How the infusion of San Miguel may have effected me...

A portal in San Miguel that captivated me.

As I stepped through this beautiful, organic, hand constructed, gateway in San Miguel, it felt like stepping into a giant size fairy house. I loved the structure so much. I day dream about building one here in my giant garden fairy setting.


Metaphorically, as I stepped through this portal in San Miguel it was an entry for the infusion that I went for.


Today, I want to begin sharing with you how the infusion of San Miguel may have effected me. Please bare with me. The whole narrative is complex with many layers of my thoughts, my stress, my history, my future, my day dreams, my reality and my sanity. (Or lack thereof.)


I can't reveal this truth all in one day for three reasons. One, I can't even organize my thoughts in outline form. Two, It would be too long.  And more importantly, it is an ongoing discovery on my part. And yours too if you are interested. 

I want to share this beginning and the unfolding story in short regular entries.     

It was like a giant fairy house entrance.

Today's truth: In my heart and soul I have been struggling about a year now with various life circumstances. The details are not of importance to this narrative other than just to say the stress has been debilitating especially to my creativity.

In San Miguel, I opened my heart and soul to an infusion of  clarity. That is what I need to chronicle here and now. 
♥

My Wrap-up of San Miguel

Sketch

I don't know about you but I seem to never finish my retreat art while on the retreat. 

For me it's not about coming home with finished art pieces.

I enjoy myself and take in as much as I can.

I fully enjoyed making this charcoal sketch for the inside of my triptych while in San Miguel.

And I'm happy I didn't rush the process because I am truly learning to love the charcoal sketching process.

When I got home, I finished it with paint. 

I have a personal challenge when traveling to retreats.

For one thing, I travel very light knowing I have to be able to manage my own luggage.

So, one thing I do is take only the supplies that are called for, with one exception. 

It is very tempting to take all my go-to supplies and tools.

You know, things you think you can't create without. 

I know you know what I mean. 

So, I allow myself to choose one thing that wasn't on the list. 

I purposely choose something that I don't use everyday.  

My tube of Golden Iridescent Gold (Fine) is what I took on this trip.
What you need to know is there was not one single tube of paint on the supply list. 
Of course I was sure that was an oversight and quickly shot an email to Rebecca to confirm.  
Nope, bring none!
A special colorlicious Mexican paint would be provided.
Katie provided us with the above image.
And I'm sorry to say, I don't know who the artist is.
I glued the image and then did a paint over. This I did finish in Mexico using liberal amounts of the Iridescent Gold mixed with every color.

I also finished my pouch that all the new art pieces fit in.

We each brought a piece of canvas that we used as a work surface while painting.
We cleaned our brushes and used up left-over paint on the canvas.
Then on the last day we each created a pouch.
We all shared many of the little scraps and they became a symbolic bond that connected each of us and the memories we made together.

favorite door

Many doors and portals await one in San Miguel.

This was one of my favorites.

couldn't pass up the selfie

I love these pictures.
My happiness shows.
♥

Full Moon Over San Miguel

Well well, I think I have been back from Mexico two weeks already.

How can that be? 

Still seems like yesterday and I'm still mellowed out from the trip.

The "chair zone" has become the story of my life. I can't seem to leave it.....

....this isn't what I mean to share today. 

Photo Credit:   Lulu Moonwood Murakami

We were blessed with a full moon while in San Miguel.
I was too dumbstruck to even try to take a photo.
Thank goodness one of my new artist friends did capture the amazement.
I'm sharing her "postcard" view that sums up the Full Moon Over San Miguel.
You will want to visit Lulu's blog as she and a group from Portland took an extended trip to Mexico and she is sharing so many beautiful photos just like this.
I am thrilled to know this new art friend. 

Full Moon Over San Miguel

Full Moon Over San Miguel is all about plaster, painting on it and other techniques taught by Judy Wise and Katie Kendrick.

I was inspired by the full moon and this is my way of remembering it.

(Even though I didn't really get the moon shape right)

My Full Moon Bracelet

Katie gifted each of us with a little bag of beads.

Actually it was a complete kit to make this bracelet

When I finished mine and put it on my wrist, 

I was struck by the beautiful white gemstone that fell right front and center representing another full moon over San Miguel. 

Thank you Katie and Judy for a wonderful experience in San Miguel. 

♥

Now this is a Costume

Me and my Mojiganga

Happy Halloween 

Infusion of Judy Wise in San Miguel

Our first art marks in San Miguel de Allende

 We lined up at the Jardin Principal 

to sketch Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel

 Judy instructed us to start with the outline....

I chose a page in my Moleskine that already had some background....

after the outline, I moved to a bench behind my new art Amigos

 and switched to my tiny Moleskine

Thank you Judy for the infusion to sketch again.

♥

Infusion of Color in Mosaic

 An infusion of color and inspiration that will speak for itself.

Infusion in San Miguel de Allende Mexico

I'm back!

Infused.

A couple of days before leaving and still doubting myself about the trip, my friend said to me in an email, 

"You need an 'injection' of artful people around you right now."

One of the first round-table discussions or rather questions asked of the pilgrims was, "why did you come or what did you come for?"

My answer:

"an infusion"

(I was remembering the email......that actually said "injection".)

The tiny stitched booklet I'm sharing above was not one of the art projects presented by Katie and Judy.

However, on the last afternoon of the pilgrimage, using small left over textiles and canvas, I stitched this tiny booklet  to be left behind. 

A surprise!

This very morning...in just a few minutes...the pilgrims of the second group will assemble for their first breakfast.

This is when they will discover their "under-the-plate surprises. 

You know how stitching is when and where I reflect, clear the chatter, feed my soul, and rest. 

This tiny bit of stitching was a wonderful few last moments for me in San Miguel.

I have more to share another day.

♥

Away on Adventure

 Just stopping in to say, I will be away for a few days.

Must go to Mexico to exchange my ATCs!

Also, wanted to give you a quick update on the new palette. 

Sure enough I put the top on and didn't get back to painting for some days. I never gave it another thought because I have been so busy being a little sick and getting ready to attend the retreat in Mexico. 

Oh mercy-me! When I opened it, WOW what an awful odor and it had started growing!

I'm not giving up. Next time, I will just be certain that I am really going to paint and paint big before I put out a bunch of paint. 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

NOTE:  Thank you to all who have recently signed up for my online classes.  

I will not be able to attend to new registrants while away. I expect to be back on October 25th.

About leveraging your original art to make new original art

 I completed my Artist Trading Cards that I will be taking for trade on an art retreat adventure. 

I could not pass up the chance to show and tell with a tutorial on how and why I decided to leverage a piece of my own art to get the job done.

So first of all, there was the issue that I need a whole bunch of cards to trade 

and

not a whole bunch of time to make them

and

I wanted to trade all original cards.

I started exploring my options and brainstorming ideas when I painted Catrina in my Journal.

My thinking was by using floral napkins, I could speed up the process.

During the journal page session, an inspiration bomb hit me. 

I had the perfect piece of original art with lots of flowers painted by me and 5 faces to work with. 

That excited me!

 I opened the above photo in Photoshop Elements.

First thing, I made duplicates of this image to crop from and closed the original image.

I cropped the faces in proportional 2.5" x 3.5" sizes.

Using the five faces and cropping some pairs of faces, I ended up with 9 crops. 

In Photoshop Elements, from the File menu, I set up a → New →Blank File

for 8.5" x 11" document.

Then I drug the 9 crops onto the new document as shown above. 

From the PS menu bar → View and select →rulers and grid.

The crops are in the right proportion; however, each may be a different size when you drag it to the blank document. 

Grab the corner of the crop and stretch or shrink using the rulers and grid to get them exactly 2.5" x 3.5" and arranged on the document.

The above photo shows my layout ready to print.

I print the "actual size" document from PS print function.

I printed on Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper (Matte).

You can get this paper at some office supply stores.

But I have printed on watercolor paper from a pad of such paper. 

Because I was in experimental mode that day: 

I printed one sheet using my Epson R2400 which is an ink-jet.

and

I printed one sheet on my HP ColorLaser Jet. 

I was curious to see if there would be any difference. 

There is none. 

Before cutting the cards from the sheet, I brushed on a layer of Golden Matte Medium #R3530. 

Seal with what ever you like to use. 

From left to right the above photo shows the unpainted card cropped from the original piece of art, one version from the laser sheet and one version from the ink jet sheet. 

I got the job done.

It was much fun.

But still took a fair amount of time. I could have gone on and on embellishing their faces. 

I ended up with a stack of original ATCards each one different.

I hope you enjoyed this and if you give it a try, please come back and tell us so we can go see.

♥