Retreat with Lisa

We held our retreat at Western Hills Lodge which is in Sequoyah State Park. The winding pine tree lined road was about three miles from the main turn off before you reached the lodge. The speed limit is about ten miles per hour and you definitely do not want to drive any faster because there is so much wildlife. The lodge also is surrounded by the lake. This was about a forty-five minute drive from my house!

Lisa Engelbrecht was invited to teach her "Book of Intentions" workshop for our three day retreat. She was absolutely delightful and I believe everyone enjoyed their time spent with her too!

This is definite organized chaos! It was an awesome experience where like-minded artists created! I chose not to make the "Book of Intentions" and instead wanted to make my theme about my sister, Annie. This book is going to be her birthday present.

This is my work surface....and guess what....everyone had pretty much the same messy work space. I shared my table space with my daughter and that was a lot of fun.....we had the best time!

This is my stash of stuff that was under my table! I must have taken everything I owned to the retreat! There were plenty of sewing machines and irons to use...everyone was very generous with their tools, too!

These are the beginning pages for my sister's book. I did end up making a lot of pockets on different pages.

I love the colors I choose to paint my fabrics....terra cotta, butterscotch, and navy.

I also enjoyed using stencils and color washes. I used FW Acrylics to write "sister" on another piece of canvas and attached using French knots. The heart shape that ended on a branch was pure chance of accidents. Lucky for me! The bits of lace was used as a stencil and when I was finished with it, I cut it up for pieces to be added here and there.



The letter "K" was first drawn and then painted with navy acrylic paint..the same color I used as one of my background washes. The embellishment was in my goodie bag and was perfect for this project!

There are so many elements on this page that I ended up changing in the end. I removed the doily that I used as a stencil and the tape I used as a gold accent. The pocket I did keep.

I also altered this page a few times before I was pleased with the results. I had a good beginning of an "A" but the other design work needed help. I did a lot rework on this page.



The cover is a lot of fun to do. This is my beginning stages....and there is lots more to do. Most of the fabrics I used in the book and a few strips I borrowed from others that worked for my color pallet.


Here are photos that show the pages grouped together.


I did decide that the last page of my sister's book would be the "surprise" page.

These are photos from our retreat with Lisa Engelbrecht. There were awesome artists in our class! Enjoy!

Women's Retreat

This was my first retreat experience and I definitely was NOT camping out....until I saw the "camp grounds". And the tent was super nice....so I said "yes" to a new experience! The night life was amazing with the calls, hoots, and chirps!!! The Oklahoma weather was just PERFECT! ! !

The retreat began Saturday at 1:00pm and ended Sunday afternoon. The time sounds like a short one....but I was so renewed.....an unbelievable experience that was shared with a super awesome group of women! ! !





The sunset was glorious....this was such a peaceful surrounding. I had forgotten just how being in the country away from the city buzz...you can actually hear yourself think!


The torches made the evening so magical. After the last person went to bed, our hostess blew out the torches but the night sky was so brilliant with the stars that you could clearly see so making a trip to the house was easy. (Of course, it was only about six feet away.) This is my new idea of camping!



The fire pit was such a terrific experience, too. We held our discussions in a circle around this fire pit which made for a cozy and warm gathering. Later we made smores! Oh, my!





Everyone appreciated the foot soaks and massages. The quiet time to read, take a walk, and/or meditate. And in between, we participated in projects together and shared delicious meals!







We had a special treat on Sunday morning with a Yoga instructor. Can you imagine how lovely it was doing the Yoga outside on the deck in our pj's?!

















Can you believe that I had a Henna? It lasts about fourteen days. My daughter free-handed this design on my chest. It's still wet...so don't touch yet! And NO....there was no alcohol served!






























Stay Tuned! There will be more about Ireland to come!

Jacob's Ladder Book

This is the Jacob's Ladder Book that is our latest exchange project with the art group I am involved with. Minori lives in Japan and I asked her what theme she would like her book to be. Since she said that she did not have any particular wishes, I decided to make a book about Oklahoma and Tulsa. (She already probably knows more about this state and the area of country I live in than I do but I could not resist)! The western theme goes well with Oklahoma. That's me at age three.....being the cowgirl.

The first stop I made was to the Lyon's Indian Store to purchase postcards. We have the Five Civilized Tribes here in Oklahoma, but they only had postcards for four tribes....darn! I may check back with them when their stock has been replenished before I send the book to Japan. But right now, there is one tribe missing.

The other aspect about Oklahoma is the number of horses we have in this state. Did you know that Oklahoma has more horses per capita than any other state in the U.S.? We have over 300,000 and the variety of sizes and colors of the horse population adds to the mosaic of the Oklahoma landscape. (This information was on the back of the postcard).

I decided to make a box to fit the book. My first thought was just have the postcards mounted on heavy cardstock and there would be enough weight to play with the book structure....but I was wrong. So I had to take the book structure apart and make matboard tiles to hold the postcards. The size of the book was dictated of course by the postcard size....so it is now very heavy - the complete opposite of what I started with!

I purchased a belt several years ago at a garage or estate sale to use later in my artwork. I completely took the belt apart and salvaged the parts that I thought I'd use "someday". Well, doesn't the closure for the box work perfectly with the rawhide strips - completely unaltered!

I really love my new western stamps, too. Stamp Diva has a great selection. So I will now show you the book structure and let you enjoy the photos without my comments.













>