Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Earth is not flat.....

No, the earth is not flat and I haven't fallen off the edge of it! I've had several friendly "nudges" to post what we got up to at the retreat in Melbourne and I have a couple of spare hours this Sunday morning so..... post I will! It's not because I haven't wanted to attend to my blog, time has been very short this last week. I arrived home utterly exhausted from a wonderful week in Melbourne. Three days spent at the most fabulous retreat that I've ever been to, two days spent in Ballarat with the lovely Jenny Crossley, then another couple of days shopping & sight-seeing back in Melbourne with Julie from Albany & also Jenny Crossley. We also managed to catch a show - Billy Elliott...excellent show, thoroughly loved it!


The retreat was just so well run, organisation was top-notch, accommodation was perfectly fine but oh those tutors!!!! Talk about uber-talent!!! I spent two days doing classes with the most delightful DJ Pettit. The first was a journal class where we painted the covers, wrapped the signatures, created the spine then joined it all together with a book-binding stitch to create a journal to work in. Sunday was another class with DJ, a face painting class....a rather daunting project for more than a few of us! After walking around the class late in the day it was apparent how superb DJ was as a teacher, everyone's faces were simply wonderful and our fears were certainly unfounded! If you check out her blog you'll see how great a job we all did, alas I am one of the 4 that didn't get a photo done for her blog...not sure how I missed that one? But the photo is included below.

The face from DJ's face painting class - done on a 6" x 6" canvas board...

Cover of DJ's journal class. This still needs some work, I need to smudge my charcoal around the dead man and attach beads etc to the strings hanging from the stitching and also add more to the signature wrappings. As you may or may not know, I'm not a flowery type of person so I wasn't going to do butterflies, flowers, hearts, birds etc on my journal...not that I'm against these, they just aren't my style. My journal is called "Road kill" so you have the obligatory "flat man", the blood splatter on the right, the running man stencilled up the top and on the back cover it says "Time Runs Out". How true!!! Remember, hug your girlfriends, tell your parents how much they mean to you, it lasts such a short time!

Front cover...
Front and back cover..

Inside of book with first signature wrapping. Dj was generous enough to hand out small pictures of her faces so we could stitch them in with our signatures. What a lovely person she is!


Bernie, DJ & Stephanie...
View from Amberley back verandah...


The final day was spent doing a wonderful technique based class with the effervescent and very talented Bernie Berlin, the author of Artist Trading Card Workshop - an absolute must for a techique junkie like me!!! Bernie's blog is not about her art, it's about her shelter than she runs for animals where she and her team rescue dogs from puppy mills and other high-risk situations to save their lives. What a wonderful woman she is, so very generous, friendly, talented but the devotion and her love of animals is what makes Bernie absolutely radiate! I think there should be a Saint named after her, Saint Bernie, patron saint of dogs....okay, I already know there is a patron saint of dogs (Saint Roch) but I think there's room for one more! Her class was wonderful and I learnt a new way of doing a background technique and another way to plough through my gel medium faster than ever!!! Below are the results from Bernie's class.

#1...


#2...close-up of #2...

#3 (my favourite!!!)...

close-up of #3...

...and another....

For those of you who are interested in attending the 2010 Creative Soul Retreat, here is the link with all the info about the classes etc. General registrations open on the 17th of April. I'll see you there!!!

Last week was my father-in-law's 90th birthday! As both my husband and myself were away at the time, we celebrated his birthday yesterday by taking both him and my MIL to Rottnest, along with my brother-in-law, his girlfriend and my nephew. We met up with a family friend over there who was staying on Rotto for a couple of weeks holiday where he bought us a tray of freshly caught crayfish so we could enjoy them for lunch with a fresh crusty loaf from the bakery. The way they all devoured the crays I could tell they were excellent! Can't speak from experience as I don't eat them...or prawns, oysters or anything else like that. Fish I do, other stuff from the ocean I don't...unless they come on a surfboard!!! (Who am I kidding, in my younger days yes, now.....nope! Though one can dream...... lol)
So here's a picture of Geordie Bay where we ate lunch under a beach shelter...


A little Island local, a baby quokka. These are very tame and everywhere on the island though I wouldn't try picking one up, they do have little teeth and are probably very germy! Cute though!


Tomorrow is my Mum's 70th birthday so today is a birthday celebration for her.....birthday's galore around here!!! Next time I post I'll have pics of the Mica class that is coming up next.

19 comments:

Sherry Goodloe said...

uuuuuuuoooooooweeeeeeeeee . . . love everything you made!! I can almost feel the texture through the computer *smiles*

Sam Marshall said...

Hi Kelsey,
It's so wonderful to see your work from the retreat. It's absolutely AMAZING!!! Just adore your face painting and journal. Your ATCs are gorgeous and #3 is my favourite, too.Have a beautiful Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelsey,
can't believe how well you can draw.And just when i thought Kelsey is using "bright colors" for her journal cover, i had to find out that it was blood splatter!!Well done Kelsey.

DJ said...

Hi Kelsey! I snagged the scan of your painting and added it to my post. I'm soooo sorry I missed taking your photo during class. It was crazy busy, but I thought I had everyone. Your journal is gorgeous... and WOW on the painting!
Can't wait to see more of your work.
DJ

Eva said...

Wonderful to have you back on and running with you Blog - I've been stalking it (lol). Question ... is there anything you can't do well?! *envy* (lol).

Loved meeting you at the Retreat - warmed to you instantly ... a delightful down to earth non'precious' type person (yet so very talented)... enjoyed your company.

Looking forward to catching up with you again in 2010 (unless you're Melbourne way again before next years Retreat).

Eva :-)

Jen Crossley said...

I Hope you Mum has a wonderful Birthday Kelsey.
It was so great to see you and spend sometime with you at the retreat.Im so glad we found our way home to my place and that we managed to get a word in with the GPS LOL
Cant wait for next year
Jen

mary schweitzer said...

My word, you have been a busy artist!
I'm so glad you had a wonderful time. All the work you did is just great.
The skull is very cool.
Mary

Mary S. Hunt said...

I feel like I went with you!
everything recapped so nicely and the work is gorgeous!!
happy birthdays all around
and that is a cute critter...a cross between a rat and kangaroo..
i had a great visit!
and my favorite piece was the skull
very kooooell

Linda M. Cain said...

What great pictures...thanks for sharing.
The little guy is cute..but like you said, he does have teeth!

Linda

Genevieve said...

Ahhhh, one day I'll get to a retreat. Until then, I'll live vicariously through others, their wonderful work and the joy of being able to share it through their blogs...thanks for posting, I to, have been stalking your blog.

Cheers!

Janny said...

Congrats with your Mum;o)
Gorgeous work!

vivian said...

loved seeing some of these yesterday kelsey, and great to see the other stuff here, sounds like you really enjoyed yourself!!

Lost Aussie said...

The pics of the retreat and the work you did look fabulous! Sorry you could not make coffee the other day..perhaps next time!
xoox
Marie

Sulea said...

Beautiful art from the Bernie Berlin class! i can almost feel the texture. Your face painting is just amazing! i totally love it! :)

Shelly said...

Amazing work, Kelsey !!! Your DJ Pettit painting is lovely.
I absolutley covet the Skull piece you did in the BB class !! Killer good.

Congrats to the family members on their birthdays !! Sounds like you've had a nice time celebrating.

:-)
Shelly

chrisw said...

Wow Kelsey..these are so beautiful but the pics don't do them justice..Have seen in real life and they are just amazing!!!

ANNETTE HUSBAND said...

Hi Kelsey
aaahhh you had the fear of paint like me LOL.I'm getting over it as I am mid way thru my on line class drawing(FREEHAND drawing faces and painting them on canvas)with Paulette Insall.I would have loved to do DJ's class and you and everyone did an amazing job...next time DJ should make you all draw your own faces and not just give you one of hers to trace LOL.It's mund boggling I can tell you.
Hope to meet you at next years retreat
hugs
Annette

Megan P said...

wow Kelsy, you really did make the most of your retreat week! the work from Bernies class looks amazing. It was indeed a wonderful few days. nice to meet you.
Megan

Barb Hartsook said...

Kelsey, the face you painted in DJ's workshop is mesmerizing. You said it was a challenge. Well, you met it by a mile or more. I love to paint faces, but you have painted much more than the face -- you got her spirit.