After 3 1/2 days of painting, friends, and parties, I am totally wiped out! It was my first year of attending Artfest, as well as Artfest’s last year of operation. Teesha Moore, the creator of this art retreat, promises something even grander in the works. I can’t even imagine what that might be. I just hope it’s still local!
After a retreat I always feel both completely filled up – with ideas, inspiration, and the emotional charge that comes with connecting with old friends and making new ones, and completely depleted, from giving some blank canvases everything I’ve got, from sharing with friends a lifetime’s worth of crazy inebriated stories, and from knowing I have to say goodbye, even if it’s just ’til next year.
Since my brain is feeling fried, and I’m being subjected to a never-ending loop of Nyan Cat (thanks to my children), the rest of my post will be more pictures, than words. I wish I’d taken more photos, but I was too busy playing!
I painted with Jesse Reno for two days, and miraculously, finished a painting. A second piece is still in the works.
Before:
After:
It says “OPASNA” (oh-pas-na) which means she is dangerous, in Russian. It is my interpretation of an anglerfish. If you can believe it, when I started it kinda looked like Marilyn Monroe. Ha! I wish I’d taken some transition shots, as it went though many stages, but my hands were always covered in paint. By the way, I’m not sure if the title is referring to the painting, or the artist… 🙂
Another work in progress from Jesse’s class. To be finished soon, I hope!
Jesse doing a drawing demo. I love watching people sketch with ease. I always get nervous if I’m too aware of people watching me!!!
Below is a warm-up exercise we did in Jesse’s class. I’d like to play around with it some more.
I took Mindy Lacefield’s class on Saturday, and it was great to share the day with her! I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to know her better over the last two years. I had a blast helping her out at her marketplace table Friday night.
She did some great demos in class. It was fun watching her work. She is a master at cuteness!
I worked on four backgrounds. Can’t wait to play with these more.
The owl and the pussy cat? I did this in class. The owl and cat are made from torn paper. The words say “Ya Teb-ya Lyoob-loo” which means I love you in Russian. I may play with this a bit more, but I like the raw wood showing through.
Two heads are better than one. This other piece is unfinished. It’s a two-headed bird. These birds may get some stripes and crazy legs… not sure yet.
Well, that’s all for now! Friends, old and new, I hope you’ll keep in touch. And ladies, (*ehem* Danielle, Janna…) let’s not forget about our plans for next year!
HeatherUnderground 
I so love your works from Mindy´s class. They make me wanna take her class too! Oh no, Artfest should have been three times as long, so I could take all the classes I wanted to! It was such a treat to meet you and to get to know you at least a little bit. Now we just have to be blog-buddies until we have the next get-together 🙂 In the meantime, go make something beautiful! 😉
Thanks, Janne! It was nice meeting you. I totally agree, Artfest needs to be longer!!
See you in blogland,
Heather
Oh my gosh, you were in painting heaven. Both of those artists are just so inspiring.
I love what you created. And I’m sure you have stories behind them as well, especially from Jesse’s class.
I was in painting heaven!!! It’s hard to come back down.
Thank you. And yes, one blog post doesn’t nearly cover all the stories I could tell! 😀
So great to meet you too! Love your class photos…I haven’t even downloaded mine to the computer…but maybe this weekend. I do hope to start a Seattle/Eastside art group and I will keep you posted.
Thanks, Lisa! I look forward to the the possibility of an art group!
Oh I am so sad I had to miss it…but so happy to hear you had the bestest time. Good for you! Ok now I am waiting patiently to hear whats in store for next year…
Jesse…ahhhh.
😀
I had the bestest-est time ever!
Next year, Reno’s studio for a week. With some of my art BFFs.
Hi Heather! It was great meeting you at Artfest and I enjoyed watching your pieces progress while we were in Jesse Reno’s 2-day adventure. That was my first Artfest and now I get what you mean by art retreats being so addictive. I’m hoping to get to Art & Soul in Portland this October (just a train trip down from Seattle–how can I resist?!). Hope to see you again one day! (PS I’ll be posting photos from Artfest on my blog this weekend–swing back by if you want to take a look.)
Mmmm…. Art & Soul does sound tempting… Perhaps, I’ll see you there. 🙂 It was great meeting you, too! I’m gonna go check out your latest post.
I totally sympathise with being nervous when people watch me sketch. Some really cool artworkd there!
Thank you! It’s nice to know I’m not alone when it comes to sketchbook performance anxiety! 🙂
Artfest looks amazing! Your painting Jesse Reno’s class came out great. Great post!
Thank you! Artfest was a blast!