Looking forward...

The July retreat will be here before we know it (July 18-22, to be exact)! I've been organizing my stash of vintage fabrics and ephemera, clearing space for the sewing machines (yes, plural), and gearing up to create some special goodies for the attendees.







I'm so glad to have something FUN and creative to look forward to! With all the doom and gloom assaulting us on a daily basis, we must carve out personal time to restore our spirit. Spending four days with a bunch of like-minded souls is just the answer. How about you? Isn't it about time you carved out some creative time for yourself?
























There's still room at the Center, although not for long, so if you're thinking of joining us and staying on-site, you'll want to register soon. A couple of the classes are almost full, so don't procrastinate or you might miss out. You can check out all the offerings here, but I want to highlight a couple of the instructors now, and will do a couple more in my next post. (Don't want to overwhelm you with too much eye candy at once!)

Katie Kendrick is teaching a workshop titled Dream Narratives. Now how soothing and soulful does that sound?? She just sent me another photo of her work—I am just loving this! (Be sure and click on the image to see the details)

If you follow her blog, you know that she's taking a year off from teaching next year. What?! How can that be? Well, she's listening to her heart and taking time out for her Self. Can't argue with that one little bit. But, it means that she won't be around for a while, so you might just want to catch her while you can. She's an amazingly giving instructor, very patient and soft-spoken, and oh-so generous with her talent. I defy anyone to take a class from her and not fall in love with her. I'm serious.

Her class description reads, in part, "We’ll be mono-printing and stenciling on fabric, using image transfer techniques, simple thread paintings, and drawing and painting on fabric using acrylic paints, oil paintstiks, pencils, pens, and markers. I will also cover basic elements of design, and various ways to create texture and movement with fabric. You’ll then adorn your ‘stories’ with journaling, hand-stitching, embroidery, trims and embellishments—whatever moves you!" OH YUM!
And Richard Salley is instructor extraordinaire, having been an art educator for years and years and...well, a very long time. He now travels all over, sharing his knowledge and talent in jewelry, assemblage—all things artistic . He's teaching a 3-day workshop jewelry workshop packed with cold-connection techniques. As he describes it, "One of the things that I enjoy most about working in the genre of 'found object jewelry' is to take something that we see or use on a daily basis and incorporate it into a piece of wearable art. Whether you are an experienced art jeweler or looking for your first class in jewelry making, you’ll learn a wealth of tips, tricks and techniques that you can apply to your own jewelry and assemblage projects."

As you can see, his pieces are just jaw-dropping, and many of his students are repeat customers. (That tells you just about everything you need to know right there.) With his expert guidance, you too can walk out with creations such as these. Can you imagine?! There are a bunch more samples of fabulous jewelry pieces on the website, so hop on over and take a look.




























Next time, I'll focus on the work of DJ Pettitt and Stephanie Lee! We'd really love to have you join us in beautiful northern California this July--the Center is up in the redwoods, just 20 min. east of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, 45 min. south of San Francisco, and 1 hour north of Monterey.

There's so much to see and do in the Bay area—even if you don't want to stray too far, Los Gatos and the surrounding area can keep you busy for a good while. More on that in the next post too...

Doesn't get any better than this for a summer getaway, now does it? Now go here to read all about it.