Virginia Teacher Spotlight: Susan Shaffer

We're so excited to have Susan Shaffer — the owner of Joyful Arts Studio — teaching at our Virginia Beach retreat. She firmly believes that art transformed her life, allowing her to reveal herself to the world. Susan also believes that creativity is within each of us and it's her goal to help others discover how to find it and use it. She wants others to have the same opportunity she did, and to explore their own creativity to find which art form they most enjoy. Susan is a nationally exhibited and decorated artist and is passionate about the power behind the creative process. She hopes to inspire wellness through art within each of her students. Here's what Susan has in store for you at Virginia Beach...

Perfection Is Overrated
Join Susan for a day of fun therapeutic art exercises as she talks through ways to overcome that pesky perfectionism, which can negatively affect our art and life. She'll encourage you to concentrate on the creative process and how it feeds your soul. In class, you'll have fun sloshing around in paint with brushes, fingers, plastic gift cards, water spray, lace, onion bags and who knows what else! You'll create layers and layers of acrylic paint using lots of surprising techniques. We'll leave the perfectionist behind as we practice painting without rules! Everyone will leave with their own unique, one-of-a-kind painting, reflecting their own personality.

Creating Your Way To Joy
In this class you'll experience a day of fun that's all about letting go, giving up control, laughing, collaborating, camaraderie and learning to follow your intuition. Like Susan's Perfection class, you'll be sloshing around in acrylic paint with brushes, your fingers, plastic gift cards, water spray, lace, onion bags and lots of other items for unique and interesting techniques. This loose style of painting will force you to go with your gut instinct, and you'll have a blast creating a work of art that is distinctly you!

Cardinal In The Snow, Watercolor Batik
In this workshop, you'll get to discover the combination of watercolor and hot wax resist on rice paper. You will paint a vibrant red cardinal hunkered down in a snow covered Juniper tree, using multiple layers of watercolor paint and hot wax. You may also try your hand at using watercolor crayons and pastel pencils too. Susan will gently guide you through all the tips, tricks and techniques to creating this wintery masterpiece and you will be thrilled with the end result!

We're so excited that Susan is here to not only teach you creative techniques but to make sure your heart and soul are involved in the process. No matter what level of art experience you have, you will surely be uplifted and changed after one of her classes! For more information on Susan Shaffer, her classes and our Virginia retreat, visit our website...

Virginia Beach Art & Soul

October 1-6, 2018

Virginia Beach Resort Hotel  

In addition to having nearly 30 years of experience as an art instructor, Susan is a former health care informatics professional, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art/Studio Art, with a concentration in Watercolor, a bachelor’s in Business Management with a concentration in Information Systems and a minor in Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship from Wilson College.

Tactile Textures To Tempt You In Minneapolis...

Wow! Art & Soul Minneapolis is just around the corner...in fact it's less than 2 weeks away and there are still a few spots left in some amazing classes. Whether you're already registered or were thinking about joining us... we'd love to be able to squeeze you in!

Now that we've got your attention, we'd like to tempt and titilate you with some tactile textures you can create in some of our unique mixed media workshops. For example, take a look at Ruth Chandler's sew and stitch class Vintage & Romantic Woven Quilt. Remember weaving strips of construction paper when you were a kid? In this class you'll get to revisit that childhood technique using fabric, lace, and ribbons, to create a wonderful woven piece that you'll stitch little extras onto for a sweetly romantic look.

Ruth grew up in Japan where the vibrant color and texture of Japanese fabric and the simplicity of Japanese design caught her attention... so she knows a thing or two (or three or four, and more!) about creating visually tactile designs. She's also the owner of Blue Twig Studio, our on-site store and sponsor for the Minneapolis event. Ruth will be teaching 4 fabric-centric workshops at this event. Check out what else she has to offer!

Look at all the gorgeous color and pattern in this example from Susan Rossiter's meditative and relaxing Watercolor Fish Zone evening workshop! Using micro paintbrushes, you'll create small designs, add tiny details with ink and watercolor, then get lost in the joy of repetition. Whether you've been drawing all your life, or this is your first time, this class is lots of fun.

Susan has been creating art, teaching and learning for 30 years. Heavily influenced by her original art family in Pennsylvania, her paintings and creations have always included mixed media before she knew the term. She is particularly fascinated with helping people get past the fear of a blank canvas and creative camaraderie, so Art & Soul is the perfect place for her to shine! See all the workshops Susan will be teaching in Minneapolis.

Remember tin ceilings and how gorgeous and intricate those designs were? Well, if you take the Rusty Tin Tile Book workshop with Janice Richie, you won't have to "look up" to appreciate them! In this class you'll create an 8" x 8" book using rusty tin tiles for covers, learn how to bind with coptic stitching, and fill your book with new and old papers, stickers and stampings for the ultimate charming little journal.

Janice Richie has always been artistic. Whether she was doing Macramé, stained glass, sewing all her clothes, knitting, crochet, needlepoint, embroidery, or her own style of mixed media... art helped her keep her sanity and provided a great deal of satisfaction. She loves to teach, and she can't wait to show you some new skills. Jan is teaching 2 workshops in Minneapolis, check them out here.

How about this gorgeous Bezel Set Stone Ring you can make with Nancy Sacco, our jeweler extraordinaire! Making jewelry has been a passion of hers for years, and over time she discovered she loved working with sterling and fine silver and beautiful gemstones. Nancy has so many fancy things to make (that's probably why she calls her work Nancy's Fancies Jewelry), and she's bringing her expertise to Art & Soul! Her work is very textural and visually exciting to look at and fun to create. You'll get to use all kinds of unique techniques and tools to make your own jewelry. Nancy will be hosting 5 workshops in Minneapolis including classes on making a swirly cuff, de-vine bracelet, a swirly pendant, spinner ring and the bezel ring.

And check out all this juicy texture you can create with acrylics in Caitlin Dundon's Spontaneous Painting workshop! Are you feeling brave? Do you want to learn how to listen to your inner voice? Well, whether you're new to acrylic painting or need to break through your artist’s block, this workshop will help you fill page after page with color, brushstroke and mark making, and learn lots of interesting techniques as you allow spontaneity to be your muse.

Caitlin is a mixed media artist and professional calligrapher with over 20 years of experience. Her artwork has been featured in well-known mixed media magazines and books, and she teaches at multiple venues all over the United States. We're so happy to have her teaching 3 classes at Minneapolis Art & Soul.

Minneapolis Art & Soul

April 26 - May 1, 2017

Crowne Plaza Aire Mall of America Hotel

So, I hope we tantalized you with a taste of the amazing workshops you can still take at our Minneapolis Art & Soul Retreat. And we still have more classes available in collage, assemblage, painting, journaling, fiber and fabric, jewelry, sculpture, dolls and more taught by a hand-picked group of inspirational instructors. We’ve also got on-site shopping, a Vendor Extravaganza and lots of fun activities. But don't delay, sign up today.... it's really only a few days away!! Visit our website for more info and to register.

See you soon!

Lizard Licks, Cat's Tongues & Dragons... Oh My!

Have you ever wanted to dabble (pun intended) in watercolors, but got a bit confused when it came to all the different brushes available? Well fear not! Our talented and passionate instructor, Gina Armfeld is going to show you a plethora of options and demonstrate each one in this detailed video.

She'll be teaching 2 workshops at our Portland Art & Soul Retreat this year, and... if you ever wanted to learn watercolors or just "brush up" on your skills, Gina will gently guide you through fun and easy techniques that will have you "dyeing" to get into your journals and paint. Check out her workshop offerings today!

No Excuses Art Journaling - Making Time For Creativity
Tuesday eve, October 1 & Wednesday day, October 2
You'll get to create a journal that will carry you through the year so that you can incorporate art into your daily life in a quick, easy and fun way!

The Collecter's Almanac
Full day class, Monday, September 30th
Inspired by vintage illustrations of old you'll use a moleskine notebook to document your collections while you learn pen and ink and watercolor skills.