END OF THE YEAR LUNCHEON PHOTOS

Click on the link to visit the facebook post of
Highland ARTISTS Luncheon...

Hope we can get together in the summer for a few "painting parties"

Blessings
Allison

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22948&id=1085234144&l=881424c9dc

We're BACK!

We began a NEW semester this week with 20 people now in the group!

For the upcoming weeks we will dig deeply into the book Saying Yes, Accepting God’s Amazing Invitation to Artists


Our leader, Melanie Morris adds a few comments with:
I’m excited about our studio time next week and think our focus on shells is a great start to the semester. Our books talks about how God was the first artist and there is certainly great artistry in the beauty of shells. I’m already thinking about what I’ll do. I can see a really great close-up of a shell that becomes an abstract painting– which would definitely be new for me. I also can see how shells would provide inspiration for an intricate pen and ink drawing or a loose and colorful collage from tissue paper or magazine photos. If you are new to painting, don’t worry because anything goes – you could even use food coloring to dye sand and create your shell with colored sand.
MELANIE


This weekend some of the artists in the group are heading South..for some creative time with toes in the sand- our SPRING RETREAT.

Check back with us next week as we draw on inspiration from the sea!

Blessings!

Allison

CREATIVE CALL ON SUMMER BREAK

I have been missing my artist friends....

We have not met since May....
just about the time things wind down for the summer we are all reflecting on the heat, families, outdoor time...

looking for new subject matter....

I have spent quite a bit more time in my studio as my children are with their father for five weeks this summer....

I recently interviewed an incredible artist from Dothan who sells her paintings nationwide for tens of thousands of dollars.

Her inspiring story will be in an upcoming issue of Southern Beauty...so I don't want to spoil the story...but I will say, I was moved by her dedication
and share with artists...

she does not wait for inspiration....or seek motivation...

she enters her studio at about 7-8 pm....
she begins working....painting....planning...
and she paints throughout the night...with no phones..no distractions...
until sunlight...

and then she sleeps til noon...

I didn't ask her WHEN she began this schedule as I feel certain it might have been AFTER her son was grown...but the fact is...

her painting is SERIOUS....
her time there is SCHEDULED....
and her family respects that time...

I was amazed too that she TAKES PRIDE IN THE FACT THAT HER PEAK CREATIVE TIME was at NIGHT..

how many of us creative people begin with an idea at 11 PM (my peak time...at least it USED to be before a 3 year old...:) )
or are awakened with a story or idea at 3 AM (what IS IT with that hour anyway?)

and we apologize..or go back to bed...with a song that dies there on our pillow...
because it seems too UNUSUAL!

I challenge you artists...to EMBRACE THE ARTIST...
slip to the studio...get a pen light....

don't let the genius get away....

SAVOR your UNIQUE gifts that come to you in the dark....
and pick a night with a full moon...
drag an easel outside and GO WITH IT....

Then next fall when we RE convene...

We will have made another revelation...
not only are WE ARTISTS...but we can come to appreciate WHEN IT IS THAT WE ARE AT
PEAK performance...

gotta go...I feel a painting brewing up inside!

Blessings and I miss you TONS!

Allison