EncaustiCamp 2012: finally, in my own words :)

 Collaboration. That's what life is presenting to me lately; opportunities to work and create with others to exponentially move forward. Banana chocolate chip bread is the latest investment opportunity :)

 I confiscated  Bridgette Guerzon-Mill's and Sue Stover's deliciously overripe bananas, drove them home in the stuffed-full car, and turned them into delicious bread just this morning. Quite the collaborative I'd say!

 Next year I have high hopes of achieving this level of bakerly talent! Bees and all mind you! Everything and anything bees, honey and beeswax is on the docket for 2013~

And I'm going to put Patrick on the task of creating a few of these buzzing beauties to mark the entrance to ECamp next year. I can't resist the fun! But as for this year; 2012!?~

The crowds gathered!

The instructors instructed....

The wine fermented....(hey! We were in the Willamette Valley after all! Pinot Noir country~)

The gallery space filled~!

 

The caterers catered...

The welcome goodie bags unwrapped~

And the infamous fountain shot happened once again :)

Nothing more to say. I am blessed. In love. trish.

It was once again an inexplicably amazing experience.  I hope each and every one of you with an inclining of interest will put in on their 'must do' list for 2013. It is going to be that good.

For more exposes on the experience, visit instructors blogs: 

Bridgette Guerzon-Mills contemplating the moon

Judy Wise art blog

MIA instructor this year, Crystal Neubauer's Other People's Flowers post in retrospective thought from last year

Jess Green and her Seek your Course blog

 as well as Michelle Belto and Sue Stover's sites as highlighted above and Sue Simpson's Earthtone Studios

EncaustiCamp more!

Another great EncaustiCamp 2012 sharing~!
 http://amandajolley.com/encausticamp-2012/comment-page-1/#comment-2457

ARtful Gathering blog hop!

Our Next Artist is Up for the Artful Gathering Blog Hop!

Celebrating Artful Gathering 2012 Online Art Retreat, 
Open for Registration!

Blog Hop your way for chance to win!

From June to August 2012, ArtfulGathering.com will be presenting TWO exciting semesters of premiere online video workshops offered by fabulous artists who are known nationally and internationally. We are all very excited to share out knowledge, skill, and creativity with you, and we hope that you will join us for this AMAZING annual online event.

Blog Hop with us for a chance to win a prizes from Jerry's Artarama!

Each week the faculty of Artful Gathering will be announcing a featured blog to visit.

You can hop along with us until the final destination blog is reached, and where ONE Grand Prize winner will be chosen at Random for a chance to win a $200.00 e-gift card from Jerry's Artarama!!!

Two Runner Up winners will also be chosen at random for a chance to win a $25.00 e-gift card from Jerrys.

Each week I will announce the next featured blog for you to visit, and there you will find a new secret word or words that you will need to collect along your way from blog to blog. Once you have collected all the words from each blog you visit, they will work out to say a very artsy phrase. Here are the rules:

1. For your chance to win, you must collect all the secret code words and submit them upon the final destination blog in May. A random drawing will be conducted from those contestants who have submitted the complete collection of secret words!
2. Three winners will be randomly drawn. One for the $200.00 e-card to Jerry's, and two runner's up for the 25.00 e-card to Jerrys.
   
   

Week by week we'll go from one blog to the next!

Remember to collect all the secret words. These words will work out to say a very artful phrase, and you'll need all the pieces to be eligible for the final prize drawings!

Please HOP over and visit the Amazing
Laura K. Aiken
(Pick Up the Next Secret Word)

http://www.laurakaiken.blogspot.com/

Latch on

Latch onto my paintbrush. Come along. It is that good. You are wanted that much.

I was listening to some morning inspiration a few days ago and the speaker told of a story she and her husband had been a party to in their home with two new puppies.
The story goes that one pup, when called to come in from the yard, would bound in responsively, but the second lingered and even seemed to ignore the calls. In frustration the first pup, waiting for the treat or scratch or cuddling it surely anticipated upon answering the beckoning call, returned to the lingering pup with a stick in its mouth. Once reaching the languish-er, him seeing the stick and surely anticipating fun, latched onto it. The first pup used this as a lead to draw the negligent pup into the fold and subsequently into the goodness to come inside. Not just once mind you; this happened over and over and over again to the point where the couple, in bafflement and wonder, realized this very smart, very delightful pup was fully intentional in its leading the second pup in the way.

Latch onto my paintbrush. Come along. It is that good. You are wanted that much. 

Allow me to gently, encouragingly, playfully lead the way. I'll throw in a dose of passion and delight, and offer up some amazing inspiration and community as well.
I promise this.
It is that good.
in love. trish.
www.encausticamp.com

stuff happens along the way~

I made a wish a few days ago. Just a little one; an off the cuff, 'wish I could have'- kind of wish.
It was sent out differently than it would've been just three years ago.
It was sent with intention~
with noteably, truly asking for and seeking after belief in the receipt of~

It was different.

What would've gone off as a longing
or a desire
or a craving
just a few years ago
now was sent as  a believed-for prayer~
an intentional request as part of an ongoing conversation I'd been having with God as I drove the brand-new-to-me streets of Phoenix on my way to ArtUnraveled.

I hear echoes of what would've been my own thoughts in this statement just a few short years ago: the scoffing, the muttering, the inability to accept or identify with this intangible, blind faith.
that's okay. I get that. I've been there. Quite frankly, I cannot believe I am not still there.

That in itself is a whole other story of God's amazing grace.

But I'm in this just little,
almost incedental
prayer answered right now.

I wanted flowers.

In between talking about the upcoming meet-the-artist event and getting to the hotel without finding myself lost in the 107 degree sun~I asked for the comfort of flowers.

I most often feel wasteful when I receive a bouquet; realizing they will be wilted and dead in a few short days of standing on my kitchen counter in a growing-stagnant vase of tap water~

but every so often I want to be that girly-girl and get flowers from her man :)

Plus, I was feeling a bit fragile-entering into this second to last 'big box' art retreat venue. After teaching now for over 10 years and making a living at it for the past two, I still begin in apprehension and doubt and a bit of fear.
Silly.
But I suppose, it keeps me on edge~
and that edge is a good place to be; it's alive~
      again, another story.....

Yet, this edge was a bit different. Peppered with more angst was this before-I-begin apprehension.

I'd determinted at the beginning of 2011 that this would be my last year for the big box; knowing that my spirit and direction was leaning into finding and living in a more meaningful place of connection and depth in instructing and inspiring. Venues where I could invest more deliberately into the individual creativity and connection of each participant rather than the hurried, mere three or six hour buffet of instruction.
These big box hold great value for introducing and enlivening participants to grow their seed of creativity; they hold a valuable and necessary place in the art and craft world. But I think I've had my run at them and there is a different path I am meant to begin to pursue~

So, I nosed-ahead into this second to last big box feeling a bit weary; in the waiting, in the anticipation, in the unknown thrill of risking and trusting~

And I wanted a feel-good warm fuzzy to diminish this rising apprehension.

So I conversed with God about how nice it would feel to be given flowers.

Nothing specific. No timeframe in mind. Just something beautiful and fragrant and given to me intentionally.
A little something that would make me feel appreciated. How silly again. To need to be felt appreciated~
how hard it is to write and admit to this need in this modern world of self sufficiency and independence!
Oh to be torn between wanting and standing strong :)
       Is there a woman who doesn't fight this dycotomy?!

I played the vision of it out as perhaps returning home and having John choose a bouquet of local buds for me as we strolled the farmers market the following Thursday.

Or even, (it could happen?!) my Patrick coming in from time roaming with friends and pushing forward a bundle of stems he'd plucked for me in his exploration~

I did not even fathom what was to come~

Making my usual stops when traveling-Trader Joes for essentials, hardware store for propane tank and shellac (TSA doesn't like to find these in my bags....), local grocery for vitamin water as I try to ween myself off of diet Pepsi....I was stopped by the gregarious, twinkly eyed greeter at the Fry's Marketplace.
I could mention here of how I had no intention of stopping in at Fry's; that I'd never been to this market before and truly had all I needed from the other stops.
But it was just across from Trader Joe's and I was intrigued; and had time to kill. So I made the extra stop.
Go ahead; scoff again-nothing happens for nothing :)

I thought only WalMart was known for these octegenarian guideposts-but alas the idea seems to have spread and upon departing he called out~
I ignored his first prompt of 'ma'am?' and kept walking with the crowd of other departing shoppers not really registering his focus on me
until the second, 'ma'am?'
     as I turned with several other bag toters
he reached forward with  a single red rose and said,
'can I give you a flower?'

Yes, I stood in dumbfounded, slack jawed awe.
I tear up even now in the days-later writing of the experience.

I'm certain he must've thought me a bit off; perhaps entirely off.

It was all I could do to not break down in tears of wonder and delight and hug this angel for God's gracious attention.

Just this simple. Just this rich. Just this good.

God does that. God did this.

He reached down into my little, mundane to do list, amidst all of the world's comings and goings, and connected me to another....
answered my little,
truly silly, prayer.

And the result was so much more.

Not just a flower in my water bottle to keep me company the week-long in Phoenix as I ticked off the near final days of these retreats
and grasp faithfully for the anticipation of the unknown redesign of my make-a-living life~

He gave me hope.
Gave me strength.
Gave me assurance.
I am on the right path. He is with me. I will not fail.

God does that. God did this.
You can think otherwise; that's free will-God has given that as well.

But I need no greater proof.
This small miracle is enough.

And yet, in anticipation, I await another~
Small miracle.
Because he is this good.
He promised this.
I choose to follow his will alone~and I win.

All the blessings and miracles and gifts he has at his disposal.
I win.

You can write it off an happenstance;
serendipity;
just a lucky day.
That would be easy to do and so acceptable in this world.

But I know better.
Exceedingly and abundantly~
Thank God; there is no other way.

And, if in this small desire of my heart,
think what he is working in the big spirit wishes that sing to me everyday!

Hang out with me for awhile;
I dare you.
See what God has working in me, and decide for yourself.

What've you got to lose?
in love. trish

EncaustiCamp 2011....

EncaustiCamp 2011 I bow to you :)

It occured to me, just this morning, why after two weeks I haven't been able to come to this blank white spaced blog window and write about EncaustiCamp.
I've tried! I've opened the 'new post' box no less than a dozen times, stared at it in earnest, then gone to a participants blog or an instructors musings and posted them instead....

ECamp 2011 was so above and beyond all my wildest dreams for it. I can't seem to wrap myself around the whole and put the experience into words that service as a nice bundle of thoughts, tied up with a beautiful ribbon and put away in a tight package.

It's not that I don't want to write about it, or that I am ill equipped to do so; I love to put my thoughts and emotions out here to share unabashedly! But with EncaustiCamp it's been different.
And this morning it dawned on me as to why.
I can't look back.
ECamp 2011 carried a weight and measure like nothing else I've ever done or been a part of. I compare it only to giving birth. The crazy, beyond-pain process of bringing new life into the world; only to get through the process and feel so deeply, so passionately, so emphatically filled by the power of love and connectedness that you will do it again; gladly and without apprehension of the still-lingering pain that is required in the bringing-forth process.
That's what it is like.
That's what the whole of EncaustiCamp was like for me.
That big. That amazing. That miraculous.

And I thought I was done at four children :)))

And I can't look back and summarize or compartmentalize what it was and how it felt in any sensical way. I can only let myself be carried on the tide of all of it and continue on to more creating and growing and building.

I think it's how it's meant to be.

When something this big, this substantial, this miraculous is born the thanksgiving, homage and respects-paying to it are best done in the looking forward.

In my case, in the doing it again; only better.

So that is what I do. What I've been doing since returning; actually since finishing the final moment~Looking forward to the next.

There is something bigger than just encaustic in it. There is something bigger than just sharing art. There is something bigger than just connecting and inspiring.
When I try to grasp it, it feels too big, too grandious for this one small human form
...so I pull back.

But, as long as there is this sense-of something so much bigger than 'just'- I will do it again.
As long as there is this inexplicable joy spent, I will do it again.
And as long as there is room for miraculous, yes even in encaustic, I will do it again.
As long as it's in me~
in love. trish
www.encausticamp.com

Musings on the coming of the second book~

As I anxiously anticipate the release of Encaustic Mixed Media next week, and  still digest and assimilate all that EncaustiCamp 2011 was and is, I feel compelled to revisit and edit the opening thoughts that you'll find in EMM. Thoughts to all the creatives out there-oh wait! That's all the world :)

If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. Latin proverb
You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind. Anonymous

I know this first hand; creativity takes courage. I almost let go of my creative calling; willfully thinking I needed to bury it to the call of the make-a-living world. Slowly I began to watch it die as financial health, societal expectations and ladder-climbing issues snuck in to fill the loss. Alas it would not die a dignified death.  With courage then unknown, I re-embraced this part of me with an irrevocable bear hug as the last glimmer of its spark nearly ran out!

Thank God circumstances took me down this different road and allowed me the courage and veracity to grab hold of my creative will with both hands and even at times, grip it viciously between gritted teeth~

Never letting go again, I am!

Creativity is the juice of the soul that keeps each and every one of us walking upright and inspired for another day. It is the conduit through which God keeps our hearts, minds and souls tuned in to all the power and glory this world has to offer. It is not just in those who title themselves, ‘artist’, ‘author’, ‘designer’ or ‘chef’. It is there for everyone; the mechanic, the engineer, the banker, caregiver, salesman and pizza deliverer. No one is exempt from this creative power in their life because it is an element of human existence in each of us. So take hold of your bit of it. Grab with both hands the dose allotted to you and make a difference in the world. Experience it and pass it on.

And, if your ‘creative’ is in the arts-in this passion for encaustic in particular- then thank you with a double dose! You and I share a link in this creative passion and I hope that, simply by indulging in the portion that is your call you have fed me, that I will be graced the opportunity to feed you well: A bountiful feast~In love. trish

my last sharing on ECamp! I promise :)

So much good stuff and so much to share! I can't seem to stop :) This is the last...maybe! as I compose my own thoughts and will get them here in the days to come~

  http://amberblueskies.blogspot.com/2011/07/she-is-friend-of-mine.html

Australia :)

http://prophet-of-bloom.blogspot.com/2011/07/hot-news.html
Have I mentioned, I'm going to Australia! ???? :)
in love. trish

A sharing blog :)

visit and enjoy! Just one of many posts on EncaustiCamp 2011 out there and how much fun we had :)
in love. trish
Crystal Neubauer

day three in its entirety!

Wow. I find myself, in the early hours of the morning after, busying my mind with 'to do's' of morning forward; unable to stop and look at, or feel, the emotions that are dancing around my brain. If I were to let them in just yes, in this oh so grateful, overwhelmed, serious lack of sleep body, the other instructors would find me prostrate, a pile of weeping goo on my dorm room floor for the sheer gratitude and thanks.
EncaustiCamp was amazing. Exceedingly and abundantly. I am here.
in love. trish

EncaustiCamp day 2 winds down!