Countdown to Squam Art Workshops!

Just 13 days to go until the fall Squam Art Workshops. I feel so blessed to be going AGAIN! June classes were terrific, my cabin-mates were the best.
This time I'm in a larger cabin with 12 other soon-to-be new friends. We are right on the water with a wonderful porch looking off across the lake. I'm already imagining early morning coffee on the dock, late nights on the porch listening to the loons calling out to each other.
And oh my, my classes! I start off with A BOOK A DAY with Marisa Haedike and Christine Mason Miller, using long cherished photos of my beloved grandmother as inspiration. I met both teachers in June and am really looking forward to this class. Then on Thursday it's TEXT & IMAGE with Sarah Ahearn-I love her work!! Saturday morning I'm working with Helene Finizio in CONNECTING WITH YOUR ESSENCE-I'm so ready for this one! In the afternoon I'll be with Marybeth Shaw in NOT YO' MAMA'S PASTE PAPER. I've done paste paper before (self-taught) but know I'll learn new techniques and approaches, plus it is so much fun, like finger painting in kinderarten. And on Saturday night I'll be at the ART FAIR with my handmade books and journals.
I live nearby Rockywold-Deephaven Camps and have been there several times this summer already visiting friends so I can tell you that SAW has a glowing reputation there. They are ready and waiting for our return!

Life after SAW-Squam Art Workshops

Just a week ago I returned from my second Squam Art Workshops retreat on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. Another divine experience that I am still processing. This is not just about the workshops (fabulous as they are), but about connecting with other creative souls in a nurturing and nourishing community. Although we have now all gone our separate ways we are truly connected through the universal energy we all share.
I had the great pleasure of working with Maya of maya*made for 2 days, learning how to make buckets out of burlap coffee sacks and how to print on fabric using freezer paper and textile paints. Photos coming soon! The last day I spent with Betz White making all sorts of bags out of re-purposed materials like t-shirts and old pillow cases-really cool stuff!
Evenings (after wonderful programs like listening to Jonatha Brooke sing around a campfire and viewing "Who Does She Think She Is", a documentary about women artists balancing family life and art) were spent on the porch of Shingle Blessedness talking about great "life" things with Tracie Lyn Huskamp, Laurie Coyle, Kathy, and Sarah as we drank wine and listened to the loons call to each other. It can't get much better than that!