ART IS YOU!

A perfect get-away with friends....that is what my week at Art Is You certainly was.  The venue, The Sheraton, in the charming town of Petaluma, in northern California was the perfect, relaxing setting for the first Art Is You here on the West Coast.  Sallianne and Ellen are to be commended for orchestrating such an enriching event.  I spent five glorious days with my girlie friends taking classes which took me in new directions....right out of my comfort zone. 

 Meet my friends (L to R):  Connie Freedman, Riki Schumacher, Me, and Susan Hunt

Day 1 and 2 were spent with JoAnna Pierotti learning some of her techniques in creating her amazing dolls.

Riki Schumacher; Denise Peterson; Renee Troy; JoAnnA Pierotti; Debby Anderson; and Susan.

The photos above are from JoAnna's "Adorn Me Necklace" class.  The doll on the left is mine, JoAnna's jewels are featured front and center and my dear friend, Susan's, creation is on the right.  Painting faces was a challenge for me and creating the porcelain-like flowers was an amazing technique to learn.  Who would have ever guessed that you first start with paper flowers.

And this is my Olde Soul doll.  I had a lot of fun learning JoAnna's techniques for painting beautiful roses and of course, designing my doll's dress was something I so enjoyed....the lover of fashion that I am.

I chose to feature my Adorn Me piece on an antique cabinet card which was lovingly sewn onto the kits for the class by JoAnna. She now hangs in my studio next to one of her sisters.....yes, I couldn't help myself and did adopt another JoAnna doll....isn't she wonderful?  My friend, Susan, named her Lady Guinevere....she certainly looks like a Renaissance maiden.

Then it was playing with plaster with one of my favorite artists, Stephanie Lee.   Look at her treasure boxes above.  To think that these beauties begin with simple scraps of cardboard and the application of plaster wrap.  I haven't finished my box yet but promise to share when it is completed.

And I had the pleasure of spending part of another day with Stephanie in her Pipe Dreams class.  These were the two pieces I completed in the morning.  They will soon be adorned with some of my favorite stones, gems and wired things so I may wear them as a reminder of such a special day.  I must admit that I did cut out of class a bit early so I could catch a bit of the Petaluma antique faire taking place that very day.....treasures were to be discovered after all!

And look who I shared lunch with one fine day.  Yep the Ever Gorgeous Earl (EGE) with his vivacious wife of 34 years, Rice Freeman-Zachery; her friend Tiffany and who is that strange man lurking behind them......yep, Michael DeMeng himself.  What a character he is. 

The final day of classes was spent with that strange man himself....only to discover he is not strange at all ....just so very extremely talented....did I say TALENTED!..  Michael's Pretty Vial Things class was a class I took to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone...outside of the box.....or should I say outside the bottle.  While Michael's art can appear a bit dark to me, I knew that I could take the new found techniques in class and create a piece that would reflect me...afterall isn't that what art is all about....self-expression.

So in the collage above you will see my bottle....the Byzantine object in the back with, OMG, the arms!!!  Who would have ever guessed that a collection of antique lamp hardware, antique broken doll parts, rusted mesh, rusted lamp wire, rusted door knob, paint, Kwik Dap, apoxy clay and of course, bling could transform this old medicine bottle into something that time forgot. And it is complete with the perfect Michael DeMeng touch....a few drops of my own blood locked inside....not by design....but done quite serendipitously so.  I broke the neck of my bottle when working on the top and my old fingers got in the way.  But that made for the further discovery of the many uses of apoxy clay....as it put the pieces back together so nicely.  And when you are looking at the neck of my bottle, just above the rhinestones....see the fabric tied around it?  Well, that was made with strips of a baby wipe I had used all day to wipe my hands and brush on.  I was just about to throw it away and knew immediately it had to have a place on my bottle with all of it's beautiful colors and contrasting texture next to the bling-a-ling.

And let me share with you a few bottles from the class...namely my great friend, Riki's.  Fabulous!...eyeball and all.  The final hour of Michael's class was Michael critiqueing everyone's creation.  And I must say that that was one of my favorite parts of the day.  Michael has a way of picking out all of the positive elements of each and everyone's pieces.  It was such an excellent learning experience. Thank you Michael!

From L to R:  Denise Peterson's (make lemonade out of lemons) bottle; Susan Hunt and Debby Anderson.

Denise's bottle broke while trying to cut a hole into the bottle and look what became of it .....a shrine of remains.

Well, that's my recap of Art It You.  The contract has been signed with The Sheraton in Petaluma, Ca to hold Art Is You 2012 the same time next year.  If I were you, I would mark your calendars and start saving your pennies so that you, too, can experience five days of amazing creative frenzy.