and guys) having fun and creating so many great projects.

The second class at Deb's was "Painted Papers" (which could actually be called "Background Painting", "Art Journal Pages" "Abstract Painting" "Decorated Pages" or any combo of those).
It's a fun, fast paced day of painting, screen printing, tips and tricks to add color, texture and movement to papers (or fabric) that you might want to use for something else.
The ladies had so much fun!
Ruth Chandler used a piece of "MultiPurpose Cloth" to paint on. You can do the very same things to this cloth that you can do on paper.

I stayed with my buddy Liz for a couple of days (I was slave labor kitchen help to her) (lol).
She did feed me (very well), let me sleep there for free (except the slave labor), drove me around, and let me launder my clothing...

Oh, and she took me to the Denver Art Museum.
Where we had arranged to met Jill Berry and spend the day with her.

The "Yves Saint Laurent The Retrospective" exhibit was there.
I thought it would be interesting, even though I am not a real fashion person (unless you count Birks, jeans and tee shirts as fashionable) (except I did wear a skirt and really cute sandals that day!).

Was I ever shocked when I got there.

The exhibit was awesome!

There was a lot of history included, tons of beautifully dressed manikins, luscious headdresses, yummy textiles, lots of audios to listen to as well as several videos to watch.
It was one of the best Art Museum exhibits that I've ever seen.
We could not photograph inside of the exhibit and I left my sketchbook at Liz's house (arrghhh!) but I do have a couple of things that I am doing in my Colorado Sketchbook I can show you later.

If you are close to Denver, you should take the time to visit the exhibit - it is well worth it.

Liz, Jill and I had a fantastic visit.
I wished at that moment that I lived there in Colorado...but then again, they could just move to SC, right?

Feet Firmly on the Ground

Home again, home again.

I spent days (um weeks, months) preparing for the three classes that I was teaching in Colorado.
Two of the classes I taught at Deb Prewitt's shop "Blue Twig Studio" were ones that I had taught before so that made it a little easier.

One of the best parts of my trip was getting to spend some real, honest to goodness quality time with my friend Liz Kettle.

She (and her husband) graciously invited me to stay at their home in Monument, where I stayed the last two years on my treks there. I think that I've been there enough now that they step right over me, put the broom (or dish cloth as the case may be) in my hand. Even the cats (and Duke) treat me like "one of the gang" while I'm there. Which is fine with me!

I love feeling at home, at ease with people.
I love becoming a part of their lives.

I arrived in Denver on Saturday, June 2.
Liz picked me up at the airport after the plane circled from DIA to Montana for an extra hour or so.
There was a huge storm right at the airport with wind gusts up to 60 mph.
It was just beautiful from my view point with the wispy clouds.
You Harry Potter fans will understand when I say it looked like a bunch of dementors flying in to the airport. Liz assured me it wasn't that at all - just rain that wasn't hitting the ground.
My story was much more interesting and scary though...imagine being stuck in the airplane with all those people...
dementors surrounding us...

Well. You get the idea.
My imagination gets away from me on occasion, doesn't it?

Back to the real story.
I loved that this plane had the tracking screen in front of my seat.
I could draw the landscape view from the plane and look on the screen to see which state we were flying over at that particular time.
And it was fun (though a little discerning) to watch the little plane (on the screen) go from DIA to Montana, not once but twice while waiting for the airport to open back up.

Sunday we went to Deb's shop "Blue Twig Studio" (and her home) in Colorado Springs.
What an awesome teaching space!
Surrounded by all kinds of art goodies (oh no!).

We did the "Whimsical Mark Making" class first, with a studio full of brave, brave women.
By the time the day was over, these ladies were drawing and painting all kinds of cool art journal images/pages.

They even drew each other.

I had met most of the women at "Textile Evolution", the mixed media fiber retreat that Liz created.
It was more like hanging out with good friends that I hadn't seen in a while.
Lots of laughing and teasing each other...a lot of smiling, support and edification (and don't we all need more of that?).
I like the Word Origin & History section of the dictionary that describes the word "edification" as "building up of the soul".
Isn't that what a group of supportive women do for each other?

Building up of your soul.


Really think about that for a minute.
Is that what you do for your family and friends?
Or do you tear them down, rip them to shreds with your words and/or your actions?

I wasn't planning on writing the last paragraph but it came out anyway so I'll leave it.
Writing tends to be that way, eh?
The words that want to be uttered find a way out.
As writers, we have to let them.

I'll pick up here on the next post.
And I'll leave you with a couple of photos of Deb's home studio.

Book Making with Kitty Cats

I  am packing up to head to Colorado for a couple of teaching gigs.
Trying to temper my excitement over teaching, over WHERE I am teaching and my anxiety over leaving my sexy man and my kitty for 9 days.

I decided, while packing, that I needed a handmade book for the trip.
You know, like i didn't have enough to do already- with packing some things for class, things to sell and my clothes and personal items, mailing Etsy items that I've sold, writing blog posts, laundry...

What's one more thing at this point?!

I decided that I wanted a special book to journal in, make some marks in and document my travels in.
And I can practice making one more book before Art Camp class.

I had some scraps of fabric handy from a previous project that I had not put away yet (the scraps not the previous project).

I have a confession to make.
I am not one of those people that clean their work tables off after each project.
I have so many ideas, chase so much inspiration, that I do well to push everything to one end of the table before I start something else.
Confession time over.

Back to the new book (see? another last minute project that just appeared on my studio table).
 I picked out a few items for the cover collage and set to work.
After a few hours, this is what I came up with.

This is a shot with my studio help in it.

He has to get in all the shots...

True to form, he is in the middle of everything that I am doing (and I am lovin' it).

Kitty Love

That silly kitty, from this post and this one, has cemented his place around here.

Like the couch...

And my computer chair...

You know how those kitties are - they need lots of beauty sleep!

Rust Love

My husband and I rust fabric and different fibers that I use in my artwork.
This is the front cover of a sketchbook that I made using it.

I also sell packs of "Rust Media" in my Etsy Shop (among other things).

Check it out!

New Tool!

I love new tools, don't you?
I've been using a Dremel tool to aid in book making.
But you can't fly too easily with a Dremel too, can you?
I was trying to figure out how to finagle a couple to teach in Colorado next month.

Enter Rebecca Peck of the Fiskateers.
Goddess of Fiskars tools...
She turned me onto a handheld drill that is AWESOME!!
It works beautifully to drill holes in all kinds of things (including my studio table!) (and it's one of those heavy work table).

Love it, love it.
Just be careful when you change the drill bits, it can come unscrewed and then require the engineer husband to put it back together...um, just saying.
Otherwise it is fantastic if you don't have or don't want to mess with a power tool.

Thank you Rebecca!

Acrylic Medium

I often spend days in my studio playing around with (or experimenting with) different acrylic mediums to see what I can do with them.
I can tell you this - the applications are innumerable!

Take this for example -

The (highly) textured orangie colored section is a piece of canvas to which I applied Golden's Soft Gel.
I used some implement that was on my studio table (or maybe the implement was my finger) to create the texture.
I allowed this to dry completely.
Then I created a wash of a couple of fluid acrylics (looks like Quin/Nickel Azo Gold was part of it) and brushed this over the entire piece.
What you see is a small section of the piece of canvas. I have been cutting up my samples and using them in different projects.

What do you do with your samples?

Still working

What about you?

On My Table

What's on your work table?

Spine Design

I've been making (more) books for "Art Camp For Women" and playing with spine design.

While I adore the open spine where you can see the stitching, I also love the opportunity to add more interest to the outside of the book.
I'm working on a couple (or four) ways of adding the spine decoration after the covers have been stitched on.
Here's a peek at one.

I am also playing around with scraps from a leather jacket that a friend gave me (thank you Mary!).
The leather is so soft and supple, it drapes beautifully and gently hugs the curves of the spine. I'd love to make a pair of shoes with it!
You can see in the photo how it shows the contour of the thread that I used when stitching in the signatures-

Beautiful, just beautiful.

There are still a few spots left in the book making class in Colorado. If you can't go for the entire week, treat yourself to the three day class! It's a brand new class, created just for the Art Camp ladies.

A Different Kind of Class

I love Charleston.
Especially before it gets all hot and horribly muggy (even though it's still beautiful to me then).
This past weekend, my husband and I went there (part business and part pleasure).

I taught a class at my friend Cathy Buck's shop "Fashion Fabrics" in Mt. Pleasant.

What a great class!

It was a class in embellishing an  infant onesie or a kids tee shirt.
It's an idea that I got after reading Natalie Chanin's first book.
Here's a sample of one of the class projects -

Or this one.
The model (my nieces son Caden) is so cute!

This is another cute model, Kennedy (another nieces baby). I love the way that her mom coordinated her accessories!

Here's a shot of  some of the class hard at work.

The class was three hours long and everyone did a great job.
We did some screen printing, painting on fabric and reverse applique.
We also recycled some tee shirts and talked about sustainable clothing.
It's a great way to learn a little hand stitching too.

I love the way that this class allows women to gather and spend time doing what women do...talking, sharing information & ideas, creating beautiful things for our loved ones and honoring our creativity.
We are doers, makers.

If you're in the Charleston area, stop by Cathy's shop.
It's called "Fashion Fabrics".
She carries Bernina's, quilt fabric, apparel fabric, notions, ribbons and all sorts of goodies.
She also offers a wide array of classes, a few clubs and sewing machine work as well.
I think it's about the only place in the Charleston area that you can find quality fabrics. Oh, you can find the cheaper fabric but not the good stuff.
The address is 320 W. Coleman Blvd, Mt. Pleasant SC 29464.
Shop number is (843)884-5266.

Tell her that I sent you.

Now get out there and Do Something.
Create.
Make.

Helping Others Reach Their Goals

Or -
Honoring your own creativity by helping others.

This is what my friend Jess is doing. She is willing to walk the walk not just talk the talk.

I first met Jess when I stumbled upon the "Seek Your Course" website.
This is a site that she created to harness the many creative offerings across the world into one easy to navigate place.
(check it out, it's fantastic!)
I signed up as an instructor right away because I was so impressed with the spirit behind what Jess was doing.
It's so hard to find someone, especially a young woman, that is willing to do what Jess was trying to do out of the goodness of her heart.
This young woman has a huge heart people!
She isn't making loads of money doing what she's doing...she is putting all her goods in the karma bank.

She has created a Jumpstart Creativity Tour across the US and part of Canada that we can help her with.

Go here, to her Jumpstart page, and donate as much as you possibly can to help her inject a little creativity into an adults life.
Here's a video for you to watch -






I am pleased to tell you that Jess will be visiting Greenville SC and Asheville NC on the tour!
Those are the closest destinations to my home.
Check out all of the other locations that she has planned.

Way to go Jess!

Book Covers

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted!
What have I been doing?

Welll...my friend Sarah and I participated in the World Wide Sketch Crawl here in Greenville SC.
We made a day of it, along with a nice sit down lunch (with wine) (bourbon for me). I have several sketches to show for it, just need to add some color to them.

And maybe I'll just post them without color. I love to add the color while I'm sitting there sketching.
It's hard for me to go back with a photo and add color...
I love the spontaneity of drawing and painting RIGHT there.

I really am loving it more and more- the urban sketching.
I am looking for just the right ones to make thermofax screens out of. I think that street scenes of Greenville would be great on tee shirts.

I've been having a blast in my studio, making more class samples for the Art Camp For Women workshop coming up soon.
Here's a peek at a couple of different covers I will be demonstrating -

I love the book itself - the pages, the painting, the sketching, the opportunity to fill it with much goodness- but I think I love making the cover most of all (today anyway!).
All the opportunity to create layer after layer of amazing texture.
Yep - layers of texture on the outside that nestle all of the layers of art on the inside.

I am going to try and set up a local book making class after June 15th.
If you're not on my newsletter list, email me here for details when I get it sorted out.
Looking forward to teaching close to home!