about that ART RETREAT - time for art journaling

The day after I returned from the art retreat I was very tired. I did not feel like doing anything but art. And so I worked with some of the pages in the altered book which I had started to prepare for MY project. I seem to have some difficulties with letting my muse in when there are more people around but she was quite willing to make suggestions and bring brilliant discoveries the day after.

Oh yes, this picture was taken the day after the retreat. The icicles had been hanging just outside of our front door for the previous week or more but this day it was supposed to warm even more. I knew if I wanted a picture it would have to be that day.



I totally abhor the idea of name tags BUT the suggestion was made that we do some altered art for this tag. I had forgotten about it till the morning I was packing to get ready to leave. I quickly looked around coming up with some perfect supplies that would truly suggest the person I am. I was very proud to wear this name tag. Sigh. Hardly any of the others had made tags. That's alright. Making this was great fun for me.



Now to some pages. This background was done with chalks and then sprayed for preservation. When my muse joined me I chose to use some of my fave markers and white gel pen for the lettering. I used watercolour pencils for the flowers and ribbon. Edging was done with a tiny ink pad. I also made use of some of the wrappings from the oil pastels. Dale, our wonderful teacher, was surprised that I was so willing to take the wrappers off that I might save them to use. I especially liked the purply pink effects on the one mid-bottom of left page.



I was not too certain about the coloured paper towels. I really liked the ones that Dale had done with leftover fabric dye on a full roll, but uncertain otherwise. I think it was residual from when a College taught artist friend had thought something I had done had a paper towel texture, when in fact it had not even been paper towel. You know the feeling - "oh, just cheap paper towels". I decided I really liked the colours of the one I had chosen for the page below. I then used another warm colour acrylic paint for the paint transfers. We were not certain how the transfers would work on the paper towel but I am quite pleased with the result. The top one is an inkjet image. The bottom one is laser. I really like the bottom picture, will have to find out from Dale where she got it. Now what about that paper towel texture? I want to put a glaze or something on top of it so that particular texture is not so evident. What would be your choice?



The next spread is about learning to do rubbings with textured wall paper. Ummmm, I love the textured wall paper. I intend to buy some as soon as I am able as we were just using a piece of Dale's which she got in a swap. I will also be looking for old plastic doilies which are excellent for rubbings. I had used oil pastels for all of the rubbings I had done. They would be my first choice. I need to put some kind of glaze or wash on, I believe, for doing journaling over top. The left page was done with paint mixed with a hardware store glaze. I had quite a bit left over after the initial project so chose to use it up on extra blank pages. I then did my own thing on Monday to make this page spread very unique to me.


Dale gave each of us a piece of sequin waste. I fell in love with it. I began the background with sponged acrylics. These pages are only started but I absolutely love the effects, especially on the right page where I overlaid the black pattern with the pink.


These two pages were so simple. I enjoy different patterns on napkins. I played a bit with the tearing and placement on this. After it dried all I chose to do was add a few words and a tiny bit of ink on the exposed areas. I may still add some other things to this but it will be minimal.


The next pictures are a couple taken outside the Mainstay Inn at Riverhurst. Our hostess treated us as royalty with fabulous food and service.






This last one is a red blanket and reflections of light. The photo was taken in our room when I just had to snatch a few moments to myself to rejuvenate. Light reflections always catch my eye. the blanket just happened to be there.

If you ever have a chance to do an art retreat I would like to recommend them very highly. A retreat provides an excellent opportunity to be away from the daily challenges of family and home. A solid block of time to do art with like minded folks cannot be topped. Thank you Dale for offering this opportunity. I truly appreciated.

Happy Easter if you are of the Christian faith.
Angels be with you dear friends.