VALUE RECEIVED AND GIVEN

Playing around

When Suzette Rosenthal and I started teaching mixed media classes together at the Sawdust Art Festival several years ago, the decision of what to charge was not of our making.  But when we went out on our own and started teaching in my home studio, we thought long and hard about it. As I am sure most of you, too, have, we had encountered many classes where one had a long supply list to purchase and the base fee was over $200.
We could find no reason to justify this cost for ourselves.  We charged $65 for a five-hour workshop.  AND we provided all of the supplies.
Over the years this has not changed.  Suzette may now be in Colorado while I still reside in Laguna Beach, but the basics are the same.  For me, I have to say one of the greatest benefits is that because of the low cost we have created a community of artists who return again and again.  We do potluck and just graze as we create, chatting if you want or working quietly.  As instructors, we add new techniques to the mix each time while going over the basics for the "newbies."
This is a formula that has worked for us.  Our students value the space created, enjoy each other's company, share thoughts and ideas and good food.  And, speaking for myself, I value each and every one of them for what they bring to the mix.  We all stretch our creative boundaries together.

Fallow Time

Round Robin Art Journal ready to go

Here in So Cal we are experiencing quite a heat wave.  Hard to believe we have gone from the chill days to this blistering heat so very quickly.  The challenge is to not break with creative intention.
This fallow post-holiday time of year is one of my favorite times for launching creativity.  The cool days of winter just seem to open to the pure joys of art-making.  There is time for play and study and experiment and so much more.  Time for long walks to clear the head...or fill it with new ideas.  Time for a nap if desired.  Time to get out all the materials and see what they can do.  I am really excited as usual at the things that show up.  I hope you are all enjoying the same sort of "fallow" time as we approach mid-February.  It will be over too soon.

Winter Fun

Mailing label extra (address deleted)

Thanks to student Cindy, Round Robin Art Journals are a new winter activity for me. Creating the book and putting a two-page art spread inside are only the beginning of the adventure.  As this journal travels around through the group more pages are added until at the end the journal returns to YOU...and you have an unparalleled art book.  It is filled with the art of other participants and is a joy to cherish.  Now in two Round Robin groups, I am looking forward to the joy of creating these special pages.  As the image here shows, sometimes the outside of the mailing envelope becomes just another opportunity for creating.

A Great Day

Nevr-Dull with paper collage

Just a January Sunday in Laguna.  We are so very fortunate. The day was absolutely gorgeous.  The studio space was full of laughter and creative energy.  The results were spectacular.  A lot was covered in the five hours and heads were spinning, but in a good way.
I love these teaching days.  They do so much for my own creativity.  (But I do need to learn to sit down once in a while :))
A bonus to the workshops is that, after drawing a name, each of the participants sends a 5 x 7-inch piece of their postal art to another participant.  My mail lady loves these and says that they brighten her day.  I love them too and have got quite a collection now.

Finnegan..."beginagin"

Remember that old song where when you got to a certain point you started over?  Well, that is what I am doing now.  
After quite a hiatus, I reached a decision that I hope you will appreciate as much as I do. Instead of a conventional website, I am going to combine my love for both writing and art.  So there will be more blog posts, more candid photos, and more art.
Join me, won't you?

FALL FEATHERS

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul... (Emily Dickinson)

Fall is the time for finding time again.  Time to chase the muse.  Time to walk on the beach.  Time to take pictures.  Time to dream.  Time to sit with a friend at sunset over a glass of wine.  Time to hope...for more of these special moments.  Time to hope for...so many things.

On this gorgeous autumn day, I grabbed my camera and headed for the shoreline.  The plethora of bird life was amazing.  There were whimbrels and brown boobies and pelicans.  Sanderlings scurried and arctic terns circled and dived.  Long-legged sandpipers meandered alongside plovers.  The air filled with strange birdsong to accompany the song in my heart on this wonderful, hope-filled day.

There is a longing to pay it all forward as I wander among the gulls and the willet and avocet and the pelican armada floats along just offshore while a group of turnstones pluck through the kelp. 
Go.  Find the time. Scatter joy!! 

Glorious!

What an absolutely gorgeous and glorious day!  Just pre-dawn, the local owl hooted me awake.  It was as if it were telling me that in spite of the deep cold and the previous day's storm, the day would be wonderful.  And it surely is.  All is right...and, as the quote goes, "the sun shines not on us but in us."  Today, it is both.