Guest Artist - Ellen Wolters

As you may remember, everyone who entered the final Challenge was a "winner" of a Tangle Card pack. I recently received this note on Facebook:

Ellen Wolters > BEEZ ink Studio       Been playing in my kidsclass with the Tangle Cards I won with your challenge! We had real fun, check it out:
http://tekenpraktijkdeinnerlijkewereld.blogspot.nl/2013/09/beans.html
Again thank you so much for the cards!

I was blown away by how clever the idea was. We ALL know that Lilah Beans have "tangled" hair - but I had never seen hair THAT tangled! ;-D What fun to use her hair as a "sampler"?

Here is Ellen's post from her blog along with the great images (used with permission of course). 
The original post (in Dutch) is HERE. I had Google translate it into English:

A while ago I took part in a challenge by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. She is the author of many books on tangling, but also an illustrator and much more. 

Her daughter created Lilah Bean, a bean-shaped creature ​​in various tangles. 
 

I won a prize for the challenge: a set of cards with tangles and the Kids' edition with Lilah Bean! Of course they had to be played with. The children made ​​their own Lilah Beans (Bean Blackbird, Maud Bean, Bean Simone, Lindsay Bean, Eva Bean, Bean Marijn and I of course, made Ellen Bean). 

We gave the Beans a nose and ears. You can purchase such a card set or read more about Sandy Steen Bartholomew. Look at her Facebook site: Sandy Steen Bartholomew or shop in the online store.

These were made by ​​the children. Everyone tangled on each drawing in one or more boxes. 

Ellen's Blog is:  http://www.tekenpraktijkdeinnerlijkewereld.blogspot.com (Drawing Practice The Inner World) Be sure to look around on the site. Ellen has made some great videos (she has one of my Annee!) and tangled alphabets, etc.... enjoy!

Best Day. Ever. Santa Fe

Yes, the best day. 

Lisa Heron and I did some adventuring. First we drove North a bit... Then we drove South... Then wandered a bit in the middle... Then South again. :-)

In Santa Fe, even the underpasses have art on them. And the parking garages!? The last four pics in this group are from the garage attached to La Fonda... There are paintings and stained glass in the stairway of the parking garage. And all the pillars are painted or carved. Whoa. 

The shops around La Fonda are insanely expensive but a feast for the eyes when window shopping. Not to be outdone by the garage, the hotel has tiled drinking fountains, ATMs, and even the ladies room. The courtyard restaurant had hundreds of painted windows and door panes. 

After lunch, we wandered around The Plaza, shopped the outdoor markets, listened to international music, avoided the Free Hugs mob, and walked the labyrinth at St. Francis' cathedral. The photo of my toes is to prove I made it to the middle!

We met up with Jessica Wesolek in Eldorado (jokingly referred to as Ell-DOH-rah-DOH) and followed her to a cowboy bar and dance hall. While waiting for our table, Lisa and I explored a nearby abandoned church. 

The cowboy dancehall, the Legal Tender, was an amazing place. It was loud, but kind of worn-in elegant. The food was tasty and it was mesmerizing to watch the couples dancing. It was odd that none of the couples ever smiled while twirling around...?

The sign over the stage reads, "Where the pavement ends, and the West begins."

The last two pics are the journal entries. My sketch of my margarita... The Legal Tender only serves beer and wine, no hard liquor. But the wine based margarita was delicious! And Lisa's page showing her drawing of Chris modeling her tangley jacket is not only wonderful, but serves as proof that I did actually teach while here!

I can't believe it is all over! Time went so fast and now I have to pack and head on home tomorrow. 

We are already thinking of what to improve on for next year. :-)

Retreat's End

The last day of the Art Journal Retreat. Sigh. I think we will all miss the laughter. :-)

It was to be an easygoing, studio day with time to journal and catch up. I didn't journal... I talked with every single person and answered questions and showed my journals. It was incredibly satisfying, but also incredibly exhausting!

I have been bringing my lunch, but today I  went to out with a new bunch of ladies...

And then to see an incredible bookmaking exhibit at the Capitol...

More talking... Ooohing and aahing over journals. And lots of hugs as everyone said goodbye. 

Then dinner...

And now, my "work" is finished. I plan to sleep until noon tomorrow and then, well, we'll see what happens later. 

Hump Day... Santa Fe

I did a workshop on drawing faces this morning...

Then one on using Tombow markers - and other water-based markers- with a water brush. The effect is like water colors with a lovely blend. The coolest thing was using the clear Sakura Glaze pen as a resist!

We went on small group field trips - some to Museum Hill and others to Canyon Road. Canyon Road is a mile and a half of incredible art galleries. I wandered it... in hot sun... with Vivian. 

Kinetic sculptures, chairs made from rocks and very interesting shadows. A bit of Star Wars graffiti. 

For dinner, we went to The Shed (I love the sign) near the Plaza. Cold red raspberry soup and a vegetable quesadilla... The soup was passed around the table with moans and sighs of delight. It was so delicious. 

Once again, I am beyond exhausted, but I had a wonderful day; drew pictures, met more incredible people; and laughed so hard during dinner, I almost wet my pants. :-). Another perfect day. 

Here's a page from my journal showing what I could remember of a cool earring I would love to have... Day of the Dead meets steam punk. 

Tuesday... Santa Fe

Everyone learned to carve their own rubber stamps today. Despite the challenge of stamping onto the textured watercolor paper in our journals, the designs were beautiful. I was really impressed (pun intended) with the work.

After lunch, Jessica did a lesson on drawing and coloring adobe houses and chili peppers. 

I worked a bit more on my sketch of the Old Pecos ruin from Sunday. 

And we explored the neighborhood looking for interesting examples of adobe walls and doors. 

We headed back to the hotel and spent the next four hours drawing and being really silly!  (Fun!)

I need to work on the guacamole a bit more... 

By the way, Lisa Heron is "brilliant".

Monday in the Classroom

After a slightly nerve wracking morning dealing with a dead battery in the rental car... I spent most of the day in the classroom.

Before lunch, we worked on learning how to paint Santa Fe skies. I, of course, added a little story about a red balloon and a flock of birds. 

After lunch, I did a workshop on lettering then showed lots of journaling ideas in a slide show. 

I had round two of birthday dining with Lisa, Christine, and Donna at the Midtown Bistro. This great restaurant was behind a rock quarry, fountain, sculpture place...

Here is Lisa Heron - who totally ROCKS...

And the food was fabulous too...

I still only have parts of journal pages completed, but here is the map page I started...

Art Journaling as Paradise

New meaning to Hump Day?

And so we started...

A slight typo, but perhaps more accurate.

There were thirty of us and we plunged into the basics of drawing, by examining our tools and our lunch. :-)

We took a short field trip to explore the neighborhood. 

I was asked how I did the gray lines in my previous journal posts. I use a Pitt Brush, which is permanent, gray India ink. A Flair pen is also cool... The drawn lines can be blended using a water brush. There are interesting tones of blues and grays. 

Some of us went for dinner at The Cowgirl Cafe. Take a look at the description for the meatloaf... Yak!!? Mmmmm. (I had scallops).