Ageless art

SO June 8 was our ART RETREAT and oh my, what a great time we had! And yes, one of our participants was a vibrant 79 years old and jumped right into the art zone with us!

Journaling is all about the journaler and what she wants to include on her various pages. So using  basic art supplies available to everyone, and incorporating some stress relieving tips and techniques, each participant spent the afternoon learning to become "one with her art."

Yep-it ain't that easy initially because we ALL want to be told what to do and especially in art-expectations are always based on one's previous art experiences and teachers! So step by step the ladies all learned to loosen up, let go and then-walla! They created.....and marveled at how easy it was after all!

Check it out! below:

See the woman in blue standing to the left and sitting and raising her hands in the air to the right? Patricia was our 79 years young student who, along with the others, reveled in the freedom of "no holds barred" art.

Each person took home the enthusiasm and techniques necessary to continue their art journey-there are a lot of pages to cover!


Our next art retreat is scheduled for Saturday July 27! Visit me on facebook to stay up to date on what's happening! www.facebook.com/MTheresaBrown or www.facebook.com/artstudentacademy 

In just a few days...ART RETREAT!

JUNE 8 ART RETREAT!

LADIES ART RETREAT!

Join Theresa and her special guest, artist Ophelia Staton, Saturday JUNE 8 from 1:00-4:00 at our LADIES ART RETREAT and learn some new and exciting tips in creating or adding to your Art Journals!   Ophelia is a creative and carefree artist whose easy teaching  style will inspire and motivate you to step into the world of art journaling, expressionism and "no holds barred" art. 

HTTP://WWW.ARTSTUDENTACADEMY.COM/LADIES-ART-RETREAT-2.HTML

Read more about Ophelia here:http://opheliasart.blogspot.com
Read more about Theresa here: www.ArtsyJourneys.com

A few minutes in an Art Journey!

Want a brief glimpse of what you missed at our Ladies Art Retreat last weekend?  Don't miss the next one scheduled for Saturday April 13 from 1-4 pm! We sold out last week so  Reserve your spot today!
http://artstudentacademy.com/Ladies-Art-Retreat-2.html

Ladies Art Retreat!

There is no doubt that the atmosphere was super-charged, the activity level on "high alert" and the resulting fun...well, you just had to be there :-)

Combine me, Theresa, with my level of art journaling and add the incomparable journaler, Ophelia Staton and plop us into my art studio out on the country and you have the ingredients for a remarkable level of a accomplishment! Sound far fetched? Nope, I am not exaggerating :-) My only regret is that I did not get a group photo of the 15 of us holding up our books and canvas creations so you could see the beautiful results.

A collage of the day-video coming!

For some of our participants it was a continuation of  their journaling and for others, a new beginning. We love to be responsible for the fun of introducing  new ideas, activities and happiness into someone's life. 
Our next Ladies Art Journaling Retreat with Ophelia and I will be Saturday, April 13! Want us to come to you? Let me know and we can arrange a Retreat at your Location!

Fiber art, felting and a drive way into the country!

So off I go to a Felting workshop with that most wonderful of feelings-clueless.
Yes, clueless. Meaning that I do not have a clue as to what to expect, what to do, how to do it or any preconceived idea of what is involved. I wasn't even sure what "felt" was. :-)

A collage of 7 or the 8 completed in the 6-8:30 class

A friend and I carpooled and it was probably a good thing. I am far from map illiterate-rarely use a GPS (ha ha-I am the type to first look at a map and then see if the GPS is right) so I drove in my little Honda Fit which lovingly gets close to 35 mpg (40 downhill with a back wind) and of course mapquest nor the instructor knew to tell us about the bridge out/detour. No big deal-lovely afternoon, nice drive and eventually we do reach our destination-a "Retreat" deep down  a half mile gravel driveway (this was not much more than a track) through beautiful woodlands and lo and behold, come to a charming house and cute art studio smack in the middle of Franklin Co, NC...and in essence (this is not a joke) in the middle of nowhere. One of those lovely wooded properties bought back when an access road was  the only way to buy ancient, overgrown farmland, replete with the remains of old homesteads. No fields-just lovely forest and, yes, that retreat feeling of crickets and tree frogs ...very loud tree frogs as evening approached :-).

What a cute concept by Debbie!

A lovely example by Sharon!

Anyway, we WERE in for a treat as 8 of us gathered together and our instructor (And Retreat owner), Margaret Hilpert of Cedar Cross Retreat led us through the steps. Now I had seen something on Facebook about felting a scarf and was totally baffled (and lost)  by the rolling, slapping, pounding, soaking of the wool (which is what felt is I discovered) but when actually DOING it, the procedures begin to make sense. 

I was not joking when I said rolling, pounding, kneading and eventually wadding up our creations and throwing them onto a towel on the floor. The word, "workout" comes to mind.

My efforts resulted in this tree :-)

In the photos you can see some of the results and they were lovely. Felting is an ancient art and everyone from the Mongolians to the Europeans understood the insulation qualities of felt...from yurts to felt boots, hats, wall hangings, etc. Personally, after making my small example, I would NEVER put it on the floor. LOL, in our art business no one wants to step on floor mats either (after being made and handpainted) so wiping one's feet on a work of art just isn't in my DNA.

Margaret had some beautiful examples of her work that she had later, upon finishing the felting, had embellished with additional needlework, "needling" (a cool punching in of loose fabric) yarn, glittery stuff and all manners of creativity.

Felting is considered "fiber art".  No longer a survival necessity, but a beautiful art piece for one's enjoyment. The creations seen on the Internet that artists are making are just amazing.  Supplies (just google it) for feltmaking are everywhere. In essence, it is a whole other art industry akin to jewelry making, pottery painting...Frankly I was happy to come away from the experience knowing a new, yet ancient technique for creating yet another form of beautiful art. Everyone dabbles in their chosen art field at different levels and I look forward to "playing around" with my piece when I figure out what to embellish it with...already I can envision using this new art in art journaling, perhaps in some paintings....so many options!

To learn more about where we were and who we enjoyed an evening of camaraderie, art and beautiful woodsy solitude, visit www.CedarCrossRetreat.org.

Exciting Art Journal Covers!

Art Journal cover (from beginner)

 A close up of the cover of one of the participant's journal

She did an equally beautiful job on the miniature art journal made from scratch (so to speak!)

size of miniature (2.5 x 3") journal

Another participant's duo!

Continue down to see another example!

Starting a miniature art journal

Look at the beautiful results from our beginner art journalists and see if you aren't impressed? Also notice the gorgeous miniature journals they created from scratch? A few participants got away before I took photos but I will post them soon-simple a wonderful time with lots and lots of art supplies!