Plein Air at Susan Frommer's straw bale house

You know what I love about teaching? It's the fabulous places I'm able to go to and the interesting people I meet. Take for instance Susan Frommer's house. http://www.consciousinspiredliving.com/feature.htmlShe and her hubby built a Straw bale home just north of Santa Rosa Plateau http://www.riversidecountyparks.org/locations/nature-historic-centers/santa-rosa-plateau/ in Murietta, CA. My Wendesday Pastel Class from http://www.fallbrookschoolofthearts.org/ traveled north  to paint on location this afternoon. Susan kindly invited us for a perfect October setting with lovely views of the Santa Rosa Plateau landscape. Of course, most of us ended up painting part of the Staw Bale veranda along with succulents and cactus! Christine Bowman http://www.christinebowman.com/blog  and friends from my Escondido Pastel class joined us also. Click on Christine's link to see more photos of our outing including Christine's great painting.....


A good time was had by all....Thank you Susan!!

the kitchen remodel continues....

My new nicho complete with my son John and our kitty Frank. John's standing where the frig will go at the end of the room. Check out our new stove...5 mega grills for mucho tortillas y carne asada.....
yummy....

money palette

This is the most inventive palette I've seen yet in my Palomar College Acrylic and Watercolor class. This student read somewhere that the vellum in the paper works well as an acrylic palette....pretty clever, isn't it? Just spray it from time to time to keep the paint wet. Of course if you are in dire need of a 3 dollar Starbucks coffee you might have an issue......

Great artist retreat next April 2011!

Exciting news!


Now’s the time to sign up for a fabulous trip to San Miguel de Allende next April, 2011. This will be a fantastic opportunity to work with 4 amazing artists....including me! Our workshop and lodging will be located at Casa Luna, one of most prestigious and well known inns in town.

All details are listed below on our website.

Tesoro del Corazon

Art retreat in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

April 13 - 20, 2011



Come and enjoy a week of workshops and fun with four

top notch instructors: Helen Shafer Garcia, Jane LaFazio, Lynn Leahy and Laurie Mika

The old colonial town of San Miguel de Allende will provide the back drop

for workshops where your creative energies can flow.
 
All the techniques pictured below will be taught.

 Please find detailed


information at our website http://web.me.com/themikas/San_Miguel_retreat/Welcome.html

Or email SanMiguelRetreat@gmail.com

$1390 (not including airfare)

A Kitchen reborn

Here is the skeleton of my kitchen in my little house. After 28 years, I'm finally getting a new kitchen, down to the guts...new everything. It's been a dream and its finally happening. I don't care about the dust, the hammering at 7:15am, the frig in the living room....its all good. The closeup of the ceiling is what I call "repurposed" wood. We discovered in this 53ish year old casa that the roof was built with recylced wood from another part of the house, complete with original paint. We also discovered the writing on the wood in the bathroom. Jose, my husband, wrote our names and the year he worked on that wall, putting in a new window. We had forgotten all about it! John was only a baby then.........

 I asked for 2 nichos ....you can see the framework for the large one. My son is in the other photo...he and his friends did most of the demolition....its all about smashing things!

New Mexico!

Fall in New Mexico is so beautiful! I can't wait to see the soft muted dreamy colors and the dramatic skies! My students and I are exploring Dixon, New Mexico, which has endless painting possibilities and oh so many quirky places to visit. Dixon has a great Artist Studio tour in November http://www.dixonarts.org/

My friend Margaret took me there last year for my birthday. We had such a good time...oh...how I love New Mexico!

San Diego Botanic Garden Expressions Invitational Exhibit

San Diego Botanic Garden

2nd Annual Garden Expressions Invitational Exhibit

Saturday and Sunday August 21-22
9am to 5pm
Outdoor Art Exhibit set in the garden.
Come by for a visit to see my works!

http://www.sdbgarden.org/expressions.htm

San Diego Botanic Garden is just 30 minutes north of downtown San Diego in Encinitas, California
It covers approximately 35 acres at 230 Quail Gardens Drive, which runs parallel to Interstate 5 between Encinitas Blvd and Leucadia Blvd.

Helen's Art Unraveled Workshop

Art Unraveled HSG workshop
Originally uploaded by Agave Latte

In the Afternoon Jane LaFazio's http://www.janeville.blogspot.com/workshop students toured our paintings and then we toured her classroom. Both groups got a great look at all the beautiful works. Great idea Jane!
http://www.artunraveled.com/ARTU10/AUindex.htm

Marsha starts her painting

Marsha starts her painting
Originally uploaded by Agave Latte

Here's Marsha finishing up her design and ready to paint....what a great smile! Thanks Marsha for helping me on Saturday!

Helen's workshop at Art Unraveled

Helen's workshop at Art Unraveled
Originally uploaded by Agave Latte

Here are my students busy at work at my Art Unraveled Workshop last week. So many wonderful works were produced ....Thanks to my wonderful students who spent the day creating. We had a little excitement in the morning....we laid out our paintings on the grass to dry in the 112 degree hot sun. All of a sudden one of my students jumped up and ran out the door. Low and behold... the gardener had grapped our works in his garbage claw ...ready to throw them away!! Didn't he know it was ART! The paintings were recovered and all was well.....