A Retreat Treat

Lakeside Inn, Mt. Dora - Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson's Paper Painting Collage Workshop 2015

This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure of attending Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson's weekend-long retreat in Mount Dora. I am grateful to Debbie from The Craft Shack for surprise gifting me with a spot. Super grateful! As you can see from the pic above, there was a great group of artists in attendance. So many fascinating personalities and awesome talent convened in one spot...lots of good energy.

I have always loved Elizabeth's art, and it really was a treat to learn all about her and her paper painting collage process. We had a full-day of paper painting with an emphasis on using the gelli plate, which I have been wanting to try out. LOVE the gelli plate! I am hooked. I want to create stamps and stencils and gelli plate prints. 

The next 2 days we learned how to rip (there is an actual way) and look for patterns and values to create our apple paintings. Oh how sweet it is to find the perfect piece of paper and place it in it's spot! Here I am with Patty, who I met at the workshop but coincidentally lives only about 5 minutes from me! She's even going to be coming to the upcoming Artist's Way meetings at The Craft Shack. I am looking forward to getting to know her better. As with any truly great workshop, you leave having learned something and having met some really cool people. Check and check!

I want to eventually be a part of my own retreat, and that is partly the reason why Debbie gifted me with this one. My mission was to check out the venue, The Lakeside Inn. But I also learned a lot from watching Elizabeth. She was a great role model for time management and also individual student instruction. I highly recommend taking one of her classes or workshops if you get the chance.

And here's my finished apple! I love how it turned out, but I also love that little pile of torn papers off to the side. There is a surprising intimacy and connection with these little pieces. After taking this class, I don't think I'll see paper the same way again!