FIRST RESIDENTIAL SCULPTURE CLASS

FIRST RESIDENTIAL SCULPTURE CLASS

Students begin difficult "Goddess" sculpture

Artist and blogger, Judy Wise, made the statement in one of her posts, “Falling in love with students, encouraging them and encouraging myself to take whatever path beckons…” I agree with her completely. If it is possible to fall in love with a class of students, it happened here at Woodloft. I said from the beginning that I just knew very special women would gather here for my first Residential sculpture class. Sure enough, I was blessed to have four fun loving, metaphysically minded and talented students.

Excitement was in the air as I was getting ready for these special women. I do mean excitement. What they didn’t know was that just 3 weeks before the class, my swimming pool decided to give up the ghost. It collapsed with age. That meant I had to find contractors to rebuild my pool and the decking surrounding it. I knew it could be done and I knew it would be done but there were some tense moments. There was just no way I was going to bring my guests here without my swimming pool up and running!

Joe Light delivers sunflowers

Joe Light, whom I jokingly call, Mr. Flower Power, delivered gorgeous sunflowers for the guests to enjoy. Joe can be seen selling his flowers on the Roanoke City Market every Saturday.

Truffles from Chocolate Paper

I purchased chocolate truffle candy from Chocolate Paper, also found on the City Market

Granola breakfast in mason jars and fancy labels

Blogger, Sheree, from Raven Moon Magic sent me lovely stickers that she created and I decided to add them to the granola jars I stored in my refrigerator for breakfasts. Somewhere I read about how fun it would be to place granola with fruit and yogurt, into these jars.

I also quilted face totes to hold each students supplies.

Quilted "face" totes

Finally, the time had arrived. The first student to arrive was Trish who is shown below enjoying appetizers and a margarita.

Trish is greeted by a margarita upon arrival

Each student was given a welcoming caftan to wear for our evening activities, which included drumming with Rudy Saunders. We were amazed at his ability to drum for hours.

Beth adorned in caftan

Laura,of Art From Trails End wears caftan and Goddess Ceremonial Necklace

Rudy shares drumming and stories

On another night, we watched Practical Magic and signed PritiLisa's “Book of Shadows” before beginning our drumming ceremony.

Lisa's "Book of Shadows" placed on top of African drum

Close-up reads "Harm None"

We chanted as we drummed to "Ancient Mother" by Robert Gass, which was recommended by Julie from When the Spirit Moves Me.

Glorious food was served throughout the week by our chef, Stratton St. Clair, including homemade pizzas and I created the desserts to accompany the meals.

Stratton and Diane, a member of our Little Supper Club, prepared homemade pizzas

Diane works on getting pizzas ready for party

Shrimp for alfredo

My Le Gateau Sans Rival dessert

Chicken with forty cloves of garlic being prepared

No one said sculpting is easy and the first two days of the class had the students hopping. I guess I should have mentioned in my brochure that I’m a bit hyper and I definitely crack the whip.

Laura works on bas-relief

Beth works on her "selke" doll

Leslie works on her Goddess sculpture

Trish beginning Goddess sculpture

Beth with sculpture

Laura prepares clay for sculpture

It was not all work though. Ella, my water aerobic’s instructor made an appearance and taught a water class one afternoon.

Ella gives class a real work out.

Quiche luncheon served

Also, Patrick Beale arrived to give massages two nights. Beth was fortunate enough to have a 2 hour massage-it was the luck of the draw.

Patrick and Beth

Food lectures and techniques were given by the chef each lunchtime, including teaching how to make the components of his wonderful lasagna.

Stratton prepares his homemade lasagne noodles

Stratton demonstrates how to make homemade vanilla

Here we are at Roanoke's famous "Star" overlooking the valley

We traveled along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a stop at our Roanoke Star for a view of the valley. Our destination was to have lunch at a quaint vineyard and restaurant called Chateau Morrisette.

It was a beautiful day and we opted to have lunch on the large stone patio with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a bit windy but we didn’t expect the gust that came out of nowhere to lift our red table umbrella completely out of the center of the table. Somehow, when I saw the umbrella swoop up, up and up, I found myself reaching out for the umbrella with my left hand (it pays to be ambidextrous) I was pulled upward with the umbrella (my arm that is) to the point where I looked as though I might swoop over the table and out into the vast mountain range below! Somehow I stopped the umbrella. When the management heard of what happened, they offered all of us a bottle of wine, compliments of the restaurant. We laughed for a long time afterward about the possibility of me flying among the clouds, red umbrella overhead and songs of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” were heard being sung from my car all the way home from the vineyard.

Famous red umbrella

We toured the controversial Taubman Museum and had lunch at the Hotel Roanoke. The Taubman is a fantastic piece of architecture that many in our area felt was too modern to be placed amid the old historic buildings downtown. I personally love it.

Museum picture with H and C coffee and mountain as a backdrop

We were all pretty tired by the time Lisa Plummer arrived at the studio to give a class in SoulCollage. She was rather glad we were relaxed because she said in choosing the pictures we were to gather for our collages, we would be more inclined to be working in our subconscious minds rather then methodically building a collage. As it turned out, we pieced together some incredible artwork, that when read, brought much insight to each of the group.

Lisa Plummer, SoulCollage teacher

The class worked diligently all week and produced an amazing array of finished sculptures including tall standing Goddesses, bas-reliefs and soul dolls.

Laura's finished Goddess

Beth's Celtic Bas-relief journal

Beth's Selke Goddess

Laura's perky bas-relief journal

Laura with all three finished sculptures

Trish and yours truly displaying her finished sculptures

Here Beth and I show off finished work

As you might have guessed, I will be giving the class again next summer with a few twists. I am thinking of having someone model for us as we sculpt. I may also be having a class in glass face mosaics. If you are interested in having me send you brochures on the upcoming classes for next summer, please e-mail me and I’ll send you information as soon as I put it all together with dates and activities. I will also be posting information on my Residential Classes found on the top right hand side of my blog.

I’m posting lots more pictures of the class below for those of you who are interested in seeing all the details.

Thanks for your patience in this very long post. Sorry I haven’t been around to visiting my favorite posts but as you can tell, I’ve been very, very busy. I am hoping to get around to see everyone this week and catch up!

SPELLBOUND

SPELLBOUND

Spellbound painting-without light

Here is another painting I will be exhibiting at MoJo’s Café on August 4-Sept 4th. I used the Renaissance Oil method for this one and added my own collage work. I also added encaustic wax to the background along with a cold processed wax.

Original painting

When I took the painting outside to photograph, the light just poured across her face in a fashion that had me wishing I would have painted it that way. I may go back and add that light. What do you think? Do you like it with or without the light? I appreciate your input. It’s not too late for me to go back and paint in the light and this is not a bad idea for future paintings because this way, I will have the light already there in the picture and can decide if I like it or not. It might be a bit difficult to duplicate.

Full painting with light from sun streaking across

She is 12x24x 1 ½ “ and is on a heavy birch canvas. I have priced her at $245 and she will be available after the show. If you would like me to hold her for you, just e-mail me and we can go from there. I take all credit cards and Paypal.

Close-up

EARTH MOTHER

EARTH MOTHER

"Earth Mother" Original painting

What would the earth look like if it were reborn? I think Earth Mother would give her bountiful mountains, cool streams, raging oceans, cold ice peaks and clear, fresh air. I recently read this quote by Joanna Macy. “The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world and ourselves and each other.” It was refreshing reading something positive about our environment.

I created Earth Mother after I wrote the story of her. I tried to convey movement and rebirth, regeneration and mystery. Below is the poem I wrote for her.

Earth Mother

There existed..

A mystical, lonely, dimensionless region in the universe.

Void of life… it waited.

Eons passed.

Black holes continued expanding and contracting in an endless universal dance.

Silence.

Earth Mother appeared.

The history of what she must endure was revealed to her. Centuries of war, famine, abuse, and still a need prevailed.

A plan emerged to sanctify the abyss.

She drew together the winds, the seas, the sun baked muds of universes past and most importantly, the stones, who were at one time humans.

The emptiness was filled. A new beginning…Once again,

The earth was born…

~Cheryl Dolby~

Close-up

She looks rather surreal in the evening light

Earth Mother will be part of a collection I am presenting as guest artist for MoJo Café for the month of August. If you are interested in purchasing her, she is priced at $235.00 She is 18x24x2” and will be available after the show on Sept 15th. Let me know and I’ll hold her for you with a sold sign attached. Just e-mail me for more details. Thanks so much.

THE ARTIST AND THE CHEF

THE ARTIST AND THE CHEF

Typical lunch: Curried Fire Roasted Soup with Grilled Tomato and Pesto Sandwiches

With a little less than a month to go, preparations are well under way for my Residential Sculpture School. Excitement and activity abounds here at Woodloft, the name I have given my home. (I believe that you should name anything you love.)

The hardest part for me is cleaning my studio! I'm almost finished

Another view of the studio

My friend, Stratton Wayne St. Clair, will provide us with lovely meals for the 7 day class. Each week he comes over and familiarizes himself with my kitchen. This week, he came up with another of his great ideas. We planned for him to give a small cooking class by showing students how he makes his spectacular, one of a kind, lasagna, each day at lunch. We have now decided to label his teaching time,“Lunchtime with the Chef.” He will teach the students some of his flavor tricks each day as well. Listed below are examples of what we will learn besides making the lasagna. For those of you who want to be here vicariously, and those of you who like to read cookbooks, as I do, I have posted the menu for the class.

Stratton prepares ingredient shopping list

Lunchtime lessons:

How to make your own vanilla.
Peach vinegar
Blueberry vinegar
Homemade ricotta cheese
Smoked sea salts

Lunches:

Muffuletta

Curried Fire Roasted Tomato Soup w Grilled Tomato and Pesto Sandwiches

Linguine with a Sicilian Pistachio and Almond Pesto with salad and bread

Quiche four ways: Canadian Bacon and Swiss... Brocolli and Cheddar... Crabmeat and
Shrimp with Chives... Grilled Vegetables and Herbs with salad

Garlicy and Lemony Broiled Shrimp Scampi with Spicy Spinach and Tomatoes plus a coarse country bread.

2 Lunches at the vineyard and market

For Dinner we are having:

Medallions of Fillet Migion with Lobster Tails in a Newburg Sauce with pan seared Asparagus finished with fresh squeezed orange juice and Asiago Cheese and Roasted New Red Potatoes

Pizza Four Ways: Pizza Neapolitiano (Fresh tomato slices, Basil leaves and Fresh Mozzarella)... Wild Mushroom Pizza... Pepperoni Pizza... Pizza of pan seared grape tomatoes... cheese... olives and shredded Arugula

Chicken with Tomato Onion Gravy with Basmati rice... Tomato, Cucumber and Yogurt salad... Garlic Na Nan and Mint Chutney

Fresh Tuna Steaks Adriadic style with a salsa of olives, capers, tomatoes and basil... White Beans tossed with Garlic, Rosemary and Extra Virgin Olive oil and a salad of Tart Greens with Parmesan and Proscuitto and a warm balsamic dressing

Pulled Pork Bar-b-que (with Chicken for those who don't eat pork) with a homemade tomato Bar-b-que sauce... cole slaw... collard greens and corn on the cob

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic with French Bread and a salad of Mixed Greens, Smoked Salmon, Parmesan Cheese and Black Olives

Lasagna with homemade spinach noodles... homemade Ricotta Cheese... and Heirloom tomato and sausage sauce with a mixed green salad and bread.

W. Stratton

In the meantime, I have been getting Woodloft ready for the class, all the while sampling Stratton's delicious offerings. (Poor me)

Picnic table overlooking pool

Upper deck overlooking the pool

Front deck

Herbs ready for the picking. The chocolate mint is for mint tea, one of the students favorites

Pool and Tiki bar-there will be a big surprise here-I HOPE!!!