Annual Art Retreat

I am part of an online art group with members all over the country. There are only about 35 of us and each year for the past  years we have gathered for a long weekend retreat in Grapevine, Texas. Approximately 20 members usually attend and we make art, create books, eat yummy food and celebrate the great friendships we've made over the years.

This past weekend was supposed to be our 2020 retreat which, of course, had to be canceled.  Our fearless leader, however, managed to plan a wonderful virtual "Pitiful Party" for us.  We had several Zoom meetings (with between 12 and 15 members participating); an art room scavenger hunt where we gathered the items and then posted a photo online; several games including Covid Bingo and word searches; a few art projects; posts of art tips and techniques; prizes and just plain fun. It was not a substitute for the real, in-person thing, but a great alternative nonetheless.

We created "scrappies" to swap with each other. These are just bundles/layers of scraps of papers, lace, fabric, ribbon, buttons, etc. stapled, sewn or glued together. They can be partially glued to journal pages as tuck spots, can be added to a paper clip for a fancy clip or used as an embellishment for a pocket or page. They are quite addictive to make and use up lots of tiny bits.  I made these four:

One gal shared a "make and take" with us using an upside down tag to make a cute bird hanging. She sent out some images and a list of the supplies she used and then we used whatever we had to make ours.  Mine came out similar to hers.

Another activity was to take a card we had received sometime and recycle it into another card. We then sent these to our leader who will deliver them to a nursing home. I have no idea when I received this card or from whom but I had saved the card front. I cut it down, layered it on dark card stock and then mounted on a tan card and added fibers.

This is just a hint of the fun we had. The best part was seeing everyone on Zoom and having great conversations during these stay-at-home days.

AG Retreat 2018

My annual retreat last week was as amazing as always. 19 ladies came from all over the US (California, Washington state, Utah, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama and, of course, Texas). We are in an online art group and have been having this retreat in Grapevine, TX, for 13 years! I am lucky enough to only live about 10 miles away and have been to all except one (I got sick the night before that one).

We always have a theme and create a book according to that theme for one or two of the days. Some of the attendees do make-n-takes for everyone and we always have some kind of a swap. This year the theme was "Typography/Fonts" which stumped many of us. But it really was a wide-open theme and anything worked as long as there were letters involved.

Some of the tags I received in the swap (I posted about my tag in this post.):

Some card make-n-takes:

step-card

A coaster make-n-take made with Scrabble tiles, edged with copper tape and accented with copper foil. I still need to cover it with some type of varnish.

This is the canvas make-n-take I taught the group.  We covered the canvas with crumpled tissue paper, then glued on bits of corrugated cardboard, drywall tape, chipboard die cuts, chipboard letters, buttons and an old paintbrush. The entire canvas was then covered with black chalk paint and highlighted with Inka Gold metallic waxes in various colors.

This was a fabric-covered junk journal that one of the gals made for each of us! It is filled with 2 fat signatures of "junk" papers attached with ribbons and the pamphlet stitch. I can't believe she made 19 of these! Thanks so much Joan!

 I will share the book I made in another post. My theme was "Alice in Wonderland, which I've wanted to do for quite awhile."

Here are some of the make-n-takes we did on Thursday.

The Retreat - Viva Mexico!

As I mentioned in my last post, this year's retreat's theme was "Viva Mexico." As always, we decorated the conference room/classroom with all things Mexico.

Part of wall decor and "Mercado" - the pole on left held a giant piñata;
I brought the papel picado back from Mexico at Christmas.

The "Mercado" - everyone brought 20 whatevers for each of us and we "shopped"
for our goodies.

Before the retreat, we each made 3 art pieces which were our "money" for shopping. They were all placed in a bag and we each picked out three.  I received these: a beautifully-colored balloon trio 4x4; an adorable little cactus; and a lovely Lady of Guadalupe Altoid tin lid "shrine."  Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take photos of the three pieces I made!

Four ladies were assigned brief topics to share with us. One was on the foods of Mexico, one on five interesting Mexican artists, one on cacti and one on The Day of the Dead.  Below is the wonderful display that was made for the DOD. We learned a lot and it also brightened up our room!

On Thursday we always have some "Make 'n Takes" to do, shared by several attendees.

Jeri helped us make these vintage tin shrines with images, German glass glitter and beads.  I shared making ceramic tiles decoupaged with napkins.

We made these darling cactus gatefold cards after Joyce's cacti presentation.

Card closed

Card open

Kris showed us how to make tassels with beads, felt balls and a skein of embroidery floss.

And, last but not least, Jeri gave everyone a configuration box to do whatever we wished.  I decided to make mine for our 2016 Christmas memories in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  I added photos as well as some of the little goodies from the Mercado.

The entire box was painted turquoise and orange and then the front and back covers decoupaged with paper.  I love the decoration on the front of the box - I used a colorful straw, some fibers and a doily, all goodies shared by participants.

Front cover

Inside

Right side close-up

Whew! You can see we were very busy at our retreat! Tomorrow I will share the 

book I created on Friday.

Retreat Projects

While at retreat we created a few little projects, keeping with the 1920's theme. First up is a "Powder Puff" made with vintage fabrics, trims and flowers that Joan pre made with ribbons and lace. We assembled it on a ribbon-covered dowel, but I'm thinking I will remove that and use it for a beautiful pincushion. It's big - about 7" across. Did they really use these things in the 20's??

The, of course, we had to make headbands for the occasion.

We created collages on 8"x10" canvas boards with packets of supplies that were provided. All the collages were so different despite being made with similar supplies.

We always have a swap of some kind, also keeping with the theme. This year we brought small artworks ranging from 3" x 3" to no larger than 4" x 6" to exchange with everyone.  I made mine 4" square using one of my favorite stamps. I watercolored the background, embossed it and then also watercolored the stamped image.

All the artwork together on a ring - we wrote messages to each participant on the backs so this is a wonderful memento of the weekend.

 And the remainder of the cards. I love that they are all so unique!

Back from Retreat

It's been almost a week since I've been back from my retreat, but I've taken a long time to get back into the swing of reality!  Seventeen members of the online group were there, some from as far away as California, Washington State and Florida and several from Texas.

Every year we create a book based on the theme of the retreat. This year it was "The Roaring Twenties."  Several gals dressed in costume the last evening and we were elegantly served sparkling wine, cheese and grapes by the four twenty-something sons of one of our own, all in keeping with the theme. Our conference room was even decorated beautifully and we enjoyed the music of the era all weekend. It almost felt like we'd gone back in time!

Here are photos of my completed book. Six members (including me) each created a page or the cover and prepared the kits and instructions for everyone. Some "made it their own, " but since I design for teaching all the time, I wanted to relax and just went with the basic book as designed.

Front cover

Spine - my favorite part - a unique binding using buttons

First spread - celebrating the New Year, 1920 (acetate in the windows)

Music and theater - Speakeasy. The "door" is actually an old stamp which is cut apart and attached on separate sides (see below)

Center photo is a pocket holding two speakeasy photo tags (see below)

These sides of the "door" were plain. We had received these 10 wonderful photos of movie starlets along with information on the backs from one of the ladies attending and I wanted to incorporate them into the book somehow. Came up with this idea of a cascading flip using black tape so the backs can be read. The ten fit just perfectly!

Fashion/flapper page - the one I created. The chandelier is sparkly and the tops of the columns are shiny with Glossy Accents.

The top of the right page flips up to reveal a photo of a gorgeous flapper along with some fun information.

My favorite part was this flapper dress, created by stacking rows of red fringe fiber. The flapper stamp was perfect.

Gangster/prohibition spread with Al Capone on the left. The little booklet is sewn into the spread with pertinent facts of the period. Notice the bottle of "booze" on far left - crackle and alcohol inks on die cut acetate.

Elliott Ness on right spread.

Card that fits in a pocket formed between this page and the following page.

General facts spread with actual relatives on left page and a flag booklet on right.

Cover of flag booklet opens to reveal tags

Flag booklet opened fully with information tags

In my next post I will share some of the other projects we created.