My Art Retreat in September

 I  prepared  for it  all  year,  and  in a  second, it  seems, it's  over, and  it  was  so  much  fun  and especially  needed  this  year!  There were  a  total  of  6  of  us, and  the  just  the  right  number  for  a  comfortable  working  distance  from each  other,  with  this  year's  weird  circumstances.

and  the  best  part  were  all of  these art supplies   together  and  being  able  to   play  for  3  days (leaving all of our other outside problems at the door)--

This year was all about faux encaustic and polymer clay.  I became interested in polymer clay when I saw that I could use it as an element in my mixed media art pieces, and I wanted to show the versatility of this very forgiving medium.  Here are the results of the class--

The best part about this is how their creavity took over and helped them express themselves.  I  showed  them  the techniques  and  told them to stand  our of their own way, and that's what they did.   

This  retreat went way  too  fast  that's for sure--can't  wait  till next year!

 

June--Polymer Clay, Art Journaling and Etsy

So  we're  getting  use  to  the  new  normal  around  here--staying  close  to  home  this  summer, and  enjoying  it.  Our  summer  has  been  beautiful  so  far,  which is  not  the  normal  around  here, but  then  this  year  is  all  about  that-- right?  :-)

I'm  still  making  lots  of  art  and  branching  out--this  time  with  polymer  clay.  It's  a  fun  medium ,  pretty  forgiving, with a  fairly  easy  learning  curve.

I  wanted  to  bring  my  paintings  I  make  into  a  form  of  polymer  clay,  so  that's  what  I did--

my  style  of  whimsy  art--polymer clay style 

....with  the  help  of  my  painted  papers  for  the  background

And  then  I  went  more  dimensional--

...had  fun  with  all  of  my  stash  too--I  never  throw  anything  out--it  will  always  find  its  place....eventually....

And  in  the  meantime,  I've  continued  in  my  journal  that  I'm  treasuring  more  each  time  I  add  to  it.   Your  art  journal  is   just  that--yours.   And  what  you  want  to  do  in  it  is  up  to  you.   In  my  case,  it's  playing  with  paint--my  first  love--

I  enjoy these and I like to share them--so some of them have been transformed  into  art  pieces  and are  in  my  ETSY shop 

Plus  I  also made  a  collage  piece  that you can find in my shop--

She  was  fun  to  make and you  can  visit  HERE  to  see  all  of  my  art  that  I'm  offering  for sale  (including  some  new  greeting  cards)

I  hope  everyone  enjoys  their  summer  (or  whatever  season  your  in)--trying  to  enjoy  each  day  as  it  comes  and  knowing  that  better  times  will happen--have  to  go  through  it  to  get   to  it.

Patchwork Pumpkin Tutorial

Hey everyone--just in time for Fall  and  Halloween--a  pumpkin--in  my  style.  You  can check  out  my  step-by-step  tutorial  over at  the  DecoArt  Mixed  Media  blog  HERE