We’ve started a new blog. Why? Well, we recently revamped our entire website and thought we’d update the look and feel of our blog as well. We have a beautiful new look and links to our facebook and twitter pages — and more! We’ll be posting more often, having contests and giveaways, and keeping you up to date on everything Art & Soul!

So you can find us now at http://artandsoulretreats.blogspot.com  Stop by and say hi! And don’t forget to bookmark our new blog page.

Nope, you haven’t landed on the wrong blog site! This is what happens when creative people get together for an opening night party and have a fashion (we’re using the term very loosely here!) challenge — Project Runway style! Our brave models from left to right were Ty Schultz, Earl Zachery, and Dan Carell who are all winners in our eyes. Oh… our eyes!

The fun and frivolity was not only seeing these good sports walk the final runway for this competition, but also watching everyone in action getting made up! Do you think Ty’s hand is saying, “I surrender” or perhaps it’s more like, “help me”. Janne Robberstad looks as if she’s about to get serious with that hair spray… look out Ty!

One of the fabulous things about how Art & Soul retreats has grown over the years, is the diversity of workshops and instructors that we now have. I mean — we’ve got practically everything you can think of! And this year we had so much more…

One thing we always have are students who love what they create and are so pleased with themselves! Being surrounded by hand made prints from Liz Kettle’s Natural Beauty class — well, it’s just too much fun! It’s quite common to walk into a classroom and see recently created works of art strewn about all over the place, and the students all abuzz.

And speaking of things strewn about — ummm, uh-oh, wait! Oops you weren’t supposed to see that! Pay no attention to the woman behind that door. Okay, since you already peeked… it’s my friend Jean… and she’s getting all the glorious items together to fill your goodie bags with. Weren’t they fabulous?

Sharyn Sowell’s Letterpress 101 was an amazing education in an age-old manual printing discipline — and such a lovely one at that. Look at all these cool letters and images — how can you decide what to play with? Isn’t it funny how a lot of us mixed-media artists are drawn to the type cases, block letters and images… and now we can take a class where we get to actually use them! Fascinating.

I don’t know how she does it, but Susan Schenk’s Collage Your Pet class always ends up with amazing pieces. Can’t you just see the soulful expression on this yellow lab’s face? Adorable!

And take a look at this radiant beauty created in Jessica Acosta’s Doll Collage workshop! Simply stunning and such great detail with the shading and addition of dimensional objects. Lovely, lovely layers!

We even had a class on loom weaving with Kat Allison! Looks theraputic and fun! Another classic American craft kept alive through the mixed media art retreat. Hooray for history!

And what have we here? A wig workshop by Lana Guerra! Students totally got Wigged Out on this one. Check out Greg Clark’s cool creation in pink. I bet you could learn a lot in this class and then apply it on a smaller scale for mixed media dolls! Now that’s exciting!

And let’s not forget about our Vendor Extravaganza — always a blast! All the mixed media art supplies you could dream of (and more) all in one place! Didn’t Mary Fisher have some delicious looking fabrics? Yum!!

And now that we’re all caught up, I’d really like to say thank you so much to all our instructors for their hard work, support and dedication to Art & Soul. You are a huge part of our succes — and not only that — you are a part of our family!

A big thanks to Patti Haltom of Stamp A Dee Do Da for bringing her store to the Portland event! She did a fabulous job gathering stuff for attendees!

The Embassy Hotel continues to be the best in the world. The staff is incredible and seems to remember every one of us and our individual needs. How lucky we are to have had our event with them for over 10 years!

And Marie. Woman of Steel. We love you!

So I hope to see some of you in Virginia Beach (our rooms have balconies on the water – Wowza!) or perhaps at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, NV. Until then my little mixed media mavens….

Glenny
xoxo

We are so excited to announce that the theme of next year’s Art & Soul Retreats will be….

Puttin On The Ritz!

And how about this amazing logo created by the very talented Lynne Perella! Simply fabulous!

This theme brings about all kinds of cool ideas for trades, opening night party fun, embellished accessories (like top hats and canes), and of course… some interesting thoughts for our 2012 “special alterable object”. While we begin plans for 2012, we invite you to put your thinking caps on and go to town on ways to expand on this motif!

We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Due to the rising costs of credit card processing, we are going to temporarily discontinue their use as a manner of payment for Art & Soul. We have decided to try this procedure rather than increasing the costs of the classes.

You will still be able to use Pay Pal.  For those who are not familiar with Pay Pal, it is very user friendly and easy to understand.  They allow you to use your credit card and/or bank account for funding.  So technically, if you are using a credit card for payment already, you only have to switch to a Pay Pal account.

We will also be implementing a system to allow you to pay by check, either in full or with payments.  This will take some time for the web master to program.  In the meantime, if you owe a balance and wish to pay by check, send the check to:

Art & Soul
30231 SE Wheeler Rd
Boring, OR 97009

We will credit your account manually.  The same is true if you wish to add a class and pay by check.  In that case, please email me the class info and then send the check.  We will add your class and hold the spot for one week allowing time for the check to arrive.

Thank you for your continued support of Art & Soul.  It is our goal to offer you the finest of retreat experiences, the best classes and instructors and ease of registration. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at Glenny@ArtAndSoulRetreat.com!

Debra Gilman and Tami Roth!

Yay! Hooray! Woohoo! They were drawn from the pool of correct guessers in our most recent contest — where we gave you a piece of an Art & Soul project, and had you tell us what class and instructor it was from. Debra and Tami will both receive a free class at Art & Soul. Ladies, we hope you enjoy your “prizes” and have tons of fun learning something new creatively.

Thanks to all of you who played our fun little game. Keep your eye out for more contests in the future! Ta-ta for now…

Contest #2

This contest is open to those who are  not currently registered for Art & Soul Portland 2011.  Shown is a partial photo of one of the class samples.  Visit the Portland section of our website to figure out which class and instructor it is and e-mail the answer to me at glenny@artandsoulretreat.com. (don’t list on FaceBook or this blog — you want to keep it a secret!)  I will put all correct answers into a drawing.  Two people will be selected and each will  receive a free class in Portland.   Hurry, the drawing will be September 15th.

So here is #2…

Please note that registration fees will be the responsibility of the winner. Good luck!

Ricë has even made a fun little video about her journey and the book — Destination Creativity: The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat. Check it out…

And don’t forget to order your copy now on Amazon!  Or you can pick up a copy in our office at the Portland event.  Rice will be there to autograph your copy Sunday – Tues.  You’ll be uplifted and inspired!

I know, I know! It seems like we just posted the 2012 Las Vegas classes for your perusal (because we did!) So hopefully, you’ve scoured your favorite workshops, looked through the talented list of instructors, and fallen in love with some of those example projects featuring so many amazingly creative pieces! And now it’s time to choose.

You’ll the information for the Vegas, June 14-18, 2012 event on our Art & Soul website now! So pick your lucky numbers, place your bets, and let those creative wheels start spinning… Woohoo!