Goodnight, Virginia...

Wow! Look at all these amazing instructors we had at our Virginia Beach retreat for another uplifting, creative, soul-soothing week of mixed media workshops at one of our all-time favorite locations. So much talent in one room! Our time alongside the Chesapeake Bay was delightful as always, although it was also bittersweet... but we'll get to that in a minute. Let's talk about all the fun we had first...

As always, there were a fantastic array of classes on how to make mixed media jewelry, assemblage, dolls, painting, books, metal etching, sewing, collage and so much more at our event this year. The wide range of offerings brings in an even wider range of attendees, who are always up for going outside their comfort zone to learn something new. One of the things I absolutely love about our Art & Soul tribe!

Take those brave and willing students and combine them with dozens upon dozens of the most talented, patient and nurturing instructors and what you get is some gorgeous artwork. I absolutely love to see what each of the attendees creates, because every one of them brings their own personal tastes and experiences to the projects being taught. It's kind of mind blowing! And also very rewarding. It makes my heArt sing!

The overall vibe at Virginia Beach this year was filled with the usual camaraderie of friends and love for the sacred time we all take to feed our creative souls. But this time together was a bit more precious than in previous years. You see... the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel — that we've called home for a week each year — has been sold and will be completely refurbished. An endeavor that may take almost 2 years. At that time, it will become part of the Marriott franchise.

The hotel was beloved by so many of us. It was old, quirky and, eventually became in need of renovation, but it was also a quaint beach resort. A little hideaway small enough that we didn’t overlap with many guests and pretty much had the entire facility to ourselves. The staff became family to us and took excellent care of Art & Soul. Even with much of the hotel in a state of inevitable pre-closing repairs and limited staff (as their jobs would be over at the end of our stay), we all had a remarkable event. We relished our time together and grew in so many ways that week. I cannot even begin to thank all of those who joined us for that cherished time together.

Boy, not only will we miss the hotel, but how about this gorgeous view? But it's time to say goodnight, Virginia... at least for now. Once the new hotel is up and running, whether they will be willing or able to accommodate Art & Soul is an unknown. But fret not! We have done our homework and found another seaside location for you in Ocean City, Maryland...

That's right! We are so fortunate to have contracted the next 2 years with the Princess Royale Oceanfront Resort Hotel. They are so excited to have Art & Soul, and have already connected us with The Ocean City Center for the Arts, who will be hosting an open house one night during the retreat next October. It's really a remarkable location and I hope that many of you can join us there! We are currently working on the final details, class information and schedule and hope to have our inaugural Maryland retreat live on the website mid-November. If you want to stay up-to-the-minute on all the details, be sure to get on our mailing list so you can receive our newsletters.

And once again, a huge hug of gratitude to each and every one of you who joined us in Virginia recently, or any other year for that matter. We know your time is precious and that you choose to spend it with us speaks volumes! We look forward to seeing you in Portland, Colorado Springs and Ocean City in 2019!

Glenny
xo

photos courtesy of Lynne Suprock, Jen Crossley, Jacqueline Sullivan, Virginia Beach Resort Hotel & Princess Royale Oceanfront Resort Hotel.

Virginia Beach... Faces, Flowers, Fire, Fingers, Friendships & So Much More!

Let's face it... the Virginia Beach Art & Soul event is always an amazing time in a breathtaking location with lots of happy, adventurous, artistic souls!

This retreat is flowered with all different kinds of folk, of all ages, from all walks of life, who love taking time out of their busy lives to treat themselves to some well-deserved play time.

I mean, really... our attendees are full of fire! It takes a certain type of soul to know how important it is to keep learning and growing by adding new, creative experiences to their lives. Okay, I'm getting choked up now...

Because to get to be the purveyor of such things makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. Like this lovely enamel pendant must've felt as it was being forged in Jean Van Brederode's workshop. But seriously, in this day and age, to be able to bring people together in common interest and that interest is treating themselves to a good time... well, I'm so very lucky. It touches me to my very core.

Like Neil Diamond sings... Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you! That describes what we do here at Art & Soul. Many hands together make up what we do, from our staff, the planning of it all, the execution, the hotel personnel, the students, the teachers... everybody! We all have a hand in creating this marvelous event, where we use our hands to make things... even rings to put on our fingers.

And the friendships forged at our events, well I can't even begin to tell you how many have been started at this very location. Because when you gather these kind of artistic souls together, it just can't be helped. And these friendships last a lifetime.

So whether you like to get your hands dirty, or keep them clean... we had workshops for that. Fun with fabric, playing with clay, drawing from scratch, molding, folding, sewing, gluing... so much for your hands to do!

There aren't too many in-person retreats left that allow you to show up with real live teachers, in real live classrooms (with lots of plastic covering the floors, LOL), inside a gorgeous hotel, with a view of the beach, and I'm just so ecstatic that Art & Soul is still a part of that movement. Maybe we can move more people out from behind their computers and get back into the real world, huh?

At Virginia Beach, there's always magic that happens. It's in the air! Maybe it's the salt air, which gently blows through the sliding glass doors of our oceanfront rooms? But in addition to our own event, this time we were witness to all kinds of enchantment...

Like the beach wedding that took place right outside our hotel on the sandy shores of the Chesapeake Bay!

Or the multitudes of frolicking dolphins we encountered swimming our way!

And although sometimes the ones we leave at home may get a little mopey... while we get to play and have fun... it's all worth the time we invest in ourselves. Don't you agree?!

So from the bottom of my heArt, thank you all for such a wonderful retreat! I look forward to seeing you next year!

Hugs,
Glenny
xoxo

Play, Plunder & Pirates In Portland!

Ahoy, Landlubbers! Well what can I say? We just wrapped up an amazing Art & Soul event in Portland!

The energy was at an all-time high and everybody seemed to embrace the spirit of play and adventure even more than usual this year.

There's just something about getting out of the house, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, putting chores on hold for a few days, and dipping your toes (and fingers, of course) in the creative waters here at our mixed media retreats!

And speaking of waters... although it wasn't necessary to make anyone walk the plank, we did have our usual round of suspects!

Who managed to stay out of and get into trouble in ways we never even thought possible! (wink).

Our Treasure Island theme for this year was absolutely infectious! From pirate themed goody bags, filled with lots of plunder and booty...

...to our guest of honor Jack Sparrow, being admired by some lovely lasses during our opening night festivities...

....to the hotel staff and our resident bartender who even joined in on the fun, creating signature drinks for the attendees. Aaarrrrgggh! Avast ye seadogs.... I'll be servin' up the grog and makin' sure no scallywags get three sheets to the wind!

A whole bunch of art was made.

We found our inner spirit.

We embraced our inner weirdness.

And we learned lots of new, interesting stuff, made kindred connections, and some really creative projects that will live on beyond our time here.

So I'd like to give a big giant thanks-so-much to all who attended! With special appreciation to my team... Marie Kennedy, Karen Rosselli, and Phoenix Sagen for helping out in every way possible so I could get some much needed behind-the-scenes stuff taken care of. My gals did a fabulous job. I can't even imagine an event without them!

And a happy welcome to Maria and Collage as our onsite store. She's always there with a smile and a fountain of knowledge about art supplies of all kinds. She had great demos and make-n-takes throughout the retreat and it added a special touch to our event.

Well, I gotta go... Minneapolis starts in a week and boy do I have stuff to get done!

Hope to see you there!
Glenny
xoxo

Happiness is a Retreat in Minneapolis!

Well, our Minneapolis Art & Soul event was fabulous! The attendees exceeded our expectations and we exceeded theirs. And if I had to choose one word to describe our first Minneapolis retreat, happy would be the one that makes it to the top of the list! We had happy students...

...who loved their classes and enjoyed time away from home and the craft studio (or dining room table!) to delve into their artistic selves, create something new, and have fun in the process!

The extremely talented Carol Spohn in her Watercolor Workshop.

We had happy teachers! And I must say it takes a special group of people to teach. People who love watching people learn new things and enjoy the process of seeing their students shine.

Mindy Lacefield teaching students how to paint like their 7-year old selves.

Our instructors are just such people... with big beautiful hearts, and we are so lucky to have them as a part of our Art & Soul family. That makes me happy!

Happy colors! Man, oh, man... were there some fantastically colorful student projects at this event. Just look at all these yummy scraps of fabric from Liz Kettle's Voyage to India class.

And the drippy goodness of colorful Alcohol Inks used to make these stunning designs in Kathy Taylor's workshop.

And, well, it wouldn't be Art & Soul if Doris Arndt didn't give everyone the bird in her class of the same name. Now if that ain't colorful, I don't know what is!

Happy pattern-making! We had so many opportunities at the Minneapolis retreat to create pieces and parts to use in projects and to use pieces and parts to create new projects! Like these decorative components made in Caidtlin Dundon's Translucent Triptych workshop.

Some folks enjoyed making patterns on metal that would be turned into wonderful new pieces of jewelry in Jean VanBrederode's Manipulating Metal class.

And speaking of metal... can you believe all these deliciously rusty metal parts....

...made these amazing patterned fabrics in Chad Alice Hagen's Resist Dyeing workshop?

And just look at these pretty patterned examples of fabric made using torn collaged papers in Suzi Dennis' class. The ladies in this class were in the zone!

Happy shoppers! Our on-site store, Blue Twig Studio, had everything a mixed media maven could possibly want... and more! Not only did Deb bring everything and the kitchen sink, but she made shopping for class supplies — before and during the event — so much easier for our attendees.

Our Vendor Night pop up art and supply shopping event was a veritable cabinet of curiosities with a most important ingredient... curiosity seekers! With original mixed media artwork from our very own teachers to one-of-a kind bits and bobs, and lots of fun goodies and supplies to use in our next project... it was an enchanted evening all-around!

Well, what can we say except the I's have it (or... the eyes have it!), our first Minneapolis event was a smashing success! Tons and tons of thank you's to Marie, Karen, Liz and Deb who worked their hearts out before, during and after this event. And a big thanks to our amazingly talented instructors and all of you who joined us in this new location! Thanks to everyone... WE WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR! May 3rd-8th. Mark your calendars! We made lots of connections with lots of key people in all facets of this event that will allow us to enhance your experience even further for 2017! Woot! Woot!

Hugs,
Glenny xoxo

Virginia Beach Wrap Up!

Well... we wrapped up the year with Art & Soul Virginia Beach... and I just can't help but think how blessed I am to still be doing these events after all these years. I got a little nostalgic at our most recent retreat and started to reflect a little bit about what a great time we have at every individual event. So here's me waxing nostalgic about Virginia Beach...

Virginia Beach just gets better and better.  It is so delightful to return to a warm & cozy hotel with employees who remember us with a smile.  They almost anticipate what we may need before we do!  That is one advantage in staying at the same location each year. Virginia Beach has its own charm and even though we were in the midst of a storm, it was wonderful to see happy and talented faces each day.  Our attendees continue to amaze me with their creative energy and ideas.  And the camaraderie of pajama parties and impromptu gatherings warms my heart.

The Amazing Julie Haymaker Thompson!

If we were an art bootcamp (as some have called us in the past, lol), we'd have lots of "decorated" Sergeants that we consider our long-time teachers. We are blessed to have a selection of “faculty” with us at each event. These incredible instructors continue to offer new and innovative techniques attracting beginners and die-hard attendees alike. They have made a commitment to teach and I can always count on them — a very special attribute for our retreats. Our new instructors round out the retreat experience by offering something new.  This makes them very special and exciting in our program as we strive to offer all types of mixed media throughout all of our events.

At our retreats, we have plenty of special events, pop up parties, demos, vendor night frenzies and other activities of note. As much as we all love to create... we also love to play, be silly and let off some steam. After all, we're on playcation! And in true Art & Soul form, two of our attendees — Julie Armstrong and Sandy Lupton — organized a Pajama Party. It was a hoot and we have decided to make it an annual event.  There was lots of fun, revelry, laughter... and hey... I think even some art was created! 

Students from Gina Rossi Armfeld's No Excuses Watercolor Class

As for me, I have some favorite things as the event organizer. Having the opportunity to meet up with and catch up with old friends is always wonderful. I feel like I have so much "family" at these events. My other favorite love is watching new people find the joy and empowerment of Art & Soul. When people who had the courage enough to push their boundaries come out of the classrooms at the end of the day with giant smiles on their faces, well... that just makes my heart go pitter-patter.

A student's project from Jean VanBrederode's Family Jewels workshop

And we have even more excitement in store for our 2016 events! We're bringing in new instructors to delight and entice our mixed media crowd. We're creating confirmation packets again – one of my long-time passions. We've got a brand new Midwest location with our Minneapolis event! And, of course, we're finding NEW attendees and getting them hooked on the mixed media bug.

So thanks to everyone who makes this all possible... my right-hand chicks, our teachers, the adventurous students, our on-site store and staff, vendor night artists, the hotel crew, and everyone else. Together we've made something pretty special... and we've made it last. We must be doing something right!

Glenny

xoxo

photos courtesy of Jean VanBrederode, Julie Armstrong, Gina Rossi Armfeld.