Celebrating...

...anywhere is perfect, but in Claresholm it is perfect-er!  We made a flying trip there this past week, and the trip was packed to the max.

Alice Saltiel Marshall hosted us for my birthday, and then talked me into a Gelli demo while I was there.  What fun.  I was obviously being terribly bratty, playing the violin at someone I'd just met!

Julie chooses paint and takes the guff!

After pulling some prints, I encouraged those attending to do the same.

Alice watches, as Julie gears up for the first pull.

Marjory shows her pull from a blue jean template.

Kim pulls the ghost print after using the house wrap stencil.

Alice was so enamoured with the colours she chose that she forgot to add stencils, textures or templates - and look at that lovely print!

I was delighted that Marjory won the door prize (more about that in my next post), given that she drove an hour and a half to attend the demo!

And of course, no visit to the Marshalls would be complete without some hi-jinks, as evidenced by this photo.  If John were a seamstress, he could be checking the length of his woolly gift to me, but that's definitely not the case.

Our day ended with a fabulous dinner party, topped with a birthday pie (thanks for remembering I'm not much of a cake fan, Alice!).

As always, a wonderful visit, tremendous food, fabulous company, and the occasional glass of wine - how could life get any better?

Going out to play...

...is always a fun thing to do, and a weekend trip to Claresholm to visit Alice Saltiel-Marshall and her husband Bill was no exception.  

When John and I visit there, I spend an inordinate amount of time wandering their lovely home, salivating over the artwork and generally soaking up the atmosphere.  Alice's studio, a tiny room (aka The Anne Frank Room) tucked under the stairs in the basement, fairly quivers with opulent colour and visual candy.

As you walk towards the door, the light jumps from the lime green walls to frame a feast for the eyes.

To the left, a shelving unit holds a photo of Bill, a pair of tiny cowboy boots gifted Alice by her muse, Kari Lalek, and a field of butterflies dancing in a painting-in-progress.

On the right, the wall sings with a trio of lilies, a jazzy cat (Alice's own) and a mountain panorama by Meg Nicks.

Around the corner to the right is a shelf hosting more in-progress paintings next to Alice's desk.

The shelf above the desk is another visual feast, filled with colourful tools, photos, mementos and more paintings.

How could one be anything but inspired as one views a collection of the 'who's who' of Alberta fine artists everywhere one looks?

by artist Sarah Kidner

by Alice Saltiel-Marshall

by Alice Saltiel-Marshall

by Liz Wiltzen

I count myself lucky to have spent some time in this wonderful studio while we visited, although I must admit I spent much more time viewing than playing.  Watch for some studio action in the next post.

In Claresholm, AB, the group is....

...crazy about mixed media.

This past weekend was another exciting time at the Seniors' Centre there, where we stamped,

Kerry and Susan work at the stamp table

 played with plastic wrap,

Ellen smooshes her plastic wrap start

painted drywall (really!),

Isabella paints a drywall compound piece

 and re-worked other paintings in some cases.

Louise adds found leaves and iridescent acrylics to an old watercolour painting

With a wide range of backgrounds in the arts from 'none at all' to watercolour, oil, textiles and jewellery, it was exciting to see what resulted from using the twenty-some mixed media techniques.

This piece by Ellen incorporates wasp-nest walls around the edge!

These plastic wrap starts are vibrant with energetic colour.

Kerry's piece incorporates the use of eye shadow - can you tell where?

This piece by Kerry was a show-stopper...it's truly lovely.

Louise'  revised  watercolour has a terrific moody feel after incorporating cheesecloth, an elderberry cluster tree, leaf trees and iridescent paints.

Meg's piece, started with a piece of Tyvek on a recent trip to Creston to play, has some additional hand-crafted stamps and paint layers now....looking luscious.

As often happens, the participants add and demo techniques of their own (I learn something new in EVERY workshop!).

Kerry, a strong volunteer with 4-H in Claresholm, demoed a method for painting flowers on t-shirts with Sharpie pen ink.

Meg kindly did a demo for us utilizing gold leaf and metallic papers.

As always, these workshops are a huge amount of work for many people.  Mega-thanks goes out to Alice Saltiel-Marshall, the extraordinary organizer, Kerry Hart, who acts as treasurer for the Claresholm events, and Meg Nicks of Sunny Raven Gallery who so kindly brings half of her store to supply the group.  Thanks, too goes to the Claresholm Art Club who secures and pays for the venue, which is superb.  And extra thanks to Alice, who forwarded all her photos of the weekend because my camera crashed just prior to the workshop.

Back row:  Susan, Barb, Alice, Louise, Meg
Front row:  Kerry, Win , Isabella
Missing from photo:  Ellen

I know the participants are happy when I read the comments on the satisfaction survey: 'Best day ever!', 'Thank you for a wonderful weekend.', 'Fun, fun, fun!', 'Wide variety of techniques covered!', 'A great learning experience.'  

This same workshop is going November 16 & 17 (just 8 days away) in Nelson, BC.  There are still some spots - would you like to join us?  Quick - PHONE 250 352 5905 to register with Oxygen Art Centre!

That crazy, wild, Claresholm group....

... did a FINE job this past weekend in the Mixed Media II workshop.  We had so many students and so many starts that we were all totally confused by 10 am on Saturday morning (and we started at 9).  How much fun is that?!

Susan, Jean, Jean, Cathy, Glenda, Billie, Brydon & Alice working like fiends

Luckily, Alice Saltiel-Marshall had been on hand throughout the organizational process to keep us all in line.  She also presented the cobweb technique she'd taught me last fall, and bailed me out on the drywall compound technique too  (somebody forgot to make enough starts)!

Alice wows us with the richness of a cobweb technique.

One of the participants, Meg Nicks of Sunny Raven Gallery, volunteered (well, I confess she was thoroughly strong-armed) to demo gold/silver/metal leaf.  The other artists watched with great glee, and not a little awe, as a dark blue background began to sport rich metallics using three different methods.

Meg dances with gold leaf

The floors, tables and walls were covered with half-started, nearly finished and 'good Lord what stage is that?' pieces (that last one was mine) to the point where we were tippy-toeing around the Seniors' Centre like elves in  a drunken stupor.

We played with drywall compound, raw pigments, fabrics, wallpaper, alcohol (inks, not the drinking kind), papers and paint to the point where we were all inebriated with colour.

You can tell with all the help (add Kerry Hart for all the treasury work and marketing, Judy Dahl and Shannon Clay with even more marketing, and Alice Saltiel-Marshall for organization, marketing and demos) I had next to nothing to do - sounds like a GREAT gig, right?  

Back:  Meg, Jean, Dorrit, Brydon, Linda, Dominique, Betty, Sherry
Middle:  Jean, Marrika, Glenda
Front:  Kerry, Sally, Billie, Judy, Cathy
Lazing on the floor:  Yours truly
Photo by Alice Saltiel-Marshall

It could not have been a better weekend, topped off by fabulous meals from Bill Marshall, and the occasional glass of wine to celebrate.  Many thanks to you all - you are an AMAZING group!

Wasn't that a party?!

Well, if you ever want to laugh until you drop, you just need to go play with the Claresholm Art Club.  They have more fun than is strictly legal, learn at an amazing pace, and keep each other at the top of the game.

The mixed media workshop this past weekend was marvellous.  We covered 21+ techniques, four drying tables (constantly changing), conversational topics that ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, and the Seniors' Centre from one end to the other with wonderful ephemera, luscious paints, found objects and laughter.

We played with dried leaves and flowers

Dried leaves and flowers to be added to the sandwiches

plastic wrap and paint dropping

'Sandwiches', plastic wraps, gesso paper and medallions

 gel mediums

Washes over gel medium 

and gesso, among other things.

Gesso (or 'brayer' or 'leather') paper

We dripped and splashed and smooshed (and I'm pretty sure someone was throwing paint, because I'm much more colourful than when the weekend started).

Dominique plays with smooshes and drips

 We were intent,

Jeanne painted like a fiend all weekend as she and Meg chatted

and addicted.

Meg may have gotten slightly addicted to the clear tar gel medallion technique

We added metallics to starts and pastes,

Don't these starts/layers make your mouth water?

layered and stamped and played,

Kerry's lovely finish

and some of us actually finished a piece or two.

This may have been Kerry's too (or Shannon's?) - comment below to correct me!

There were more variations on each theme than I considered possible!

Gesso paper samples

Magazine transfers were each uniquely fun.

Magazine photo transfer

 The drying tables were a constantly changing montage of painted/transferred/gelled/wet mat boards.

One of the four tables that were constantly covered with starts, techniques and drying pieces

 Each technique had its own stars...

A lovely diffused plastic wrap technique

 and turned up in a myriad of ways.

Layer upon layer of wonderful experimentation

 As always, workshops energize me, give me tons of ideas, and I learn much more than I could teach.  Thank you to all the participants who so willingly stepped out of the box and into the far reaches of the mixed media universe.  You ladies ROCK!