Summer and Fall Retreats

I know it has been some time since I last posted, but I have truly been crazy busy! I wanted to let you in on what I have been up to this summer and what my plans are for the fall. If you are like me you want to share as much time with friends and create as much art as possible. I have found that teaching at retreats this summer has been a wonderful experience and accomplishes both for me.

It all began with the Art Retreat at Glenora Wine Cellars this May. Sherri Welser hosted a lovely art retreat. I was just one of the instructors invited there to teach. We had a great time touring the winery, sharing creative time together and relaxing over wonderful meals in the picturesque Seneca Lake Wine Trail.

Students and teachers showing off their art!

In July Kelly Diemond and I hosted an Art Exchange Retreat at Wellnesste Lodge in Taberg, NY where we shared art processes with 6 other artists. We took hikes, sat by the fire, swam in the river and communed with nature.

Here is a group of us watching an art Demo by Martha Perkins.

After these experiences I can tell you that it is wonderful to connect online using social media....I have some of the most supportive friends in that realm,but what I have noticed is that we all need human connection and to be able to get to meet my Internet friends in person is a fantastic, energizing, restorative and spiritual thing. It is hard to even put into words how these types of retreats feed your soul on so many levels!

These connections I have made are like no others. These people I have met and shared my feelings and creative processes with are special souls who will travel in my heart and forever change the way I connect.

I am on a path to continue organizing and participating in these retreats. I am very excited to let you know that Registration is open for the Art Retreat at The Lake which is going to be held in Lake Chautauqua, NY. The dates are September 17-19, 2014. I will be teaching along with Cathy Strater. This will be a great opportunity to recharge, re-align your mind body and spirit.

Learn how to make mono prints with the gelli plate.

Create some beautiful hammered metal earrings!

Learn mixed media painting techniques from Cathy Strate. 

We can't wait to create with you!

Retreats and Workshops

I had the pleasure of teaching a beading class at the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts, located in Little Falls, NY this past weekend.  I taught my students how to stitch seed beads into a lovely herringbone bracelet.
Now most of them did not finish their bracelets during our class, but I did receive a sweet email from one of the students showing me a picture of her finished bracelet. She was so excited that she was able to connect with others and learn a new creative skill....best of all she created her very own bracelet!


After seeing her enthusiasm it made a full circle and pushed me to be enthusiastic as well. I think continuing to learn something new is a great way to keep our mind, body and spirit alive. I know that I learn something new just from teaching others. I am currently taking an art class to give me some new skills and reinvigorate my own creative spirit.
So here are some upcoming opportunities for you to consider.
I am teaching 3 more classes  at the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts and you can see the schedule for them by clicking this link. www.shannoncrandall.com/Workshops.html


You will also see 2 Retreats that I am teaching at this May and July along side some other fabulous artists/teachers. I have provided the links for these. We would love to share that creative energy with you!
Art Retreat NEW WildHeart Art ~ArtWine Art Retreat ~May 21st-23rd 2014!!
Join us for this unique opportunity to enjoy art~ wine and beautiful friends! Full Details on the blog below and registration ( Early Bird and Payment plans available!) at www.indigoearth.artfire.com

http://indigoearth-indigoearth.blogspot.com/2013/11/artwine-art-retreat-may-21st-may-23rd.html

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New Workshops and Creative Retreats   2014

For more details about the workshops and retreats you can also go to www.shannoncrandall.com
If you have any questions please leave a comment!

Balancing Act

Life is full of many opportunities and daily tasks that need to get done, but there are only so many hours in a day!  My mind spins and twirls with all the ideas of things that I want to try, that I want to revisit and the things that I have to get done like doing the laundry, making dinner paying the bills.....well you get the idea people.
Balance seems to be the hardest achievement anyone can accomplish in any profession, but lets get serious here, when you are creative and that is what you live and breathe, it can be a challenge to stay on track on any given day.  I am most definitely attracted to any project that will fulfill my need for color, working with my hands, using my imagination and following my own rules!  So you may ask yourself how do I keep on track to get all of the left brained business stuff done that needs to happen for my creative business to be successful.
 Well in an attempt to answer that question, I will give you my tips for making the most of each and everyday.  I know that for me, the sooner I get into my studio the better, so I usually plan to spend the first two hours of my morning on the computer updating my bookkeeping, my social media, my website and any other computer related work.  I also am a list maker. The minute I have a list my instincts are to get those tasks done so that I can have the pleasure of crossing them off my list. For me the scratched off list is such a wonderful thing to see, it makes me feel as though I have accomplished something. And yes there are many lists that I make that don't get completed in one day....so no pressure. I know that if it is a long list then I can give myself a couple of days to get it done.

I actually use my creative process as my reward for completing my other tasks. Once I figured out that this was the best motivator for me, I became more organized and just want to get all of that boring left brained work out of the way. This is how I began to achieve more balance in my life. How ever it works for you.....implement a system that lights the way to your success.

Let me know what works for you!

Recap of the Season

Good morning everyone! It is a bit rainy today and as I am sitting here typing I realize just as the weather and seasons are changing, my focus and my goals are changing as well. After a very successful show season this summer, my focus will now be on the Gallery Co-op where I sell my work and creating workshops.
Before I go any further into this conversation though, I must thank all of my family and friends for their support this year! I couldn't have done it with out you guys! As many of you know creating is only a small part of doing Art Shows. The planning of.... and setting up and tearing down of a booth is both physically and mentally tiring at times. I am most grateful for the hard work my parents and husband put in every year to help me do these shows......and in the end it is always worth the effort.

So, since I haven't written a blog post in quite some time I thought I would just give you a little recap of what I did this summer and what I will be working on this fall.
I showed my artwork and jewelry at 3 local shows this summer. The line up started at the Syracuse Arts and Crafts Festival. Now this is a great show centered around Columbus Circle in downtown Syracuse, NY. It is family friendly and features about 260 fine artists from around the country. I am proud to be juried into this show since I am a native of Syracuse.

                                    Above are a few of the paintings I sold in Syracuse. Funny how I remember the shows by which paintings I sold.

The next show I did this summer was the Clinton Music and Art Festival located in Clinton , NY. This is a sweet little one day show that happens to be held in the same town where Artisans' Corner is located. Artisans' Corner is the gallery where I sell my work. As a one day show it is a bit rough with the setup and tear down, but again the response I get from customers is overwhelming there and well worth the hard work. Below are a few of the paintings I sold in Clinton.

 

 

 

 

My last show of the Season is Oneida Craft Days. It is located in my home town of Oneida, NY. It is a two day show and is run by the Madison County Historical Society, which I am a member of. The tents are setup on the lawn of the one of the earliest Mansions built in Oneida. It is the home of the Historical Society and is right in the heart of the South side of Oneida. Oneida really supported me this year....I sold 8 paintings at this last show bringing my total to 32 paintings sold since this all began in July. A glimpse of some of the paintings I sold in Oneida.

 

 

 

 

Dreams can come true if you work hard and share your joy with others!
Now as I said I will be focusing on creating new artwork and jewelry for Artisans' Corner this fall as well as developing new workshops. I will be teaching a workshop in May of 2014 here in upstate NY on the Seneca Wine Trail with Sherri Welser. I will have more details soon! Remember to share your joy with others!

Have Cake!

It is funny how I have been wanting to paint foods that I can no longer eat due to food allergies. My most recent grouping includes coffee, cupcakes and a big birthday cake! I have fond memories of eating and drinking these foods and beverages and decided that if I couldn't eat them myself I could still paint them. And hey by the way they are calorie free, they never get stale and I don't have to feel guilty by just looking at them. This was a huge change in my life and I had to basically relearn how to cook and feed myself all over again because all of the rules for me had changed. I had to eliminate all grain, almost all dairy, caffeine, sugar, alcohol and vinegar or fermented foods. I laugh because most people say what's left? I eat a lot of meat, veggies, nuts and seeds and a small amount of fruit. Don't feel sorry for me, it is something I have learned to live with and I feel much better eliminating all those things from my diet, but most importantly it taught me that I could make drastic changes and survive well!

Now this scenario can be connected to most things that happen in our lives. We have all had to adapt and change as things move forward and develop. I have found strength in challenging situations and even though it may not be painless to go through, I will not let detours stop me from going forward. Don't let your road blocks shut down your dreams. I have used this philosophy in all that I do....and I have had many road blocks along the way. It just forces me to seek out other solutions and to create multiple plans of action to get to where I need to go. I have learned many new skills and adopted new behaviors from these detours and gained in so many ways personally, I can't even count them all.

Don't let the fear of change stop you! Fight back by learning some new tricks, you will be proud of yourself and you will continue to grow personally and professionally. As I say to people Have your Cake in whatever form that might be!

Re-connect

  It does my heart, mind and body good to get out and surround myself with creative spirits who want to learn and make things with their hands. I Co- taught a felted bead making jewelry class this weekend with Tony Galbraith, who is a local wool felting artist and weaver. We spent the last two days outside in Tony's back yard talking, felting, beading and connecting with nature and each other. No cell phones, no computers just our materials, imaginations and creativity. It was just what I needed after a busy week!
So take a look at our fun projects we made!

Some of the felted beads.....

Earrrings made with seed beads and felted beads....

This was a two day process.....Tony taught us how to make the wool beads on Friday.  They had to dry overnight! Saturday we embellished the felted beads and I taught everyone how to combine the felted beads with seed beads, gemstones and wire to create the beautiful earrings and bracelets you see pictured! It was a match made in heaven and as you can see the jewelry turned out wonderful.
Collaborating in this way to teach workshops is fun and really gives the students exposure to more than one technique during the workshop. I would have to say that two heads are better than one and I really enjoyed working with Tony! We are currently planning some new workshops that involve seed beading techniques and felting. We will both be posting a schedule a soon as we have all the details! So, if this looks like fun you'll get another chance to sign up for a workshop!

Painting Class

I taught my first Mixed Media Painting Workshop this Saturday and I wanted to share some of the highlights with you.
Although the weather wasn't as nice as it could have been, we still enjoyed being outside and in my garage. I pulled out all of the stuff I love to create with which included paint, paper, water, stencils a plethora of marking tools (rubber stamps, cardboard, combs, egg cartons, paper towel tubes, you get the idea ) ......we even used spray paint! It was an exploration of sorts that was only limited by each person's imagination.

Paintings in progress........

 

Lots of color and markings were made!

We had fun discovering the images that emerged as we journeyed through our process of layering. It was apparent as we moved through the different stages of our work that more than just painting was occurring.....it was quite obvious that whatever we were currently facing in our own lives was being channeled onto our canvases. Some of us had a difficult time letting go and covering up parts of the canvas which impeded moving forward..... while others discovered they had created self portraits. This was a great creative therapy session and after teaching this first session I am planning a second one!

Sometimes you have to get messy to wade through what is stopping you from moving forward in your life. I am a big believer in doing. I am at heart a true "maker" and mixed media art is a great vehicle to use to get that flow going forward.
 I feel happy and rejuvenated from holding this class and I think I learned just as much from my students as they did from me yesterday. You can't beat face to face communication....there is no substitute, and I think as a society we are on the computer so much that we have become very disconnected.
It is time to reconnect with yourself and others and taking art classes is a great way to do that.

Now these paintings I have shown here are all still in the process of being created....they are still evolving and emerging just as we are all still growing, learning and re-connecting!

I want to thank Kelly Diemond and Lorene Boulter for attending my first workshop. You ladies are truly inspiring and I admire your courage to create a life worth living!