Squam round-up

There was a lot of laughter on this trip. In my last post about Squam I just wanted to share some of the (many) lighter moments.

Travelling to the retreat in style…

You can imagine our faces when Leroy and his mobile home rocked up to pick Louise and me up from the bus station. Not quite the shuttle we had been expecting, but we were delighted to find it filled with tea and biscuits and friendly new faces.

Wondering how apt it was that my cabin should be down this road…

Feeling lucky to share a cosy cabin with such wonderful ladies (Nina, Sylvia, Jayne, Kirsten, Brittany + Steph who is not in the picture)

Getting lost in the forest in the middle of a torrential downpour late at night with six girls laughing madly (our cabin was called ‘Wayonda’ for a very good reason). It looked something like this...

Admiring the work of fellow artists Andrea and Jess at the Visions of Squam exhibition at Mocha Rising in the cute nearby town of Centre Sandwich

Thank you Squam Lake for having us, and thank you Elizabeth for bringing us together

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Other posts about the Squam experience:
Reflections on Squam – I dreamed a dream
Bloom True – painting workshop with Flora Bowley
Open Your Eyes – photography workshop with Susannah Conway
Wabi Sabi paper – workshop with Judy Wise

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PS advance notice that THE GREAT BIG STITCHED POSTCARD SWAP IS BACK! It will launch on Tuesday 19 October, bigger and better with more sparkly bits – watch this space…

Wabi Sabi Paper class with Judy Wise

I love paper. 

I might have mentioned that before.  

I love the way it looks, feels, soaks up ink,
changes personality under a brush, tells a story. 

That's why I just had to take Judy Wise's
Wabi Sabi paper class at Squam. 

Several hours of natural printing with found objects, ink squirting and mess-making later, I have a 30 ft roll of homemade wrapping paper and warm memories of a class with one lovely lady...



Do you love paper too, or is it just me?

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More on my Squam experience here:
Reflections of Squam - I dreamed a dream
Bloom True - painting workshop with Flora Bowley
Open Your Eyes - photography workshop with Susannah Conway
Squam round up

Open Your Eyes - photography workshop with Susannah Conway

So to the second of my three workshops at Squam - a photography class with Susannah Conway of Unraveling fame.

I love the soulful polaroid shots that appear one after another on her blog, and was interested in absorbing some of the magic.  After learning a few rules, and then being encouraged to go out and break them all (my favourite bit), I snapped away.

In the woods...

And by the lake...

Have you broken any rules recently?

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More on my Squam experience here:
Reflections of Squam - I dreamed a dream
Bloom True - painting workshop with Flora Bowley

Bloom True class with Flora Bowley

Do you know Flora Bowley?  If not, you should!  Flora is an incredibly talented artist with a unique beautiful style, and a gifted workshop teacher.   She is a happy, spontaneous free spirit, and that is the way she paints.  She is also a ridiculously cool person who is great fun to hang out with.  I was so lucky to take a class from her in the US. 

Flora Bowley shows the second layer of a painting.  Flora's creation evolved into the bird below

It is hard to describe the workshop I took with her in the woods at Squam, I just loved it so much.  Although we were taught to explore a painting method very different to the way I usually paint, it felt really natural to me.  Rather than visualising something and painting it, we created layer upon layer, teasing out images that emerged organically. 

Layering it on

The lovely Jess Greene examining her creation

My paintings (above and below)

My paintings were really far from the kind of things I have created in the past, but I felt strongly connected to them, not least because they reminded me of my dreams the night before the workshop (wierd!)

It was also a lovely thing to see Lorrie Spotts living out her Mondo Beyondo dream by taking a class with Flora.

If you ever get the chance to check out an exhibition or take a class with Flora, do it! 

November 2010 update: Flora Bowley will  be teaching at the Do What You Love art and creative enterprise retreat in Yorkshire, England, in May 2011!  For more details see here or sign up to the newsletter on the right hand side.

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More on my Squam experience here:
Reflections on Squam - I dreamed a dream
Open Your Eyes - photography class with Susannah Conway
Wabi Sabi paper class with Judy Wise
Squam round up

Reflections on Squam: I dreamed a dream...

… of a place where I could sit on a rocking chair,

on an old wooden deck,

looking out over the stillness of a lake

... where I could think

… listen

… soak in nature

... create

… dive in*

*literally, at 5am. It was icy but I felt so ALIVE

I found that place at Squam Lake, New Hampshire, with a warm family of old and new journeymates.

Thank you friends, for opening your hearts and sharing your laughter

It was a most precious time

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Other posts on my Squam experience here:
Bloom True - painting workshop with Flora Bowley
Open Your Eyes - photography workshop with Susannah Conway
Wabi Sabi paper class with Judy Wise
Squam round up

Bloom True

Thought I’d share a piece from a series I am working on – ‘Bloom True’. The smells and colours of the emerging spring made me want to paint flowers.

Acrylic on canvas (20"x16")

Recently I was introduced to the incredibly talented Flora Bowley in a post by Lorrie Spotts, and instantly loved her work.  I was intrigued to then discover she is teaching a workshop at Squam in the autumn, entitled… Bloom True! It felt like a sign so I have recklessly signed up for Squam and will be heading back to the US for more creative fun with lovely American gals later in the year. I have also signed up for a photography workshop with Susannah Conway and wabi-sabi paper with Judy Wise. Anyone else going? It’s going to be so much fun.

But for now, I am living in the moment of gorgeous sunshine, long mountain bike rides and painting – bliss. Happy weekend!