Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Taos: The Workshop

I have been back from my retreat with Roxanne Evans Stout in Taos for just over a week and it is still in my bones. The experience will be with me for a very long time. In earlier posts I shared with you the beauty of Taos and the Magic of the venue: Mabel Dodge Luhan House. Now I want to share the workshop itself: A Case of Curiosities.

The building we were in was a beautiful, traditional adobe.


The room itself couldn't have been nicer.


Well...it got nicer after it started to be used!


And even nicer in closeup.


The first day started with everybody collecting nature from the property and creating mandalas.


The retreat was called A Case of Curiosities. Everybody had a wooden box with a hinged, glass-filled cover, many small compartments, and a drawer. People painted and distressed their box and then worked on small projects to go inside. 

We made...

Blessing Sticks


Prayer Flags


Big Books


Ceremonial Sticks


Little Books (closed)


Little Books (open)



Hanging Banners


Books in Tins (closed)


Books in Tins (open)


Wraps


Memory Books


Random Magic




The Cases







The Crew


This once in a lifetime experience will be at least twice in a lifetime. Roxanne and I are bringing A Case of Curiosities II to the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico again in 2017. 

Stay tuned...

Monday, March 28, 2016

New Eyes

I am very happy to be part of Colour Me Positive, a wonderful community out of Australia that focuses on weekly journal challenges. 


During every week in 2016, they are posting an inspirational quote and a challenge to their members based on a technique, color, product, etc. Members then create a journal page based on that and share it on the site. The bonus is a weekly giveaway.

I am the featured artist in lucky week #13. 


My inspirational quote...


And my interpretation...


Head over to this post to read more and see all the details. If you decide to play and upload your journal page by April 8, you will have an opportunity to win this...


Hoping you always see the world through new eyes!

Sunday, March 27, 2016

The Week Links: 95

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week. Earlier posts in the series can be found here.

And here is Week 95...


1. The final volume in the Griffin & Sabine story from Nick Bantock - The Pharos Gate - has just been published.



2. Tools of the trade for bookbinding from Michael Greer.


3.  Flower Power - a freeform crochet and knit artwork traveling through Australia.



4. I love the whimsey and personality in Lynn Muir's wooden sculptures.


5. So very excited for Jen Crossley and Lorri Scott who both have a project in a beautiful new book - The Gilded Journey: Nurturing the Artist Within by Anna Freund and Cynthia Shaffer.


6. Mexico through the creative eyes of Judy Wise.


7. Check out the industrially inspired ceramics from Andrew Massey.


Saturday, March 26, 2016

Taos Retreat: The Venue

Today I am sharing a post that continues to highlight my experiences in Taos, New Mexico at A Case of Curiosities, my week-long retreat that I cohosted with Roxanne Evans Stout. You can see my first post, highlighting images from Taos, here.

The venue that one chooses for their retreat can make or break the experience. Roxanne and I chose to hold ours at Mabel Dodge Luhan House


The word perfect is certainly overused...but there is no better way to describe this place. It was as big a part of the retreat as were the students!

MDLH is actually made up of a number of buildings, built at different times. There is an extraordinary amount of history connected with MDLH and a cast of characters who have stayed here that make this venue extremely fascinating. There is even a ghost -- and we had an experience to prove it.





From the moment we arrived, the magic began.



These incredible dove houses, built in the 1920s, mesmerized me. The one on the right reminded me on a NYC condominium -- and may actually have more space than a typical NYC one bedroom.



Dennis Hopper used to ride his motorcycle on this roof.


And those bathroom windows were painted by DH Lawrence so that nobody could watch Mabel herself take a bath.



Their newest building for retreats, so new that it hadn't been used yet, has a meditation room that was the definition of spiritual sanctuary.


I stayed in the Solarium, a room at the top of ladder steps with 4 walls of floor-to-ceiling windows...


...and the perfect views to wake up to.


In between the hours of workshop time, we tried to spend some time by the fire in the main building.


The food was spectacular and somehow the chefs were able to accommodate all the different dietary restrictions that this group came with. And everyday, I awoke to the smell wafting up to my room.


There were the most incredible vignettes everywhere...


...and wonderful niches...


and fascinating drawings on random walls...





The retreat would not have been the same if held elsewhere and I'd like to thank Mabel and the entire staff at MDLH for an experience that I will never forget.