in the studio

this is supposed to be a rainy weekend.

and it would be so welcomed, 

we are in need of some serious rain, 

our dams are low and we are on strict water restrictions.

while nature replenishes itself i will be in the studio... 

mark making, 

playing,

muse card planning...

play in progress below:

have a fabulous weekend! 

learning to claim it...

only now do i hesitantly dare saying that i am an artist.

it seems to be a common issue amongst artists, 

even the more seasoned ones. 

Lisa Congdon talks about it here

and in her latest book that i'll probably need to get. 

slowly learning to claim my space... 

i am printing this and putting it up in my studio! 

art work by Lisa Congdon 

people watching

in two weeks Donna and i will be doing 

Dee Donaldson's Portrait Bootcamp... 

i'm super excited and nervous! 

3 full days of intensive painting,

on a big canvas.

the advice is to paint someone we don't know

or at least not a family member.

so we went off into the street 

and found some beautiful, willing models:

i loved connecting with these people via my camera, 

they all had a little story to share.

this is Stan, 

i think he will have to be my reference for the painting... 

parmigiano anyone?

a little jump back to Orvieto, 

market day

a little piece of heaven!

weekend play

i've been on a roll sketching and painting faces. 

i'm inspired by the hype on instagram about 100 faces

(from what i understand this is where it started) 

of course i am tempted to jump in but i don't feel like 

that kind of commitment right now, 

so i'm playing from the sideline. 

here a little evolution of another of my hooded girl, 

acrylic on paper.

trying to stay loose in my mark making and color choices. 

playing

two new faces,

Stabilo pencil and gesso,

plus a little bit of red.

in my handmade journal. 

to get back into creative flow... 

in the studio

i'm back in the studio. 

and it feels so gooooood! 

card making, 

why not!?

we did it!

we did it, 

this weekend we shared our first Alive! Retreat 

with a bunch of amazing brave women! 

a wonderful 3 days of delving, healing, nurturing,

dreaming, creating,

lots of laughter, truth and vulnerability... 

truly magical! 

it is happening

our beautiful Alive! Retreat is happening this weekend, 

it's been huge learning curve, 

an intense and wonderful process

and now it's coming to life 

and it is going to be fabulous! 

we are a great team and we are ready... 

we have so much to share with our participants! 

this is the quote i chose and made for this weekend

see you next week... 

Italian Princes

the 3 paintings i completed while in Orvieto.
i love them,
and i love that i can notice Misty's influence
and the new skills she taught us. 

small acrylic on paper

big acrylic on paper

small acrylic on canvas

this last one went home to Utah with Lorraine

and that makes me so happy! 

El Duomo

it's impossible to talk about Orvieto without 

introducing the phenomenal El Duomo,

the 14th-century Roman Catholic cathedral. 

glance through the streets

It is flamboyant and breathtaking in its size and beauty... 

from above

apparently it took 300 years to complete, 

the interior is even more impressive... 

and of course i fell in love with the stripes on the outside, 

i had never seen a stripy cathedral before, 

how exquisite in the morning light!?

truly breathtaking. 

in the art room

this is what my table looked like on the first day in the art room, 

full of gifts and goodies, from Misty and also from other participants...

i felt welcomed and inspired straight away! 

the two photos below are from Camilla, (and her beautiful artwork in the foreground) 

as you can see i am looking pretty happy, in my element, loving it ;) 

(thank you Camilla for capturing it) 

Misty demonstrating

Camilla and John focused and learning

  

a little bit of play 

and back to work

we loved our art room, 

we even had some late nights painting/laughing/moth chasing sessions in there...