The other night I was going to blog about the mood I was in - one of those boggy, "What am I doing with my life?" moods. Bah! Who wants to read about the artist in her existential crisis mode? Let's move on to the fun stuff, shall we?
First, BIG NEWS: I will be teaching at my very first Art Retreat gig in September!!! It's called Into the HeART, created by Nicci Battilana, whom I met at Artfest last year.
![]()
With Artfest becoming a thing of the past, Nicci decided the time was ripe to take the reigns and develop a new retreat, the first of it's kind, in western Canada. It will be held at a beautiful lakeside lodge called Loon Lake in British Columbia. Here are some pics from the retreat's website:
Take a look at the class offerings and come join us! I will be teaching two art doll classes: Shadowbox Doll House:
![]()
and Bottled Up Personalities:
![]()
The retreat includes two days of classes, three nights lodging, all meals, a vendor night, a show and tell night, and I'm sure lots of late night arting parties! I can't wait!!! Read all about it and sign up HERE!
Next news: I've been having fun at some local arting meet ups. Both groups meet at collage, in northeast Portland - one of our most favorite art supply shops! One group is called Art Garage. Present at that gathering were assemblage artist Shelly Caldwell
art doll and puppet maker and wood carver extraordinaire Stephanie Brockway
click on the arrow to see Skelly dance!
and ceramist Kim Murton
I had a great time hanging out with these pros and look forward to our next get-together!
The following week I met up with a different group gathered up by Janet Wilson, whom I now dub the Queen of the Art Retreats because she is so lucky to go to so many of them! Our group consisted of Janet, her mother Sally, friend Diane, and friend Jan. We basically all brought whatever we wanted to work on. Diane and Sally had some great textile projects going on that made me all excited about quilting again. Jan was doing some very free and fun wabi sabi painting. Janet shared a ton of rubber stamp art carving resources. She and I really got into the carving, and Sally joined in to give it a try as well. Here are some pages from my stamp journal with a sampling of our work:
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
And that, dear friends, is some of what I've been up to lately. I hope your wintry days are warm with joy and bouts of creativity!
First, BIG NEWS: I will be teaching at my very first Art Retreat gig in September!!! It's called Into the HeART, created by Nicci Battilana, whom I met at Artfest last year.
With Artfest becoming a thing of the past, Nicci decided the time was ripe to take the reigns and develop a new retreat, the first of it's kind, in western Canada. It will be held at a beautiful lakeside lodge called Loon Lake in British Columbia. Here are some pics from the retreat's website:
 |
| the lodge |
 |
| sample of a lodge room - dorm rooms also available |
 |
| a view from the lodge |
Take a look at the class offerings and come join us! I will be teaching two art doll classes: Shadowbox Doll House:
and Bottled Up Personalities:
The retreat includes two days of classes, three nights lodging, all meals, a vendor night, a show and tell night, and I'm sure lots of late night arting parties! I can't wait!!! Read all about it and sign up HERE!
Next news: I've been having fun at some local arting meet ups. Both groups meet at collage, in northeast Portland - one of our most favorite art supply shops! One group is called Art Garage. Present at that gathering were assemblage artist Shelly Caldwell
 |
| Shelly's exhibit at Guardino Gallery in Portland |
art doll and puppet maker and wood carver extraordinaire Stephanie Brockway
and ceramist Kim Murton
 |
| a display of Kim's work at Guardino Gallery |
I had a great time hanging out with these pros and look forward to our next get-together!
The following week I met up with a different group gathered up by Janet Wilson, whom I now dub the Queen of the Art Retreats because she is so lucky to go to so many of them! Our group consisted of Janet, her mother Sally, friend Diane, and friend Jan. We basically all brought whatever we wanted to work on. Diane and Sally had some great textile projects going on that made me all excited about quilting again. Jan was doing some very free and fun wabi sabi painting. Janet shared a ton of rubber stamp art carving resources. She and I really got into the carving, and Sally joined in to give it a try as well. Here are some pages from my stamp journal with a sampling of our work:
And that, dear friends, is some of what I've been up to lately. I hope your wintry days are warm with joy and bouts of creativity!