Soul Arts

Creative Soul Retreat 2010

Have had a great response to the 2010 retreat.... bookings officially opened yesterday and we are already half full.... some classes are going quicker than a cold beer on hot day lol....love these sculpy dolls.. Judy Wise is teaching it at the retreat on the last day.. and I am determined to be sitting in it this time!LOL

Spent most of yesterday immobile with a killer backache.. dont know what brought that on (my age? LOL) so I just sat in the chair and completed the next project for 2Cre8art - Barb Thomas and I take it in turns of putting up a tutorial and its my turn in May.

Back is a bit better today - but plan to head back out to the studio and get some swaps finished so I can hopefully post them Monday.

2010 Creative Soul Retreat

Well its just over 24 hours before bookings officially open...

This years (2009) delegates had a special window where they could book in before the general bookings open... we did this as a thankyou to reward them for the faith they showed in us to come along to the first Creative Soul Retreat .. we were determined to turn their experiences around and give them the best time... they came.. we fulfilled our 'creed', the muses smiled and all was good.

At this stage we are about half full with returning delegates ... so there is room in all the classes but the shouldnt take long to fill.  Our website is at Creative Soul Retreat and if you visit on Friday the registrations page will be open.  In 2010 we are privelidged to have Susan Lenart Kazmer, Laurie Mika, Paulette Insall and Judy Wise teaching.. classes are a great cross section of media's and each tutor comes HIGHLY reccommended...    

 

All Over Red Rover

Well the Creative Soul Retreat was in full swing this time last week..  and tonight - its all over.. DJ, Bernie and Stephanie are back home in the States  (though DJ and Stephanie are still waiting for their luggage to make it home...and just about everyone else is back home too....

We all had a fantastic time... feedback has been overwhelmingly postive.... am still tired but happy... we took on a huge task, did it well and have proved that a well run retreat where tutors are nurtered along with the students can happen in Australia.

In the days before the retreat we took the girls to the city for some sightseeing, tea in the Block Arcade, trawled the arcades, watched buskers, and then off to the hills for some aussie bush and animals after it was over.  They all loved the Healesville Sanctuary with Bernie going so far as to buy herself a Driza-Bone (see above) vbg

For all the pics check out our site at Creative Soul Retreat

If you ever have a chance to do a workshop with any of these gals jump at it.. they are friendly, easy going, VERY good at what they do and a joy to be around...

I miss them already :-(

Creative Soul Retreat - Little Houses Swap

Slideshow is of our CSR09 Village... when they are all in there will be 50 in all.....made by those attending...

Finally... Some Arting!

Its been a very hectic and busy time these last few weeks  leading into the business end of our CSR09 preparations... have some stock on the way (praying like mad they arrive in time), finishing off the website for the 2010 retreat so that its ready to go on time, adding more challenge pics and little houses to the current website... working my 'day' job.... there has been no time for arting or playing.... 

I was my turn to do write up the project at 2Cre8art this month... like I could think of something to do lol.. finally last week inspiration hit and I decided to do a jigsaw puzzle piece... they turned out ok and were fun to do... check it out... would love to see lots playing in the challenge.

Its only EIGHT DAYS now till DJ, Stephanie and Bernie arrive.... ack!  doesn't that strike fear into my bones that we are now down to the wire LOL

On The Home Leg

Exactly three weeks to the day the Creative Soul Retreat '09 will be in full swing…….

On arrival delegates would have been  greeted and shepherded to their rooms by Eva and Lucy….

Our Friday night Twilight Market would have been held the night before (hopefully) under a balmy Melbourne autumn evening, coloured by a glorious setting sun,  where we mingled on the Al Fresco deck, sipped champers, munched on nibblies, oohad and ahhhed over the goodies for sale from Stephanie, DJ and Bernie, as well as Nicole Hohn, Keron Lee, Julie Hetherington and Christina from Christina's Crafts  

We would have completed our first classes with Bernie, Stephanie and DJ and be relaxing after dinner to socialize………Christina (our ‘official’ retreat store) will have traded both before and after classes….new friendships formed, old ones rekindled….and later tonight we would all fall into bed ready to be back up and at it tomorrow…..

 

Sigh…. Can’t wait vbg

Playing with Paint

Barb and I played yesterday making some canvas's... they are canvas flat panel boards....  have come to the conclusion I prefer the watercolour paper as even after you prep the W/C paper with gesso acyrlic still behaves different and (IMHO) better on it to the canvas....I made two.. one to keep and one to give Barb.

Backgrounds are several coats of paint and a mix of CC technique, stencilling with sequin waste, stamping with paint and some collaged papers.

Figures are free drawn and painted with acrylics before being shaded with NeoColor watercolour crayons.. detail on the skirt and pockets were added with collage paper

First one is the one I gave to Barb.... second is the one I am keeping ...

Will be heading back home on Monday... have Maggie booked into the vets for Tueday to be desexed... what a way for her to end her holiday LOL

NINE WEEKS TILL THE RETREAT!!! WHOOOHOOOO

Creative Soul Retreat 2010

It seems the word is filtering through in some circles about our lineup for 2010 so to set the record straight and not have to sit the news any longer I can now tell you that in 2010 we have FOUR international tutors.. all incredibly talented.. never been to Australia before...all are very excited about coming.... classes are chosen...two of the tutors will be teaching a 2 day class as well as a couple of one days.. and the other two are teaching 4 one day classes...

yes.. 2010 will be run over four days starting thursday morning and finishing sunday afternoon... initally bookings will again be for 'full retreaters' living in house and doing a minimum of three days... single classes will be available later down the track.

so.. who are they?

   

       Paulette Insall                                         Judy Wise

 

      Susan Lenart Kazmer                                 Laurie Mika

so... now you know vbg... love to see who is the first person to correctly name all four vbg.. your comments ARE appreciated LOL

Shuffling the Deck Chairs On The Titanic

Maybe not the best euphemism, but thats what its been like the last couple of weeks leading into the final run down to the cut off point for cancellations at the retreat  LOL.

We have had 3-4 cancellations, but luckily/surprisingly enough for every one that cancelled another booked in to take their place almost immediately and we have remained at a steady number of 59.  While the accommodation is totally booked out and there are few vacancies in some of the classes if you fancy a nice day trip with great tutors to learn from.  Never mind Christmas.. its only NINETY EIGHT DAYS till the Retreat!!!

ATC  is one I made for the Paperarts WTA(Winner Take All) Lottery.  Its background is silver flashing adhered to card stock and run through the cuttleug script embossing folder and antiqued with black paint.

Little girl is a Paper Whimsey image with some black German scrap added, and a large glass slide over her.  She's on her way to Barb Thomas who won this month.

Paperific Tomorrow!

Am off to Paperific tomorrow (Friday) with Eva and Lucy... have been going to Paperific each year since I discovered the world of paper (no, not scrapbooking). 

When I first started going it was at St Kilda Town Hall... in fact the year I started was the last year there LOL.. its been a bit of a gypsy since then, being held at Telstra Dome, then the Docklands, and now twice this year, Caulfield Racecourse and the Melbourne Showgrounds... never made it to Caulfield earlier in the year but am looking forward to going tomorrow.

Won't be wearing my new crown though LOL bit hard to get on the head with the base in it LOL.. love it though.. was a gift from my daughter and relates to a running joke within the family about mum being the 'queen' (I even have a front door key with the Queen from Snow White on it lol)

Retreat is now only just over 5 months away!! Can't believe how the time has flown... everything is organised and in place...once December hits the team and I will knuckle down and tie off al the loose ends (things that cant be done till a bit closer to the time)... my goal is by the end of Jan there is nothing to do but wait for the fun to start... which means Dec and Jan are gonna be busy LOL

Leave you with a pic of the children.... was pooch sitting the daughters poodle while she was away on hols at Uluru... this was the view that greeted me when I looked out the back door whenever I came home after popping out the shops....vbg

If you see me at Paperific tomorrow come up and say Hi! 

Sunny Days With Good Friends........

Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day in Melbourne...  beautiful clear blue skies...

 mild weather... sunshine... all the cyclists were out in force along the Port Melbourne foreshore... including the one that nearly bowled me over that wasnt on bike path! 

Along with some good friends we headed off to do a tour of the Spirit of Tasmania that was having an 'open day'... boat was much bigger than I thought..

 

 yeah I know..its a ship LOL. 

 After the tour we had a nice lunch in Williamstown before heading over to Beachhouse Boulevard a stamping and scrapbooking shop in Spotswood run by Monika... caught up with few of the VicStamper girls while I was there before we all headed for home.....

 

Very nice day... which had the icing on the cake when I heard from my 3rd tutor from the US that I have been negotiating with to come out for 2010.. she said yes!! whooohoo!! 

 

 

     

Wet, Cold and Frosty

 Well the lovely Melbourne weather just continues to delight! NOT!!

 Still wet and cold... had to wash the ice off the windscreent this morning and we had a good healthy layer of frost on the ground.   While everything is looking lovely and green am over wet dripping plants and icy winds! 

Kinda feel like my garden gnome, he's wet, cold, and over it!

Have just been notified my new camera is now in the hands of Fedex!  can't wait... its apparently due in the next one to three days... am off to do a 'tour' of the Spirit of Tasmania on Saturday with Eva and Lucy so will be able to try it out then..

Creative Soul Retreat  Little Houses (for our swap) all went postal last week and are starting to arrive at thier destinations across the country.. am really looking forward to seeing what the girls come up with... we will all have a litte row of 42 houses when they are swapped back out...  

Where was it?

BTW.... Elizabeth Harms correctly guessed the dingo was at Healesville Sanctury, so thats one point to her.... will put a new pic up in a couple of weeks.... and will make it a bit harder for you all LOL

Creative Soul Retreat News Update!

After months of preparation (sleep deprivation training, learning to go without food or liquids for hours, extra orthapeadic padding on the computer chair) we  were finally ready to open the retreat registrations.

DDay was Friday July 4th at 9am..... plugged the fax in, loaded it with 485248 pages, installed a new ink  cartridge, put a second cartridge on standby.... grabbed a coffee (my last for hours) went to the loo (the last time for hours) and sat down to read emails... just before 9am the fax whirred to life and out they started coming....the rest of the day was a blur of filling out summary pages, allocating classes and rooms, filling in excel spreadsheets... entering all the data in MYOB, emailing each and every delegate their receipt and class confirmations..... next time I looked up it was 2.30pm!

The response has been fantastic - all that I hoped for and more... as of now (just after 6pm the first class is now fully booked and closed (DJ's 'Faces' class)....We have only 4 beds left at the venue - so it looks like we will be opening single classes for day visitors soon....

Now... . I have decided to run a 'competition' from here.... over the next few months I will upload pics of Melbourne Victoria....they are places that we will be taking our tutors to visit while they are here (before and after the retreat).... on the last night in town we will be taking the tutors out to the Eureka Skydeck followed by dinner at the Docklands.. the winner gets to join us for a dinner - all expenses paid...and if you are an interstater that has already gone home... we will work out a substitute prize...

our first pic is here... where is this?    so... leave your answer in the comments... first correct answer gets one point... person with the most points on March 1st wins the prize! 

Classes are uploaded

One very quick post.. cause I am 'stuffed' ..   (worked all day and then came home and worked on website)

classes are now uploaded.. save for one image of Bernies class they are all there.. registrations open Friday morning at 9am.... this is stephanie's latest class.. am soooo looking forward to it!

Hope you like them all!

Bevlea