Mixed Media Art Retreat in Taos, New Mexico June 2013

My friend Pamela Underwood, and I, are offering another expressive arts mixed media retreat! This time in Taos, New Mexico at the beautiful Mabel Dodge Luhan Historic Inn (just a 12 minute walk from downtown Taos).  The retreat is limited to 16 participants and registration is open now: Email Lavender Sage  

Lavender Sage Art Retreats presents

Stone Soup Journal

Taos, New Mexico

June 10-14, 2013 ($1300 double occupancy)

Mixed Media Expressive Arts Retreat

Like two talented chefs, Jane LaFazio and Pamela Underwood will combine their styles and skills and mix them into one retreat experience for you: a Stone Soup Journal filled with rich, juicy and wholly original pages. Jane and Pamela will guide you in stuffing your journal pages with writing, drawing, collage and printmaking and poetry.

Ingredients:

9x12 journal

Sketching & watercolor

Intuitive collage

Monoprinting with geli-plates

Stamp carving

Guided writings

Poetry
Go to Lavender Sage Art Retreats for all the details.

Mabel Dodge Luhan Historic Inn, Taos, New Mexico

photo fun

photo by Jane LaFazio

Nearly every Thursday, I walk at Blue Sky Reserve. This time I had my Canon PowerShot ELPH set on "toy camera" and used the macro setting.

photo by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio

Tiny Tutorial: Sketching & Watercolor

Sketching & Watercolor in Italy ~ photo by Jane LaFazio

I love sketching and watercolor when I travel. Here's a tiny tutorial from my room in Orvieto, Italy, last month.

drawing by Jane LaFazio

I began on a pre-stained piece of watercolor paper. (I spattered and painted it lightly with watercolor before hand, and then let it dry.) I sketched the artichoke in pencil, then refined the drawing in permanent ink.

watercolor by Jane LaFazio

When I began painting the artichoke, you can see I exaggerated and enhanced the color, changing it with each brush stroke. (And leaving plenty of white of the page)

drawing by Jane LaFazio

Sorry I didn't get a photo of the actual wine bottle, but you can imagine it! I drew it carefully in pencil first, then pen.

sketchbook page in progress ~ by Jane LaFazio

watercolor by Jane LaFazio

I shaded the bottle, very lightly with ultramarine blue watercolor, just to give it the impression of glass.

in progress by Jane LaFazio

I did the border in little brown checks but then thought it too bright and 'new' so I blurred it with a wet q-tip.

watercolor by Jane LaFazio

Wine and Artichokes ~ 5x7 inch sketchbook page by Jane LaFazio

There's really no better way to savoring a trip, than by keeping a sketchbook to record the moments.

Here's a little VIDEO I did in Orvieto, of the view from the clock tower. 

Pam Carriker, portraits and me

a page from my sketchbook ~  by Jane LaFazio

You know I never draw faces. I just don't. But I just watched Pam Carriker's DVD from The Artful Gathering online session of her workshop Still Pursuing Portraits. I didn't realize that Pam has you draw portraits from your imagination, while following the proportional guidelines. I don't know why I didn't realize that. When I teach my Mundo Lindo kids portraits, that's exactly how I have them do it. But they are kids. I'm a grown up. I thought I had to draw someone. NOT! I watched Pam's DVD and drew along with her. She made it really easy! I was very impressed.


(That's my drawing, pictured. I did it over an existing doodled page. I plan to go in and do something more to this page, but the face was done while watching Pam's DVD.) 

Still Pursuing Portraits
Pam Carriker
Pursuing Portraits, was the first of this series of workshops by Pam, and now you can join her for the continuation of this class where Pam moves from cute and stylized faces to more realistic portraits in drawing and paint. This workshop will cover creating portraits from sketching to painting, with some fun new mediums thrown in for even further exploration. In depth lessons, so you can practice without fear. So you didn’t take Pursing Portraits the first time? This class is brand new, and will benefit both those who took Pam's first workshop and those who did not.  

great time at CREATE in SoCal

Yoga Poses in Public Places (in front of my art quilts at CREATE in SoCal)

I'm just home from teaching at CREATE in Southern California. What a good time! Great students, great venue, lots of creativity and laughter! One of the best overall retreat experiences I've had.
 
  
I taught Recycled Circles (a few student pieces above). I love how every piece is different. (I'll be teaching Recycled Circles at CREATE in Chicago on Friday, August 24)

Happy Student!

This student was working in her sketchbook during each of the classes she took. Collaging  or painting whatever she was doing in class. I love this idea!

CREATE instructors reception with Jacqueline Newbold, Joanne Sharpe, Kari McKnight Holbrook, Jenn Mason, Pam Carriker, Laurie Mika, Alisa Burke, Jeannie Moore, Lisa Thorpe,  Robin Dudley-Holmes, Dawn DeVries Sokol, Helen Shafer Garcia and Barbara Delaney.

Me at the Artists Faire. Thank you everyone who bought by artwork!

Student work~  "Free Spirited Free Motion"    

Student work~  "Free Spirited Free Motion"   

This was my first time teaching the all day "Free Spirited Free Motion" class and it was a hit! So much fun and I think all the students really enjoyed it, and 'got it!'  I'll be teaching this same class (under a different name) for two days at the Fallbrook School of Arts December 7 and 8th.

Happy students in my "Free Spirited Free Motion" class

Danielle Susalla Deery making s'mores at the hotel

CREATE took place at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, a beautiful hotel with an exceptional staff. (They even had s'mores ingredients for the guests to roast over the outdoor fire pit!) Next year's CREATE will be held in the same hotel (yeah!) May 29-June 2. Mark your calendars.

Orvieto, Italy: Cooking lesson

Me, Chef Lorenzo and Marsha at Zeppelin Restaurant 

Chef decides on the menu at our cooking class at Zeppelin Restaurant in Orvieto.   

Proseco was flowing right from the beginning!

One of the most fun activities of the week was our cooking class at Zeppelin Restaurant. All 17 of us gathered in the kitchen to cook a glorious multi course dinner.

Chaotic and totally fun!

In the restaurant

We then moved to the dining room and were served our meal by the staff. The best risotto I've ever had, and fresh pasta, and the best chicken I've ever had and chocolate  mousse and of course wine! After dinner, Chef Lorenzo presented each person with a certificate of completion and all the recipes. We had soooooo much fun!

Art show on the final night

on our final evening in Orvieto, we had a teeny reception in the courtyard, displaying all the journal pages we'd done throughout the week. 
What a wonderful week!

I'll be teaching in Italy again, in October 2013, with The Blue Walk. details to come! Email Carlo to be put on the interest list for Cinque Terre/Lake Como)

Don't miss my other posts on my teaching trip to Italy (with Adventures in Italy), May 2012:
Orvieto, Italy: The City
Orvieto, Italy: Sketching & Watercolor
Orvieto, Italy: Farmers Market
Orvieto, Italy: Beauty and Design
Orvieto, Italy: Palazzone Winery
Orvieto, Italy: Cooking lesson

The Kindness Chronicles

A video of my prayer flags. The Prayer Flag Project. Anyone can join in. The making feels good, and so does the intention. You can see all my flags here.

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Right before Mothers Day, teacher Susan Avery Clark did a kind thing for her students and their mothers. She opened her class room, providing art materials and dried lavender, from her garden, for the students to make cards and sachets for their moms.

More than 30  high school kids showed up to make mother's day cards during their lunch hour. 

high school kid, with a card he made for his mom

  

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From Patti Digh. (free download here.)

I just returned from teaching sketching and watercolor: journal style in Orvieto, Italy (with Adventures in Italy) and one of my students, Bob, taught us yoga every morning at 7am. So generous of him and such a great way to start the day.

A couple of other kindnesses:

• a young man lifted my suitcase to the overhead rack on the train to Rome
• my new friend, Jan offered to visit my mother-in-law in Seattle on a regular basis
• Marsha bought flowers for the nuns in Orvieto
• my dear husb, saved the life of a lizard he found floating in the watering can
• Deborah Stanley shared info about the kindness chronicles here and here.
• Amy, who cuts my hair, does the blue in my bangs for free

me and my blue bangs in Italy last month

Leave a comment and tell me about your kindness chronicles! 
Here are my past Kindness Chronicles posts for March, April and May.