Art is You and Me and We

I spent 5 days at the happiest place on earth.  No... not Disneyworld ... Art is You in Stamford, Connecticut!  No long lines, no overpriced food and souvenirs -- just wonderful, artistic souls, creating and playing together.

My first workshop was with Jodi Ohl, someone whose work I have long admired. 

We worked on portrait techniques, and created glorious mermaids and maidens.

I was in class with Kirsten Reed, and when we went to dinner afterwards, our ladies had to have their own seats at the table.

Michelle Ward's class, called "Recess," was a stretch for me.  I was challenged to have stillness and restraint in most of my canvas, so that the recessed areas would draw focus.  I don't think anyone would describe my art as restrained, but I enjoyed making the effort and still feel that the canvasses look like "me."

I was WAY out of my comfort zone in Nellie Wortman's class.  We bent wire and did a lot of hand sewing to create these hanging sculptures that hold a little electric candle luminary.   Nellie was a very generous teacher, offering advice, words of encouragement, tips and techniques, as well as her remarkable story.











My last class was a two day painting workshop with Tracy Verdugo called "Sacred Marks."  This was as much a spiritual experience as a painting experience, and I loved it.   My huge 36 x 36" canvas went through many stages:

I'm still not done with it.... I hope to finish it soon and will share it when I do!

Of course, the best thing about Art is You is reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.  And of course, rocking out to good music while making art makes it even better!

I'm so thrilled that I will be teaching at Art is You in October 2014.   Stay tuned for workshop details and more!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, where I hope to catch up with more old friends who I haven't visited in a long time...

 

Art is You

I spent 5 glorious days at Art is You in Nashville last week.   How to describe it -- soulful, supportive, nurturing.  How to describe me there -- inspired, focused, and giddy with happiness to be among kindred spirits.

My first class was with Cindy Wunsch, who I talked about in this post after I took her class at Create NJ in July 2012.  We started off making collages focusing on creating lots of texture on our canvases.  My collage:

turned into this painting,

 

I think I was subconsciously painting Cindy and me!

 

My biggest challenge at the retreat was taking a portrait class with Pam Carriker.  Pam is phenomenally talented, inspiring and actually managed to demystify realistic portrait painting for me!  She has a line of "face map" stencils with Stencil Girl, which helped us practice facial proportions.  She gave us step by steps about shading that made me feel like I could actually master face painting one day!

You can see my portraits right at the start of this video,

where you will also meet Sue Pelletier, a whimsical, tell it like it is kind of lady, with whom I felt an instant connection.   We had a wonderful time creating our individual house canvases and making whimsical birds and hearts out of model magic and wrapping them in tissue paper and gauze.  My birds are going to take a little flight over to Simon Says Stamp and Show, where the current challenge is "Fly."

What a fun group!

Another great thing about being at Art is You, Nashville, was getting together with MaryBeth Shaw, owner of Stencil Girl, and some of my sister Stencil Girl designers!

From left to right are me, Sue Pelletier, MaryBeth and Pam Carriker.  So honored to be working with these amazing women!  We have some cool collaborations planned so stay tuned!

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.