Art Journaling at the Ladies Retreat

We were given a nice large room to use for an art area at our retreat.  One afternoon Kim and I taught some art journaling techniques.

People stopped by to see what we were up to and tried some art.

We had lots of magazines to cut out visuals .

Many different color paints were available.

Some people used scripture as inspiration.

Kim and Jen hung out and made art together.

Teachers Night to Create Collage

I invited the teachers and staff to my home for an art class.  I put easels on my ping pong table and wine and snacks on my foosball table.

Everyone brought a photo to use as their focal point.  We used collage papers around the edge of the canvas before we glued down the photo.  Using stickon letters we put a quote or title on the edge of the artwork.

Each painting came out so different.

Each person chose a paint color to coordinate with their photo.

Art in the Desert

For spring Break I planned a hiking trip into the desert. I found some artsy towns that we used as a base while we headed out to do some hiking. We started in Palm Springs but didnt really spend much time there. Mainly we took the tramway up to the top of Mt Jacquinto to do some hiking in the snow.  Here is the moon rising above the palms. It got dark quite early so we did some morning hiking and late afternoon before we had dinner.

The next town was Borrego springs.  Ian joined us in hiking in California. Here is Fonts Point. What a view!

Prehistoric Animal Metal Sculptures are numerous enough to make you think the desert is populated with these fantastic creatures. An easy drive outside the town of Borrego Springs; dirt roads allow you to drive right up to the scultpures. Camels, llamas, horses, mammoths, saber tooth tigers 

Here is another sculpture. One night after dinner we followed a map to find 20 or more of these.

Sunset at our hotel in Borrego Springs. I loved all the palms!

Here was a mission church in JoshuaTree, our next city we stayed in. Sadly, these little towns had no clue what Gluten free was.

The town of 29Palms had many murals throught out the town. One morning I drove around admiring the art. Here is one. Most were done on the side of public buildings, churches, stores, restaurants. 

This mural was on the side of the visitors center

Mixed Media Portrait Collage (text background)

I decided to try a portrait collage using text as the main background.  Here is the finished painting. I took a few in process photos and will try to explain the steps.

First I chose a photo from a magazine that I used for the head. I added body and legs with map and patterned paper.  The background was various types of paper glued down. I added a layer of gesso to the background but wiped some off so some of the paper showed through.

Here is step two.  I added some paint to the background in a few colors. stamped a heart and painted flesh color on the body.  I used a brayer to apply the background paint so it was more translucent.

Lastly I painted facial features and a few other details like a theater mask and a stage.

Adding the text was the last and fun step I chose several quotes from the internet based on my subject (going to the theater).  I wrote them in black pen first in block style script.  Next I used a white Signo pen to fill in the letters so it would stand out against the painted background.

Twentyone Reasons why I Love New Zealand

This  Christmas we spent two weeks in now my favorite place on earth. I chose some pics to show the diversity of this paradise.



There were tropical fern forests...

Beautiful Beaches

A helicopter to go glacier hiking in short sleeves!

We went hiking everyday in the South Island.

We took a boat ride to get to one hike in the Milford Sound.

Here were some of the spectacular views when we hiked to the top of our trail.

We had the best weather. Sunny every day.

The water was so pure you could fill up your camelbak at the waterfall or glacier.

This is how we celebrated Christmas day with our fun guide Lauren.

We did an overnight boat cruise on the doubtful sound.

Here is the famous bungy jump

Mt Cook National Park is one place I could go back to see more

http://newzealandchristmas2012.shutterfly.com/pictures

Art Show at Bemis Library

I was so excited to hang a few collage art pieces in an upcoming exhibit at the Library

My four art pieces are on the right

This is Simone who arranged for our art show.  We meet once a month in her studio to make different art projects.

Ginger hangs some of her art quilts

Sabyl hanging her prints