In celebration of Amy's stay, we held our very own "ArtFest" in the Northern Plains, featuring ourselves as our own workshop leaders, the cuisine of Chez Marron and of the environs (frozen custard, Marillen Knoedeln at home, chocolate-covered black licorice caramel from Wittman's, etc.), and excursions to exotic places (Gimli's Icelandic Festival in Canada, Home of Economy & the Surplus Supply tool haven in Grand Forks). More details to come. Back to the workshops, Day 1 we tried out mixed media collages on 16 x 20" canvas. This went fairly smoothly, with steady progress throughout the day. Here's my effort (Amy, let me know if I may post yours). I used the art projector Ted gave Sequoia to sketch out our faces from different photos.
Workshop Day 2 was a greater challenge. This was encaustic mixed media collage, again on canvas. While the melted beeswax gave off a relaxing smell, it was a real learning experience to work with hot wax, irons, figuring out colors and layers of papers, bits of cloth, etc. We worked well into the night and the next morning til we got satisfactory results. I used an obsolete overhead projector and a transparency of a photo of Sequoia to sketch the base, but somehow the image isn't quite her. I like it anyway.
Next we tried paper marbling. We learned lots about the magic of combing through paints to get the feathery patterns, and that we need alum, the right paints and the right balance of gall to pigment and water to get better results. This is a definite area to continue exploring... 
Finally, Workshop 4 was precious metal clay charms. We made molds of buttons, necklaces and rubber stamps or made impressions directly into the metal clay, then used a torch to fire them off. The results are a handful each of solid silver charms. What alchemy! My pictures are all blurry so let's see what Amy has.
Well I think alchemy sums it all up - we started with vague understandings of how to convert basic ingredients into beautiful expressions of our creativity. We really stretched ourselves to work on larger scales than before, and to try out many new techniques. I had a terrific time struggling with and enjoying (to various degrees) the processes, and am totally psyched with the results.
On our last day, yesterday, we took a cue from Sequoia's art camps, where on the last day they have an elaborate celebration with family and friends. We staged our own gallery opening at the Chestnut Studio. You can see the VIP passes we wear :-)
It was very sad to see Amy go. What a treasure it was to have the time together, and what wonderful reminders we'll have around us of her stay.
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