Such Sweet Visions

I can not begin to tell you how exhilarated and excited I have become over the last two months dreaming about Italy.

Kristin and Bill Steiner of Adventures in Italy have been sending some INCREDIBLE bits of inspiration that make my heart skip a beat thinking about this Fabled Sojourn we will be making.

I just HAD to share a few of Kristin's beautiful words with you...

"Just imagine, Spring 2009----let me give you a tiny peek.
We are all sitting together at a tiny table outside a cafe on the Via
Duomo, sipping velvety cappuccinos and watching the locals in their
understated elegance walk by. The streets are alive with morning
shoppers, visiting the numerous specialty shops around town.

The church bells ring out the hour, sending their melodies throughout
the tiny alleyways and winding streets. We begin to stroll back to our
haven of a home, the Convent. Along the way, we stop to admire a
charming balcony overflowing with colorful pots of geraniums.

We walk through town, feeling the ancient history that pulses from
every wall and archway. We giggle and sigh at the thought of being
here in this beautiful place so filled with stories from as far back
as 700 B.C.!

We are anxious to join Tracie and Marylin back in the studio. They
have planned the most compelling projects for us. On the way, however,
we are side tracked by the smell of something wonderfully warm and
yeasty. We can not resist. We follow our noses, chattering loudly
about what this heavenly scent could be. We spill out onto the piazza
and find...yes, there it is! The glorious sight of exquisite tiny
pastries coming out of the oven this very moment. Even though it is
just an hour before lunch, we give in to the tempting delicacies. We
order enough to share all around, and scamper back to the studio with
sticky fingers and smiles a mile wide.

We are in heaven! We are in Italy with Tracie and Marylin. We are
living like Italians! May this never end!

It is our greatest honor to share all of this and more with you on
this Adventure in Italy. If you have any questions or concerns, please
feel free to ask. There is nothing too insignificant or silly....we
know travel can be exhilarating, but sometimes a little daunting. We
are here to help in every way possible.

Thank you so sincerely for joining us. Let the anticipation of our
magical time together begin! "

Magical INDEED! We will be creating a magnificent travel journal of our days spent among the landscapes and cityscape of Orvieto!

Marylin and I will be showering our students with wonderful tips and techniques for developing rich dimensional mixed media pages from the materials we have surrounding us both natural and man made, combining those finding with beautiful painted subjects of flora, fauna, wildlife, city life, and vista views that we sketched on to fabric from photos that each of us will be taking and using to inspire our artwork.

By living in the moment, sampling the culture, and experiencing life to its fullest, our journals will begin to tell a story... a story about each of us, and the walk we are taking through 3000 years of history and cherished moments spent with friends both old and new.

Come... COME with us and EXPERIENCE the Wonders of Italy, of Orvieto!

Our journey is scheduled for mid May of 2009. But don't wait; we will only be taking a very small group, so as to have an intimate atmosphere that is both personal, and rewarding.

Find out all the details, here.

Spring to Summer, a holiday

Although it is a little early to be seeing rabbits here and there... scurrying about... in honor of Easter, I could not help but rumage through some old photos of past visitors and find a suitable portrait to paint for the pages in my Season's Journal.

I decided to use a small remnant of muslin fabric I had on the worktable that kept being shuffled around to various corners everytime I began a new endeavor.

Just a small ode to a very bunny holiday.
Hope your weekend was filled with sweet treats and sunny days!

Spring to Summer, the romance of it

I have read that we, as humans, are in large part influenced by our experiences and surroundings. If this is truly the case, then there is no question that my romance with flowers began at an early age.

As a child, I remember my grandfather always having an enormous garden. The entire side yard, which was the size of an acre, always included several rows of flowers planted among a majority of vegetables.

Not only did he have this hand planted acre to maintain, he also managed a big rose garden that surrounded the whole house, plus an incredibly tall hedgerow of honeysuckle vines on the entire west side of his property.

The honeysuckles were my favorite. Every time I visited, I made a trip down to the hedgerow. As you drew closer to the vines, you could smell their sweet fragrance, and I loved tasting the little bits of nectar from the trumpet flowers.

It would be a long time before I would feel this sort of influence from flowers again in my life. Not until I began painting in college, and my watercolor teacher took us on a field trip to the local botanical garden.

Although I had lived in Wichita for quite sometime, I never knew about this Eden located in the heart of a bustling city. The site was incredible and filled to the brim with a multitude of colorful flower varieties. Those weeks spent on location, painting "en plein air", were sheer heaven.

It was also a time in my life where I was really starting to spread my wings, and come into my own as an artist. I spent hour after hour sitting among the flowers.... painting away, so you can image the connection I felt to these delicate treasures.

I continued using beautiful botancials as the main subject in my art for a number of years, until my interests lead me toward other inspirations from nature.

But while working in this Spring journal that love affair with mother nature's gems has begun to take hold of me and inspire my art once again.

Spring to Summer, a beginning

After spending a full week feeling very under the weather, I am overjoyed to be back in the familiar surroundings of my studio. I am terribly behind and have so much to do. However, I have been quite anxious to begin creating pages in this new season journal.

Eager to record the details of a Spring that is beginning to slowly creep in around me that I could not help but to set my list of to-dos aside.

Saturday was my first time outside in four days. I marveled at the changes that had occurred since the last Monday when I returned from Portland. Buds and leaves are now protruding from once bare branches. The small green stems of flowers are peeking up from between the remnants of withered foliage. And set forth as a melody to a song, I listened to the conversation between a pair of chickadees.

All these signs of Spring to inspires my first pages.

"Slayer of winter, art thou here again?
O welcome, thou that bring'st the summer nigh!
The bitter wind makes not thy victory vain,
Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky.
Welcome, O March! whose kindly days and dry
Make April ready for the throstle's song.
Thou first redresser of the winter's wrong!

Yea, welcome, March! and though I die ere June,
Yet for the hope of life I give thee praise,
Striving to swell the burden of the tune
That even now I hear thy brown birds raise,"

-William Morris

Go.. and Live in the Moment

As I eluded to in previous posts, I spent this last weekend on the West Coast, more specifically Portland, Oregon.

Marylin and I were invited to give a private class to a group of ladies, most of whom, we met last year at Art and Soul.

The experience nourished and renewed me both body and soul. I was talking to Marylin the night before we left and was telling her that when I travel, anywhere, whether to teach or on vacation, those are the few moments that I manage to actually LIVE IN THE MOMENT.

I am such a planner, by nature, so it is very difficult for me to stop charging forward... forward... forward, and fretting about tomorow. When I LIVE IN THE MOMENT, I relax and stop worrying about all things, both big and small, for a brief period.

Although I enjoy taking vacations, I feel a different type of enjoyment when spending time with other artists. This particular group of women are extremely talented with a laundry list of credentials, so not only were they participating in our class to learn, but it was also an opportunity for all of us to exchange ideas... to learn from one another, and learn I did.



It was incredible to see their Painted Fabric artworks come to life. Their love of nature was inspiring to me. As always, I wish I had snapped a few more pictures of their beautiful work.

However, I did manage to capture this shot of little Peeka. She kept us in stitches throughout the day with her playful curiosity.

The Warmth of Friendship

I just arrived home yesterday from an INCREDIBLE weekend on the West Coast, where I was surrounding by the MOST beautiful group of women. These ladies welcomed me with wide open arms. We all laughed, played, and created art for two days. It was an experience that refreshed me both creatively and spiritually.

I can't wait to share pictures from my trip. But while I am sorting through images preparing them for a subsequent post, I just want to let you know that this is the last week to purchase the Limited Edition Fine Art Print - The Joys Of
This is one of my favorite artworks from my 2007 fiber journal, and captures the spirit of romance so perfectly.

Each one is printed on glossy finish, professional grade paper using fade-resistant, archival inks. This special artwork comes surrounded by a 10" x 10" white double matte, signed, numbered, and sealed in a clear protective sleeve accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Winter to Spring, a farewell for now

Here in my Winter's Journal, you will find memories from the remaining weeks of February. Romantic sentiments of time spent in a lover's arm celebrating Valentines.


Seeing a flock of Robins feeding on the berries leftover from Autumn in a tree near my front door.


This little book has become quite thick with pages spilling over... one into another. I love holding it in my hands... running my fingers across fabric, paper, ephemera with both rough and smooth textures touching my skin.

It will be bitter sweet at the end of December when I finish this book. Part of me can hardly wait to see it completed, and yet... another piece of me will mourn the end of such an incredible journey.

For everything we do big or small is, in fact, a journey.

I wanted to show you a picture of the journal so there would be a glimpse of all the pages in one photograph, but there were too many to capture.

So, I leave you with this one image, showing most, but not all of my cherished moments journaling the beautiful Winter season.