Here and gone.

We've just had a whirlwind two and a half days here with Alice Saltiel-Marshall and husband Bill Marshall, who were visiting from Claresholm, Alberta on their way for a family campout at Invermere.

As they are long-time acquaintances from our previous lives in Canmore, it was pure delight to re-connect and spend time together on their first Creston stay.  We scored some stamps and ephemera at Gleaners, toured the town, and sipped a little Skimmerhorn wine.  While Bill and John fished in a nearby lake yesterday, Alice and I stormed the studio for most of the day (although we did step out for a delectable lunch at the Real Food Cafe).  By day's end, Alice and I were drooping with post-painting exhaustion, and a hugely tidied-up studio looked like this:

Collapsed and giddy

I am awed and amazed at the huge number of starts, well-on-their-way and finished pieces that Alice created in the shambles, including a third of an altered board book - she is a painting fiend!

I'd Like to be Under the Sea   mixed media  by Alice Saltiel   2012

The piece above started with a cheesecloth stencil, was overlaid with palette paper transfers, over-stamped and then embellished - isn't it a beauty?  Alice kindly gave this to me as a parting gift - makes me think she was very happy to get out of here!

This lovely romantic piece above by Alice incorporates stamps, stencils and embellishments - very ethereal.

We spent some time playing with spray mist as above, which was both fun and a challenge.  It is water-soluble, which was difficult to incorporate into mixed media work.  We finally determined it could be utilized if it was sprayed after it dried with a workable fixative.  Above, Alice was also testing her crackle stamp against mine, comparing the differences.

We each did several starts with both soft and extra-heavy gel medium on Tuesday night, playing with them again through yesterday.  With dark paints, washes and stamp pad brushings, they became richly saturated  with colour by day's end.

It was pure delight, and both John and I are looking forward to a return visit in the near future.  Fortified with paint, stamps, mediums and new play things, along with fish and sunshine, we could surely conquer the world.