Valley Ridge with Flora Bowley

 My friend Pam and I have just returned from 3 days of painting with Flora Bowley. The workshop was held at beautiful Valley Ridge,with amazing hostess, Katherine Engen. I've been to Valley Ridge once before and the property and studio are just amazing. So beautiful and peaceful. Katherine is moving onto new adventures, so Pam and I took advantage of the studio time, knowing that things are changing for Valley Ridge.

Flora's class was just amazing. It was not about pressure or perfection. It was very calm and peaceful, full of gratitude and appreciation. A wonderful way to look at life and present a workshop.Makes me want to incoporate things differently when I teach as well.

Her painting style is a process. It might take 3 days to paint a picture, it might take a week, a few weeks or more! In the beginning of the class, we were all ask to make a commitment about our goal for her class. Mine was to not to get caught up in walking away with a "masterpiece" (just not realistic). I can get easily frustrated when painting for the "magic" to happen and my goal was to just be patient. Every morning, we would recommit or remind ourselves to our goals. great philosophy to keep  yourself on track! I left feeling peaceful, content and grateful.

It was also a treat for us all to have Flora's mom and sister, joining in on the fun. It was their first time taking a workshop with her - how cool is that?

 here's a little section of one of my paintings, a bird soaring to new heights.

 I flew into Chicago, where Pam picked me up. Then we drove 4 hours to Wisconsin. We had fun along the way and of course did a little antiquing.

 

 for my birthday present (Happy Birthday to me!), Pam painted this sweet little picture for me. I feel so lucky to have a piece of art created by my dear friend. It's titled, "She waters her garden daily". yep, that's me!

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the post will be visual . I'll let you imagine the rest of the story as it unfolds through my photography. enjoy!

 

As always, thanks for tagging along!

home again, home again

How awesome is this? they had 2 girls at the fair, taking photos, giving out wienie whistles. so i asked if they got to drive it here and she said yes. so i was wondering how does one get a job driving a wienie car? (you never know, i might apply....)
update: i went on their website to answer my own question and this is what i found out:
While I was just pretend the real driving is done by a team of talented and personable "Hotdoggers" who have attended Hot Dog High in Madison, Wisconsin, where they learn about the company's products and history as well as receiving specialized driver training. I'm sure they're careful drivers, but Oscar Mayer undoubtedly has a hefty car insurance policy on a vehicle this unique. After taking the Hotdogger Oath and graduating, new Hotdoggers travel the country for one year. The Hotdoggers on this visit were Desiree Villarreal (left), better known as "Dill Relish Des", from Palacios, Texas, and Regan Schubel (a.k.a. "Regan Relish") from Marshall, Michigan.


(click on photo for enlarged view)

well, we made it back home - we left yesterday morning with Joanna and Miss A in the U-haul and Kathe and I in my car. well, Kathe and i promptly got lost as we were chit chatting away. it didn't take us long to figure it out though. then where we decided to get off was under constructed, so we ended up on a detour that took us on a very extended route to get back to where we needed to go. the whole time we were trying to sort out our directions, there was a very strange, but cute, cricket/grasshopper on the dash of my car and he kept walking towards me. i didn't mind him in the car, but he kept coming straight at me and i thought, he's gonna jump in my face! so i swatted him about. so we are driving on this detour and all of a sudden, Kathe, gives out a startled noise and Mr. Buggy had made his way around to her window and was staring her in the face. so out the window he went! we made several stops on the way home at antique stores, potty breaks, coffee breaks. the ride was long and tedious. my back was spasming really bad, so i was happy every time we stopped to stretch our legs. we ended up stopping at this hole in the wall antique store that was a total "diggers delight". their whole back room was vintage Christmas (described by Joanna as "a room where Christmas threw up" or something like that) it was awesome. the owner was giving us the best prices and we think he was either bored to death or happy to see 4 women walk into his store! what a lovely time we had. and i want to thank the girls for all their help, advice, buying me my birthday dinner, the great collage book and for buying some of my jewelry - i appreciate the support. we've heard a rumor of changes in location to the Country Living Fair and i hope they are just that, "rumors". the location was perfect. i'm anxious for them to make a decision about it.

it was a good show and as usual, everyone wanted to buy my display stuff (my NFS - not for sale stuff), so i told my husband, maybe i'll just stop making stuff and sell flea market finds since that's what everyone wants to buy! (don't worry, i won't stop making stuff....)



(click on photo for enlarged view)

(click on photo for enlarged view)

(click on photo for enlarged view)

I got all my stuff unpacked and put away (for the most part) some of it needs to stay out and be ready to go to Connecticut. i started packing for Portland, so it's already back to the grindstone - no breaks for this gal.

new piece and Chicago

this was something i painted on the wall in Z's studio.

-----------------------------------------------------------

here's a necklace i finished before i left. i haven't been able to load pictures onto blogger for the last few days, but now i can. the base is a piece of sea glass, but it is an intact top of a bottle - in perfect shape; nice and smooth from it's time in the ocean. i found the bottle top on the dog beach in Manasquan. it's quite an impressive piece when worn as it is heavy and chunky.

i arrived in chicago fine and dandy; although a bit late. even though our flight was "on time", we ended up sitting on the runway for a half hour while we waited for the 20 planes ahead of us to take off. i seemed to be sitting in the smelly BO and no AC section. also my seat was broken so it wouldn't tilt back at all. there was a larger size man in the middle row who was encroaching on my space and if you've paid attention to any of the many quirks i've shared about myself, you'll remember that i am VERY claustrophic, especially in a situation like that. i ended up going to the back of the airplane for awhile.

Zhulia was there to pick me up, so after gathering my luggage we headed up to Labarge street to the Jackson Square antique center (well, where else would we go?). we found some great goodies and i'll have to say, i found their prices very reasonable. from there we had a bite to eat at Noodles, but their fare seemed to be upsetting my stomach, so i switched my meal midstream to chicken noodle soup and a roll to quell my tummy ache. from there we hit a thrift store, where i picked items as well.

we got to her house and were greeted by the cutest doggie, Chip. I think Tigger would have been a better name for him as he is very springy, bouncey and sprongy. (yes, you can find all those words in the dictionary)

tomorrow we will shop for groceries and do a little art and then we leave for wisconsin (valley ridge art studio) on thursday after picking up our friend, Jean, from the airport. can't wait to also get to see my buddy, Kim and Julie.