Flatwoods Folk Art: Lisa LaRosa's Inspirational Retreat....

Lisa LaRosa's Inspirational Retreat....

Good Morning Everyone!

I wanted to let you all know about a 2 day class I will be teaching in June, 2010 at Lisa LaRosa's Inspirational Retreat in beautiful Agoura Hills, California.

First off the location and facilities are awesome or as Tom would say...Bodacious (don't ask me where he gets these things). *S* Lisa has photos of the property and workshop area on her blog "Lisa LaRosa's Inspirational Retreat" as well as the details of each of the workshops she will be offering so please go and check it out and leave her a message letting her know you stopped by.

Now, as for my offering...as most of you know I love altering and creating books and booklets. There is just something about gathering images, verses or thoughts into something tangible that can be held no matter the size. This is my first and true altered art love....it is what my muse sings to me about and what I feel led to do.

Here is the description for my class as I prepared it for Lisa's website....

As artists we may not all be writers but we are all story tellers. The quills and ink have been replaced by paint brushes, glazes and chalks while our parchment is canvas, fabric and vintage ephemera.

Instead of the nib scratching the surface of the paper our paints flow silently yet with the same need to set our thoughts free.

In this two day class we will weave our stories together in a handmade book using vintage fabrics, papers and images. Cradled within our books will be pockets and envelopes holding treasures of photos, poetry, journaling and more. The pages will come alive with stitching, stamping, fluid chalk inking and image transfers.

You will learn to create tape transfers and clear wrap transfers and how to incorporate them into your book pages and other collages. Other techniques we will learn will be how to age fabrics using a variety of methods and how to use gesso and acrylic stamping to add more depth to your artistic works.

As students in my other classes will attest (I hope *S*) I try to come prepared with many images and extra goodies for everyone to gather from and use in their creative journeys. In addition to the planned lessons with transfers and building our novellas it is my plan to toss in a short and fast lesson on etching a brass or copper charm that can be added to one of the pages in your story.

So, if you are any where near Lisa's Retreat or if you are across the country (or an ocean) I would love to have you join us for this fantastic class as we work together to tell our stories.

Here are some images from one of my books....