Gathering Grace at Running Y Ranch

Mount Shasta from the air

Friday morning my husband flew me in his plane to Keno, Or. where we had a wonderful visit with Roxanne Stout and her husband.  My sister Jan and her hubby came from Medford to have dinner with us.  It was a wonderful time with barbecue and wine and homemade beer, laughter and good cheer.

Roxanne and I drove over to Klamath Falls to tour the Running Y Ranch in hopes of it being a place we could host our Flight of Spirit Gathering Grace art retreat and we were so pleased with the place we reserved dates of Oct. 9 and 10, 2015!!

Michael and I stayed at the Running Y Saturday.  He played golf on an Arnold Palmer designed coarse and said it was great while I attended the on property spa and had a wonderful massage.

We flew home this morning and waiting for me in the mail was the latest issue of Mingle published by Stampington press where an article that Roxanne wrote and submitted is published!  It's all about the gathering we had at her house, me, Roxanne, Jan and Susan Wooldridge, where we put together our plans for this wonderful retreat.  Get the magazine, read the article and look for information about the retreat coming soon!!

Garments to Upcycle

This morning in my studio garments are ready to be upcycled

Art Retreat at the Prairie

I am looking forward to teaching at Rachel Ashwell's The Prairie again this fall for Barb Solem and ViviMagoo.  I love The Prairie and because I have a little bit of Texas in my heart I am so happy to have been invited back.  This delightful and unique setting allows me to offer classes that expand outside the limits of teaching at a hotel based venue.

For my Botanical and Rust Dye class we will be able to walk the grounds outside and gather leaves and flowers to experiment with as well as using the botanicals I will have on hand.  I know there are walnut and oak trees to gather leaves from as well as flowering vines and plants.  We will have lots of fabrics to use for dyeing and some papers as well.  Truly a chance to explore the local area of gathering.  Add to that the use of rusted iron and you will have a nice pile of dye printed fabrics and papers to use in any mixed media project!

The Indigo and Rust class offers students a unique opportunity you won't want to miss!  We will explore dyeing with indigo using a variety of techniques including overdyeing rust printed fabrics or other previously colored items.  It truly is magical to watch fabric dipped in an indigo vat come out a green color and change to blue as it oxidizes before your eyes!  There will be a variety of rusted items to explore printing on fabric with and lots of samples of how you can use these dyed fabrics.

My third class, Tattered Angel Scarf, switches gears to create a nuno felt scarf using vintage remnants i.e. time worn wedding hankies or white on white embroidered table cloths.  Learn the simple technique of fabric felting and design and create your own special scarf.

I want to encourage anyone reading this who is considering attending Art Retreat at the Prairie to do so, just say yes!  I would love to have you in my class and there are many other talented instructors with fabulous class offerings to choose from.  Barb Solem makes the whole experience wonderful, you will not regret choosing to attend!