this and that…

Last week I traveled with a friend for a mixed media art class in Santa Fe, NM. Anyone who knows me well knows I am a total NM junkie. It takes little to convince me to go to NM, and this my 14th trip was no exception. This time I spent no time in galleries, the cooking school or on the plaza, however.

All my time was consumed with art-making, eating and sleeping. With possibly 100 great restaurants in Santa Fe, we chose repeats at our favorites! And with preparation I was able to consume everything I loved including an entire week of green chile and blue corn anything.

We also crammed in two errands, one to see the SAQA NM region’s Cultural Red exhibit at the capitol roundhouse and the other a visit to our favorite indian jewelry trading post, the Santa Fe Exchange.  It was delightful!

We studied with Betty Busby whose work I have been in awe of for a long while. I bought a piece of her work in 2011 from the SAQA auction and having it hang in my office is such a treat, and daily reminder of all that is possible to explore in this medium. Spending the week with Betty really demystified her work for me and made me appreciate even more its detail and intricacy. Additionally she is such a generous soul and funny person so it was overall a great experience. As I was fully ‘in the moment’ I was also able to appreciate the art immersion, the relaxation and the gift of time away.

We painted non-wovens, such as these leaves and the outline of an aged cactus, which strangely looks a bit like a totem.

We also painted several pieces of silk under/over textured mat surfaces…

 

And used Shiva paint sticks to create patterns on previously painted fabrics.  

Now that I am back I am picking up where I left off on the collaboration as well as enjoying an online class titled iPad for Artists which reminds me I best get started…