Art is You: redux

I recently returned from Art is You, the art retreat held annually in Stamford, Connecticut. It is hard to put into words the experience and feelings that go along with attending an art retreat. Those of you who have been to a retreat know what I am talking about. And those who haven't...well it is time to get your butts to one of the many retreats that take place across the country every year.

Perhaps the best way to share my experience at Art is You is through images..

There is the opportunity to take classes with amazing teachers. These are just a few of the instructors whose classes I crashed my first day there...

Tracy Verdugo from Australia. Gotta love an artist who works on the floor!

Jodi Ohl, whose vibrant work always brings a smile to my face.

Michael deMeng showing off a doll's head. That's Eileen Bellomo next to him. Hey Eileen.

There is the opportunity to visit with old friends and meet so many new ones. There is nothing like meeting in person somebody that you have "known" very well for years online...

Leighanna Light and Sallianne, who along with Ellen, runs this retreat and runs it perfectly!

The Js...Joanne Sharpe and Joanna Pierotti. And of course the horse, who made quite a splash at the Art Trunk.

The one-of-a-kind Kecia Deveney, who I happily was placed next to at the Art Trunk.

There were many opportunities to give back...

This is just part of the huge raffle table filled with artwork and supplies that were raffled off for charity.

Nope...these aren't art bloggers. They are just a few of the amazing figures made by some of the instructors that were part of the raffle prizes.

There were surprises...

This is my amazing name tag/neck pouch. Ellen made over 300 of these and each was unique!!

There was of course food and drink, which was served in style...

We all needed fuel to keep us going with the art frenzy.

I taught my workshop 52 Card Pickup with the best class of students ever...and yes, I say that every time!

Worker bees...

We painted...

And collaged...

9 of 52 cards from Esta Berman-Price

We made a mess on our tables...

The sign of a happy artist!

The sign of an even happier artist!!

And we put it all together to make special journals, using a deck of cards to make 52 spots to journal each week for a year.

From &rew Borloz, who gets the 'working fast' prize!

And the townspeople rejoiced...

I am already looking forward to next year!

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I had so much fun teaching 52 Card Pickup that I am going to do it again. You can join me on December 2 at Little Bird Creations Studio in NYC for a full day workshop. Bring your deck of cards and be ready for a fury of painting and collaging. As of the time I am writing this post, there are 3 open seats left. Info and registration: here.

Playing Favorites: Chapter 8

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...

Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
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Kathryn Dyche Dechairo

"Ablaze. The texture represents the many layers to life while the red tree represents love, emotions and strength."

Victoria Payne

"The Mandrake was my first breakthrough piece circa about 2005. He was the first manifestation of my art experiments that joined my figurative drawing and my love of dimensional embroidery."

annie!

"One of my favorite pieces of art is my rendition of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. I've always loved the original and thought about making it in fabric for years. I used scraps (exclusively) that most would throw away."

Rachel Whetzel

"I made this piece from bits and pieces during my time spent beach combing on the Oregon coast. It reminds me of the time we used to spend on the coast camping when I was a kid, and the hours we would spend looking for treasures there. All of the pieces remind me of all the weeks spent by the campfire, or in our trailer, reading books and drinking hot coco with marshmallows."

Laura Lein-Svencner

"She Walks With Me. This is a picture I made of myself at age 86...which I'm not. It's structure is made of cardboard brown paper bags and denim jeans with yarn and natural found objects. I have always pictured myself as a woods woman from a very young age...that was my safe haven to go, it's where I felt I belonged. 

Stephanie Brouwers

"My favorite piece of art is what I call my Voodoo necklace. It's a never ending piece...a few times a year it gets an update. This necklace is about connections. Connections with the past - some elements are pretty old - and connections with people - some elements were given to me be friends from all over the world and some are part of the history of my family."

Sharon Read

"This is one in a series of 60+ spirals of the soul that contain remnants of fabrics, text. papers, small bits and pieces of prints, and oddments of my life. These little bundles were put together to represent my memories all bundled up and safe within me. Some are bound whilst others were open to see a little of the narrative."

Susan Madden

"This is one of my favorite pieces because I like the layered and dimensional look I got and I also like the texture the thick watercolor paper imposed on the surface. I also like the fact that I haven't nailed this piece down yet (or framed it), as I continue to add marks to it every time I pull it out of the almost drawer."

Maude May

"we only have this moment. An unexpected snow, a lovely midnight walk with my dog, through our silent neighborhood. Capturing moments to create and share my vision is what I live for."

Diane Ferguson

"A double woven tube with Deconstructed Screen Printing is the result of taking a risk. Hand weaving cloth is a time consuming process and using DSP on it is a split second leap of faith. Another Opening reinforced my desire to combine these techniques for unexpected results."

Deryn Mentock

"Home Town is a piece I created for my mom, who also happens to be one of my best friends. It's made with elements that hold great meaning for her...and myself. It's a heirloom piece..filled with memories."

Cory Celaya

"Mauve Morning Cuff. I love to create art jewelry with off the wall and found object materials. Taking odd materials, fabric, paint, and heat, then turning it into something totally different is my passion."

Gail Pierce

"This is the first fabric art piece that wasn't a struggle for me; everything fell into place. Purple and yellow aren't colors I normally choose, but the fabric was on my worktable directly under the black/grey piece of fabric, serenipitious perhaps? The focal point fabric was also on my worktable. The three fabrics used in this piece were either hand-dyed or printed in my studio."

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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, October 14th.

Art is...

This Saturday, 10/6, I will be participating in the Art Trunk as part of the retreat Art is You. 

This will take place at the Sheraton in Stamford, Connecticut. The event is open to the public and you do not need to be part of the retreat to attend. The sale runs from 6-9pm and will include 40+ vendors selling art and art supplies. I have been in the studio as much as possible over the last month and will have many new pieces to sell. And look for what doesn't sell at the retreat to be placed in my Etsy shop soon after.

This Quartz is a Gem

Issue number 14 of PASTICCIO QUARTZ has arrived. Sarah Fishburn and Angela Cartwright are the writers, artists, and masterminds behind this QUality ART Zine. This is definitely one of my most favorite publications out there and I have all 14 issues. Pasticcio is like a professionally published book. While it is filled with art and stories about art and artists, one of the things I love the most is the variety of themes and topics it covers. 

On these 60 pages you will find movie quips, word play, bookplate samples, artist Q & A, an art history lesson, book reviews, recommended links, a travelogue, multiple articles, and features from and about several different artists. And of course there is the Palais d'Art section, which highlights the artwork of more than 20 artists -- all of whom have not appeared in Pasticcio before.

I have to send out a thank you to Sarah and Angela for including in this issue the transcript of a conversation I had with the one and only Lisa Hoffman. In He Said, She Said we talk about our vulnerabilities as artists, the importance of art being accessible to all, the joy of painting, using up our art supplies, and more.

And I have to send out another, extra-special thank you to Sarah and Angela for including a review of my book, The Pulse of Mixed Media, and both of my workshop DVDs, Easy Mixed Media Surface Techniques and Easy Mixed Media Techniques for the Art Journal.

Just one small quote from the review (insert shameless plug here): "Unlike the book, which is filled with plenty of art and the musings of artists on their processes, the two DVDs are packed with the techniques used by the author himself in the construction of his fantastically layered, generally abstract, art. While experienced mixed media artists may be familiar with many of the basics, Mr. Apter really does add his own spin to most of them."

You can purchase all 14 issues of Pasticcio here.

Playing Favorites: Chapter 7

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...

Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
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Chris Miser

"I wanted to collage with tissue paper, but I never had before. I'd seen a woman create a huge canvas entirely out of bits of tissue, and I loved the effect. It reminded me of cubist works, mosaics, or pointillism. This is my first attempt at it, and I loved it. I learned that a woman who had just bought her first home alone loved it even more than I did, so it made me very happy to give it to her as a housewarming gift."

Arabella Grayson

"Mosaic Heart. I took what was available at the time - a red crayon, a page from the newspaper, a brown paper bag, my broken heart - and created something beautiful at a time of great uncertainty and despair. That first piece - a mosaic heart affixed to a piece of paper bag - affirmed my commitment to leading an authentic life...to being an artist."

Dina Wakley

"This art journal page is a tribute to all my art friends from all over the world. Birds of an 'art' feather flock together! I love to teach and create with like-minded artists. It's comfortable and fulfilling."

Trudi Sissons

"I love gardening and, in particular, I love irises. I used a photograph I had taken of one of the iris blossoms in my garden and created a digital illustration using images from Evelyn Ducote's stock - Vintage Paris. I love the feeling I get when I become entirely consumed by creating and seem to lose myself inside the art."

Judy Shea

"withlovefull. This piece has many textures in it from polymer clay to fabric to beeswax. It means serenity and love to me. This really shows that I am a very tactile artist. I want people to touch my art and feel the surface and the grain. I also tend to use colors that show a bit of my Middle East heritage."

Tari Goerlitz

 "Germerica is a multi-cultural portrait of my son. It's faceless because it isn't about him as an individual. It's about identity and how people keep trying to define 'what' children are when they are born to parents of different nationalities."

Eileen Bellomo

"This piece was done for a fellow artist in one of the many collaborative art journals I have been involved in. It was a breakthrough piece for me, as I felt I was really finding my style in mixed media. Collage, photographs, junk mail, paint, ink, rubber stamping, paper piecing all found their way into this piece, and years later, I still love it." 

Patti Edmon

"The series of journals I made for my first commission was magically free from the devils of expectation. This one is one of my favorites because it symbolizes the essence of creating...a peaceful entry through endless doorways."

Donna Joy

"As of this moment, this is a favorite for several reasons. There are several private pilots in our family - so the plane represents that. The little boy in his toy plane represents childhood - we all wanted to fly and had the gift of playing without even thinking about it. The actual art piece is one I created after not creating a thing for over 5 months. Made me feel like I might actually get my groove back."

Dave Dube...

 ...from the following still life

"Flash Gordon and Atlas Rocket Chalk. Although this piece is on new paper, I've tried to move off of the Old Paper occasionally to put some of these vintage ideas of mine in a new light. Thew slate and Rocket Chalk were given to my wife by her mother, and they in turn came from her Aunt Florence, who was a schoolteacher in the 30s in Oregon. The cartoon is a copy of a Flash Gordon comic strip panel that I own. The Atlas fruit jar is one in my collection."
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, October 7th.