Tokens...

My watercolor this morning is a different size format, allowing me to show a wider view of the marsh.

I sealed it with clear acrylic and left it in the guest book as a token of thanks for a lovely stay.

On our drive home, I created 8 more mini collages for my latest art-o-mat series.

I love that these will one day be bought from vending machines.  

Watercolor practice...

Our last full day of vacation was spent kayaking and swimming in the ocean.

My moment of quiet before dinner was spent on the porch once again enjoying the colors of the salt marsh.

Full days and quiet moments...

Another full day here on Bald Head Island.  The kids and I kayaked early this morning, exploring the salt marsh.

Then we rode bikes as a family to the light house and climbed to the top for amazing views of the island.  

We enjoyed all our meals here at the house on the screen porch enjoying the amazing view of the salt marsh.

Watercolor provided a bit of quiet time for me again today looking out at the colors on the marsh...

It was also a great day for viewing and photographing clouds...

This evening we stopped at a trail that's part of the BHI Conservancy to see more views of the salt marsh - collecting images to inspire more collage practice once I'm home...

Salt Marsh Inspiration...

Spent some time today beginning art pieces inspired by the view of the salt marsh here in Bald Head Island.

Here is my morning watercolor...

And the beginning of blocking in colors for a collage...

Artful travels...

A full day of traveling, visiting with friends and more traveling - by car, ferry and golf cart.  We are settled in here for a few days at Bald Head Iskand. Looking forward to making collages inspired by the colors in this salt marsh...

For today I made a couple small collages in the car, beginning a new series for art-o-mat.

Spider web collage...

New layers complete this collage...

It's inspired by these spider webs at Huntley Meadows that seem to appear and disappear depending on the angle of the light.  They look like CDs suspended in the trees...

Photo credit for this image goes to Anna Waters.

Transfer...

This is a small collage and a small transfer experiment - just 4 inches square.

I may add some more collage tomorrow.

Today I also made time for a delightful lunch conversation about art and sacred space.  And I spent the evening reading the new Harry Potter book - a full day.  Tomorrow packing begins in earnest.

An experiment...

Trying a small photo transfer of an image of a web - will have to wait til tomorrow to see how they fit together...

...also spent some time today priming panels for beach collages next week.

Today's collage practice...

New layers on this landscape from Huntley Meadows.  Also a fun trip to DC for new papers and hardboard stop get ready for art at the beach this weekend.

Mending...

So we had a full day running errands, meeting a wonderful dog sitter and generally preparing for vacation this coming weekend.

This evening I spent time hemming pants for my son.  We will have dinner with my grandmother tomorrow night and her community has a dress code that requires trousers for men.  So my making time was spent mending, hemming to be exact.

Not terribly exciting and yet, I'm reminded of how glad I am to know how to do this.  It's tedious but allows us to pull together dress code appropriate clothes at the eleventh hour.  AND I remember my sophomore year of college how working with an installation artist let me see how many of the making, sewing and building skills I'd grown up practicing were also art skills.  

So for today my making is mending.

New layers...

Tonight I returned to a couple collages I made a few weeks ago, adding new layers...

Finishing work...

Most of my making today was the finishing steps.  I spent a couple hours on the computer creating note cards from my flower collages.

This evening I worked on sanding and gluing several frames.

This work is often more tedious than creating art but it is the part that helps the work get out into the world.  The time to frame things - whether a physical wooden frame or a high resolution scan for a card - is an important part of the process and the practice.  It is what allows me to signal completion and open creations up to new experiences through sharing.

Making memories...

I often feel like photography has become such a daily habit that it doesn't really feel like it counts as an art-making practice.

Today was a full day of tubing with kids and friends and taking pictures to savor the day, the joy and the beautiful scenery.

It takes intention to both inhabit a space and think about framing it to record, celebrate and share with others.  

For today my making is these photos of our adventure...

Because I made a commitment...

With full summer days my making happens late at night.

Tonight's sleepy watercolor is inspired by the colors in yesterday's collage.  

I'm also aware of how much the commitment helps me stick to my practice.

It's easy for art making - or any practice - to get pushed aside by the demands of the everyday...my commitment brings me back to paints, papers, clay - even when I'm sleepy.

Glue still drying...

On this new layer of collage...

Small steps...

Today I made a few labyrinth stones and added this final layer of collage on top of yesterday's photo transfer....

Another layer...

...the photo transfer on yesterday's collage.

Reconnecting and a return to collage...

I spent time today reconnecting after time away - with both people and places.

A lovely walk at Huntley Meadows this morning with my friend Jenna ended with time in the visitors center revisiting my show and learning stories of the history of the park and the advocacy work to preserve it.  

Thus evening's return to collage practice was inspired by my evening walk with Chad and our dogs.  

Routine, Practice and Familiar Landscapes

It's good to settle back into a routine at home today.

This evening my watercolor is inspired by colors on a walk at Huntley Meadowd this morning...

...it's lovely to return after time away to this familiar landscape and the routine of weekly walks at the park.

Also loved finding this web that looks like a cd...

Quiet practice...

I find watercolor to be simple and soothing.

Here's this evening's watercolor created from remembered views of mountains...

Back to practicing...

A watercolor of remembered colors from my drive from Shrine Mont yesterday.  It's good to be settling in at home and getting back to a routine of some quiet time for making.

Home together and making space to reflect...

One more long day of driving and our last camper is home.  It was a lovely closing worship and good to be back at Shrine Mont for a few hours this morning.  

This evening I led the Sanctuary Studio time at St Aidan's.  We reflected on seasons of the year and times of the day on accordion books with collage.  

I found myself back at Shrine Mont and on the drive near the mountain, picturing flowers seen along the roadways.

It was a long day in the car so it was nice to create some time for myself for reflection along with creating space for others to create.  

Rest

It was good to be home today.  And it finally hit me just how tired I was from a busy week at camp. My making centered around an early afternoon labyrinth workshop.  I made space for others to glaze and create labyrinths as well as glazing my labyrinth (shown below).

Celebration

We began our day with the closing worship for Art Camp.  Here is the community mural created yesterday during our exhibit, now displayed at the front of the room....

...It's a long mural - here's the other half.

The new addition to our installation included hoops painted by counselors and members of the camp staff.  

I also added in a few of the small ones I used for demonstration of techniques in the studio. 

It was a busy closing day, a lovely celebration of the creations and the community that gathered this week.

Installation

Today we saw our community art piece come together with the installation of silk hoops in the windows of the ballroom of Virginia House at Shrine Mont.  

It is fun to see the landscape of Shrine Mont behind the colorful paintings on the hoops.

This drawing of a porch chair almost seems to fit right into the porch outside the window.

Each window represents the members of one of the cabins of campers.  This will also facilitate taking down pieces and sending them home after our closing tomorrow.

We had a lovely viewing of the installation and all the work created during the show in the afternoon. Guests from the St George's camp, Shrine Mont staff and Shrine Mont Camps staff all came to join the campers and counselors in celebrating the work done during art camp.  

We had a station for visitors to add to a group mural and had wonderful interactions as visitors asked artists about their art.

All will be revealed...

At camp when campers ask too many questions about what is coming next, the counselor response is "all will be revealed."

Today was a full day of making, getting parts together for our final installation at the end of camp.

No pictures yet - still in process. 

But soon...all will be revealed.

Full days at camp...

Days continue to feel full at camp.  Most of my making is making space, framing time and space in the studio for making.

I did rinse and dry my experiments with felt dying...

And I began a collage of my own in the evening...more to come on that later.

Installation and Community Art...

Tomorrow begins creating pieces with the younger kids for our installation of community art.

Here is my small installation in the studio to inspire them...

Trying new things at camp...

So as I encourage my artist campers to try new things at camp, I am challenging myself to do the same.

Here's a linoleum block I cut this evening...

...I look forward to printing it tomorrow.

And here's a color spectrum of kool aid all ready to dye wool roving.  Hoping to put it out in the sun tomorrow.  It's supposed to work like sun tea and dye the roving in the jar when the sun heats the liquid.  So far it's been a fun experiment.