What a weekend!

The Kootenay Fibre Fest this past Saturday was a memorable event filled with incredible colour,

 cascades of fibre,

nuances in grey,

wonderful contrasts,

braided rainbows,

 cocoons,

and baskets of sunshine.

It was impossible to stay hands off!

The try-it station presented by the local quilting guild was luscious (and very busy),

and an indigo-dyed display by Anne Fetterly was rich with a range of soft blue to midnight sky.

I was endlessly fascinated  by the spinning that was going on behind me on the stage,

while at the table in front a needle felting try-me joint project by attendees was pure delight in its evolution.

The mono-printing station I occupied was busy enough that this is the only photo I have, taken just before the gates opened.

Even our local sasquatch got in on the act, getting dolled up for the occasion.

I believe this photo is by Mel Hadiken-Joy

All in all, it was an immensely successful day, compliments of Carmen Ditzler and her team.  Plan a road trip for the next year - you'll be so glad you did!

It's the tail end...

...of fall in our area, and because we're so colourful here, I thought I'd share some of it with you.

Even if I don't spend time in the studio, I'm constantly on the lookout for the beauty around me, and this season we have it in abundance.  How does it look in your area - are you enjoying the beauty of the season?

Back at TAPS...

...and loving it.  The theme this week was Crazy Creston, and it was another afternoon of laughter and fun.

I particularly enjoyed the camaraderie around the table as some of the participants worked together to create these wild and wacky collages.

It was obvious that they enjoyed not only the process but the results.

So many of them likened the experience of collage as a 'return to kindergarten', and they certainly looked like a bunch of happy children as they finished.

How this delightful woman managed to work upside down as her partner across the table gave her directions is beyond me!

 I'm loving that multi-storied building in this young woman's collage!

 Each collage had their own style and flavour,

and some of them generated a whole lot of monkey business.  See the two nearly nude men in this one?

It was a delight to watch them work and see their final results.  Unfortunately, I seem to have missed a few participants and their work in the photo-taking department.  Fire the photographer, I say!

I can see there's a strong possibility of repeat action on collaging - they all took to it like the proverbial ducks to water.

Naturally, I'm now (again) hooked on collage, and will be adding that to some of my journals over the next while.  It's such an ongoing inspiration to play with others, isn't it?

Art friends...

...are the best!  These past four days were chock-a-block full of experimentation, food, wine, laughter, colour and extraordinary fun, not necessarily in that order.

Alice Saltiel and Meg Nicks , along with their other halves, 

Meg, Win, John,  & Paul watch Bill pull a Gelli print (Alice is behind the camera on this one)

spent the last few days in Creston, where we crammed in as much studio time as possible. Alice and Meg, both consummate artists, demonstrated some fabulous techniques and, as always, I learned a ton from each of them. We traded stash supplies, tips and new and exciting products.

Alice painted and tested an embossing technique (to say nothing of creating some luscious backgrounds):

while Meg primarily worked on her fabulous organic paintings in preparation for a 20-minute  upcoming paint-off benefit.

She got a bit of time to add layers to some other paintings-in-progress and tested the embossing technique as well (missed a photo of that).

We also managed a walk over to Skimmerhorn Winery to check out how the grapes were coming along (really!!!),  

a fabulous lunch at Real Food Cafe, and several other food comas. In other words, we got down and dirty in Creston, BC.

Meg and Alice

As always, it was sheer delight and I look forward to a return engagement.

Well, that was fun!

A rare combination of circumstances had me teaching in my home studio this past weekend, something I've not done in some years.

Gwen digs right in with drywall compound

I noted in my last post how the studio had to be cleaned, sorted and revamped for the event, or we wouldn't have had the room to spread out our play.

Even at that, the floor, along with every available surface, got utilized as a drying rack for the 20 or so techniques we enjoyed.

Both student tables, along with my own drawing board, were overflowing.

Soon the colour on the tables matched the wild walls.  The Art Foamies got a great workout on day two,

Verona goes wild with colour

and Opal the Studio Cat kept us busy as 'Relocation Experts'.  We vainly moved her, again and again, to keep her out of wet paint and mediums.  Her previous attempts at mixed media caused me no end of trouble, and that wasn't anything I wanted to share with students!

I very much enjoyed the change of pace with this size of class - it gave us time to get to know each other well, and more time for one-on-one assistance with questions and projects.

On another note, if you're living near Creston, BC, why not pop into the Chamber of Commerce before day end on Thursday?  The current show there includes some truly interesting work, and it ends at 9 am Friday.

As well, I'm letting you know now that there is a Gelli it Up! playshop coming to Creative Fix in less than two weeks.  Are you in?  Are you registered?  Are you ready for the maximum amount of monoprint fun?  Come and play!