Elite Blogger

©Douglas Nelson Photography

I spent the weekend in Key West for my solo show opening at the Stone Soup Gallery. The folks at Growing Bolder asked me to write about it as an Elite Blogger. I've got some other stories there as well. 

Check out my Gallery Opening Story

http://paperpaintings.growingbolder.com/celebrating-individuality/

Thank YOU 

for being a part of my 

Art Journey,

Elizabeth

Art Is … YOU!

Photo courtesy of The Craft Shack Studio

Submerge Yourself in an Art Retreat

Ellen and Sallianne of Art is … You, a much loved art retreat making its debut on the West Coast after five very popular years on the East Coast, emailed me out of the blue one day and invited me to teach with them. Salianne actually reached out to me and asked me to come to California, when I asked her how she had heard of me, her answer was so amazing that I had to read it out loud to my husband.

"Well!! My dearest, Ellen has been following you for years, newsletters, website, blogs… you name it. When we began Art is…You in 2006 with 12 teachers and about 30 students she had two dreams. One was to have Michael deMeng join us and one was to have you join us… so we would be thrilled to have you join us and give her a very big thrill"

That's flattering, no?
How could I say anything but yes!

Why not? an art retreat sounds like a blast to me and my schedule was open. This is going to be an experience you won't want to miss, whether you take my class or someone else's or multiple classes. The opportunities are endless.

Photo courtesy of The Craft Shack Studio

Petaluma

Join us for FIVE fabulous days of workshops and special events in one of the most beautiful towns on the West Coast. Petaluma is located just north of San Francisco in the wonderful Sonoma County, California. The venue and accommodation is Sheraton Sonoma County.

Every one registered for a daily workshop as well as a multi-day workshop receives lunch as part of their fee. A full schedule of classes is now available, one-, two-, and three-day for you to choose from.

Registration is OPEN! 

Petaluma, CA September 24-28, 2014


The theme for 2014 is ART IS…Your BFF. Art Is…You will be in six locations: Olive Branch, MS; New South Wales, Victoria Queensland, Australia; Petaluma, CA; and Stamford, CT. 

I look forward to meeting you in CA in September and perhaps we can shoot for Australia in the future! Don't wait to register, this is going to be a super popular event!

Thank You
for being a part of
My Art Journey,
Elizabeth

Register online and learn more here!

http://www.denydesigns.com/collections/blingboxes/ar-elizabeth-st-hilaire-nelson


The 12 Days of Holiday sales will continue tomorrow with BlingBoxes available for $299! That is a $100 dollar discount with the code ""BLING299""! I think it makes a perfect holiday gift- and what a great promotional price! 

Creating a Companion Piece

12x12 on flat wood panel, painted similar background to match the apple

Last month in my Sedona, AZ Paper Paintings 3-day workshop I created the demo apple on the left to show my students the technique of collage. As often happens, one of my students purchased the demo piece from me.

Lesley asked me if I could also make her a pear, (and a pair) to display with her apple. Creating a companion piece after the fact, vs. creating it at the same time can be tricky. When I create two collages that go together, I typically put them on the easel at the same time. I work back and forth between the two so that I am utilizing some of the same collage papers on each piece, giving them harmonious color and patterns.

mimicking the same line quality, style, and underpainting of the pear

Since I was going to create the pear after the fact, I told Lesley that I'd need to take the apple home to the FL studio. I was in luck that I had created the Sedona Apple on the road because this meant that I was working from a limited stock of papers in my travel bag. Working from a gallon sized bag of papers vs. a full studio drawer of papers narrowed down the search for similar patterned and colored collage paper.

completed pear, you can see the same leaf papers, reds and yellows on both pieces

In addition to bringing Lesley's Sedona Demo Apple home for reference, it was also imperative that I bring it home to varnish along side the pear. I did demonstrate varnish in the class with the apple, however my varnish at home is my own mixture of gloss and matte and it was not going to match the sheen of the varnish out of the bottle. Any time I create companion pieces, I want to be sure that both have matching varnish. When I completed the pear I gave them both a coat of my secret recipe varnish. 

Now the pair is complete and they are going to look great hanging in Lesley's kitchen! 

Thank You
for being a part of my
Art Journey, 
Elizabeth

click any image to enlarge

Ho Ho Holiday Offer!

Workshop Fun

The Craft Shack!

Friday night at the Craft Shack in Longwood, FL I will be giving a mini class in collage from 7-9pm. we will be working on Holiday Angels this year. These 6x9 pieces will make a great gift for yourself or a friend this season. Why not join us for a glass of wine, some good conversation, and a night of creativity at The Shack in Longwood, FL.

My first two Holiday Angels 

First we will sketch simple angels (we have reference images for you), then paint them, and THEN we get into the fun stuff of gluing papers over our paint. Since this is only a 2-hour class, we have some pre-painted papers for the students to work from on their 6x8's. The Friday night class at the Shack is about, friends, fun and no pressure! You don't have to be an artist to come out and have a good time with us here. 

Reserve your spot for this Friday's Angels Class Here

my last class with their finished birds in just 2-hours!

Last January we offered a three-day paper paintings workshop at the Shack and we had a great group outside under tents in some AMAZING FL weather. We had such a great time that we are going to offer it again next January. This class is more intense and we get into painting our own collage papers and learning how to apply them to complex shapes and subject matter. You don't have to be an artist, but some drawing skills do help. Do you have a friend or a family member that you'd love to spend the weekend with making art? What a great gift to give come Christmas time too!

Lorie came all the way from Miami to join us for the weekend, 

it was a gift from her husband to take the weekend off!

Visit the Craft Shack Online:

https://www.facebook.com/thecraftshackstudio

Debbie (left) the owner of the Craft Shack is a doll and she makes

every class, whether it's 3-hours or 3-days, the BEST!