Breakfast was a round of hugs & goodbyes since many of us were scattering in different directions and weren’t sure if we’d cross paths during the day again.

Here I am with the wonderful Elizabeth MacCrellish who founded & organizes Squam Art Workshops.  I don’t know how she does it all and makes it so special, but we thank her from the bottom of our hearts for making it happen.

And I had to give Ms. Judy Wise my cabin-mate a big hug ~ love ya’, sistah!  Another sistah & cabin-mate to love is the talented Leonie Wise from New Zeland by way of London.  I think she might have traveled the farthest to be there.  Isn’t that apron adorable??  You wear it well, my friend.

On to class!  Today was Sarah Ahern’s “Text & Images”.

After Sarah shared some of her journals with us, we sketched in our books before setting to work on a really fun exercise ~ the 2-minute prompts!  Basically, everybody got a card that said something like “Paint with your fingers”, or “rip a page out of a book & use it”, then we got two minutes to run to the generous supply tables ~

~ grab what we need to do the prompt and run back to our chairs and do it!  When Sarah called “Switch!” we passed the prompt card to the artist on our left and repeated the two-minute frenzy with whatever our new card said.

Here’s what came out of my two-minute prompt exercise… I like the spontaneity of it and how it just happened before I knew it… seldom, if ever, do I create anything I haven’t give a great deal of thought to!

So now we settled down to work at a more thought-out piece…

And I am afraid I did start thinking commercially at this point…shame on me!

And, towards the end, I was contemplating orange flowers when Sarah told me they should be red.  I said, “But I don’t care for using red in my work.”  And she replied, “The they should most definitely be red.”  And she was right.  Darn it.  Now I will have to think more about using red…

With a little time after clean up left, we formed a circle in front of the fire and shared our works and what we liked about them as well as what was discovered while working on them.  Great class.  Thanks, Sarah!

***Note to Angel - If you’re out there email me - I have a great photo of you & your piece!***

Now it is time to bid Squam a sad farewell until perhaps next year.  I gathered my art supplies & things and headed south to Concord, NH to stay with my friend Darlyne in her WARM house that night rather than staying at the freezing cold rustic cabin…   I will likely be thinking about this great experience for some time to come…

Day Two at Squam Art Workshop dawned just as cold as Day One, but warmed up nicely.  I enjoyed a little hanging out near the lake before class started.

My class on Day Two was here in what was appropriately called The Children’s Playhouse…

The class was “The Playbook” taught by the inspirational Judy Wise with whom I had the pleasure of being cabin-mates.  She’s a wise soul (no pun intended :-) and we had lots of great conversations into the nights.  Don’t tell her, but I think she might have taught me a thing or two about myself.

While Day One’s class might have been my favorite for the art I made, Judy’s class was my favorite for the fun I had just simply playing and not caring how it came out and the magic synergy that seemed to exist all through the class between everyone.  We laughed, we joked, we sang…we played.  Special thanks to Ali (Judy’s assistant) for keeping our water jars full of clean water.

I was lucky enough to get a seat close to the fire next to Stacy Holst  (shown here) who I think was sorry she was sitting next the fire by late afternoon…it got a little warmer!

Can you tell I’m having fun by that big grin?

One of our prompts was to draw a face upside down in our book, but I cheated, rebel that I am, and drew it right side up.  I think I should have at least tried upside down.  Why didn’t I? Then we had to paint it anything but normal colors.

After lunch we had a writing prompt that really made me think of and miss someone who is no longer with us.  I think he would have thought this was all pretty cool.

I love this group shot of us all showing our painted hands.  Kim, the Rock Fairy’s aura is so bright you can’t see her face!  This was one talented lady, I must say.  Anyone who is in this photo and wants a copy I would be more than happy to email you a larger one ~ just let me know.

I saw these on the way to dinner.  They harvest the ice from the lake in the winter and use it in the ice boxes in the cabins all year.  They also create lanterns out of these blocks along walkways at night sometimes.  Very magical and I wish I captured one.  Mental snapshot for me…

My cabin sistahs ~ Judy Wise & Leoni Wise.  Hugs, girls!

And yes, that is a rather large bottle of wine in the foreground…

Wow.  What an awesome experience.  Just to get away and unplug like that for a few days, making art, having some wonderful, deep creative conversations with fellow artists in a breathtaking setting.  It really was bliss.

Before I share images of my first day, I would like to dispel the notion that this is a “craft camp” as some seem to think it is.  Squam Art Workshops  offers a wide variety of classes from painting to writing, to jewelry making, to outdoor art installations, to photography to journaling and beyond.  Not a loomed potholder in sight…

Here was my little very rustic, home-away-from-home on the lake, the cabin Birdsall, which I shared with two other fabulous sistahs, Judy Wise & Leonie Wise (no relation to each other).  More on them later.

The first morning’s early, chilly view from my room.

Walking to breakfast, which was about a 10-15 minute hike through the beautiful woods.  I didn’t mind it one little bit.

A quick check of the weather board ~ brrrr!  This is chilly for a Florida gal like me!

And on to the dining hall to fortify myself for the coming day.

All over the camp you’d stumble across these sad, sweet little tributes to Patrick…

I’m a sucker for a beautiful flower close up, so here are a few…

I was a few minutes early for my class, so I sat on the dock and played with some self-portraits (the hall where my class was is pictured behind me) .

Then I just kicked back & enjoyed the view…

Yay! Class is underway!  The first day I took Geometric Abstractions taught by the talented Mary Beth Shaw, pictured here.  I thoroughly enjoyed all three of my classes while at Squam, but I think this one was my favorite.  I am looking forward to practicing these techniques further.

This substrate is amazing and I am going to order some as soon as I get caught up on the “real” work that is waiting for me.

And my pieces are underway!

A couple pics snapped when we broke for lunch ~ this one was an accident, but I really liked it!

A few words about the food at Squam… It was amazing and fresh with loads of choices.  If you couldn’t find something to like here, you probably eat nothing but junk food (not that it was junk, but they had tons of desserts & ice cream always on offer).

Back in class, Mary Beth is demonstrating some interesting color theories & techniques.

And my pieces continue to emerge.  I can’t even describe the bliss I felt working on these all day long.

And after a sudden inspiration to add red (something new for me!) I called them done.

Our class grinning ear-to-ear after such a great, fulfilling day!  Anyone who is in this photo and wants a copy I would be more than happy to email you a larger one ~ just let me know.

Now for a little alone time….

I’ll be posting the rest of my days at Squam SOON!

If you’ve been following along and saw my art studio make over, you know how much I adore love that room.  This project was so fun partly because I could work on it a little here & there and leave the mess right where it was all along.  Oh, the joy of it!

I am heading to Squam Art Workshop in New Hampshire next week and had read that people bring little “pressies” with them to events like this to swap.  I have no idea what people bring along for this, but I decided that I would create some bookmarks with a fall feeling since it is September.  Here’s what I did:

I started with a few sheets of cheap thick water color paper and a foam stamp that looks like a vine.  I first stamped with green paint, then with an ochre color…

…I mixed a little matte medium with some brown paint and used a foam brush to drag it over the entire thing to create a patina of sorts…

Then I picked up a small leaf stamp that I had carved myself and stamped with it in a brick red.

I later decided it wasn’t enough and picked up a smaller leaf stamp I’d also carved and added more in brown. And of course, no design of mine is complete without a swirl, so I carved a new rough looking swirl and added it in dark brown as well.  Then I took a large fleur de lis foam stamp and used a translucent gold ink for a little unexpected shimmer…

A gold ink pen added little dots all over.  I then stood back and said, “OK, now what?”

Well, the back of the pages had picked up a little ink & paint along the way (now how did that happen..?) and they looked a little unfinished anyway, so I mixed up the brown & ochre with matte medium and brushed several coats on the back of the pages, letting them dry between.  I really like the texture this created.

After trimming them out into their final size, I said, “These can’t just be plain old square edged bookmarks…” and grabbed my Fiskars funky edge scissors and trimmed both the tops & the bottoms. And of course I had to include my name, so another round of stamping ensued…

I loved the shapes left after trimming & punching the holes, so I scooped them up into a baggie to take along to Squam to use in a collage workshop ~ I couldn’t just throw them away….

Add a bit of gold ribbon and presto: A Pressie!

Here’s the whole pile ~ ready to go snuggle up in somebody’s book!

This really was too much fun ~ I can’t wait for the workshops themselves!!!

Isn’t this a great thought?  It is one of my favorites.  I did this for mugs a while back as well as magnets recently.  It’s a thought I have to remind myself of when I get this busy…

I have been a remiss blogger lately, I know.  I can happily say it is because I have too much work at the moment, appointments to keep, chores to do and an upcoming trip to prepare for (Squam Art Workshop).

Hey ~  if you’ve ever wanted to know my story, here’s your chance to read it (get a cup of coffee or something, I do go on…)  Kate Harper interviewed me over on her blog ~ take a look!