Oriental Poppy

I finished the Oriental Poppy!

Mary and I saw the original painting by Peggy Harris at SDP convention in Tampa this past June. Outstanding! It was so beautiful that I wanted to paint it for myself.

Our Oriental Poppy class starts next week on Wed afternoon or Tue evening in Cary. If you would like to join us please let me know. The surface is a 17 - 18" round.

Scroll down for the rest of our schedule and photos of other upcoming projects.

Starting a New Year

This holiday season has been especially meaningful, taking time to spend with my family and friends, and even some time for myself. My bff Gail and her husband Leon/ my wood man came down for several days of fun visiting and recharging that close friendship provide. Then I was off to Charlotte and Salisbury for Christmas with both sides of our family. Each year I grow more thankful for time with my family and appreciate them more. This year again my presents for family came from my paintings.

I finished the portraits of my grand nieces so that I could give them to the girls parents who were "wowed" and especially appreciative of the portraits that I had painted from photos that my husband, Rick had taken.

I also finished my Father's portrait which I gave to him and my sister. His big grin was plenty thanks and my sister is looking forward to hanging the portrait at her house after Daddy is finished showing it to his friends.

Both of my nephew's wives are pregnant and due in Feb and March, so painting for them centered around the new baby's rooms.

Giving paintings that I have created is so much fun. I hope they don't get tired of my paintings any time soon.

And now I am back to working of our upcoming projects for Jan. at the studio and having lots of fun painting. Liz

Painting for 2009

From Artful Endeavors we wish you a wonderful Holiday Season filled with family, friend, and above all, Peace.

We look forward to painting with you in 2009!

Liz, Lynn, Carol, Dianne, and Nancy

Artful Endeavors News!

Join us for our New Year of Painting Party

Sun, Jan 4, 2009, 2p – 4p.

This is our open house time to get together after the holiday and get ready to paint for 2009. We’ll have paintings from our students exhibited and samples of upcoming winter class projects. You can pick up prep, buy supplies, see new products,

and visit with painting friends.

Bring your families, friends, and anyone who might be interested in starting to paint with us. Bring a snack to share and we’ll have a snacking good time.

We have a new blog! It’s all about our students’ wonderful paintings. Watch for blog updates! www.studentsartfulendeavors.blogspot.com.

2009 Winter Schedule With Liz Miller CDA

Mark your calendar now!

Tuesday 10am - 12:30p Open Class

Make up a missed class or work on your own project with assistance from Liz. New projects $24/wk

Jan 6 & 13 Chipmunk in a cup A Sherry Nelson design

Jan 20, 27 & 2/3 Country Quilts A Liz Miller design

Feb 10, 17, & 24 Paint your house Your design

Wednesday 10am - 12:30p

Jan 7, 14, & 21 Snow Bunny A Shelley Prior design

Jan 28, 2/4, & 11 Vase of Roses A Sue Pruitt design

Wednesday 2p – 4:30p

Jan 7, 14, & 21 Oriental Poppy A Peggy Harris design

Wednesday 6:30p - 9p

Jan 7, 14, & 21 Snow Bunny A Shelley Prior design

Jan 28, 2/4, 11, & 18 Winter Quiet A Dorothy Dent design

Cary Tuesday 6:15p - 8:30p

Jan 6, 13, & 20 Oriental Poppy A Peggy Harris design

Jan 27, 2/3, & 10 Vase of Roses A Sue Pruitt design

See Project Photos at www.artfulendeavors.blogspot.com

If you would like to help us plan our classes for 2009, be sure to be in our upcoming classes. We’ll be making our next choices soon!

Workshops

Fri Jan 16 10a – 12:30p or 6p – 8:30p

I’m looking for just the right project now!

Sat & Sun Jan 31 & Feb 1 Secret Garden.

It’s the wonderful Ronnie Bringle bunny design that Liz painted on the bench. Instructor Liz Miller

Register at least 1 week prior to class.

Fee due at registration.

Artful Endeavors Seminars for 2009

Ginger Edwards Seminar: Mar 13- 15, 2009 Registration is open! We are pleased once again to offer a great weekend of painting with Ginger Edwards. If you have painted with Ginger before you will know that she is a wealth of knowledge about decorative painting and such fun to host at a seminar. This year Ginger will teach us more of her wonderful flowers and a terrific new Tuscan design. She is planning to send project samples to us in mid Dec. Register now for a great seminar!

Ros Stallcup Seminar: July 20 – 26 Registration is open! Dec 1 we will open registration for single days for any remaining seats with balance due in full at registration. Ros will be painting entirely new designs for us this spring and they usually arrive at the studio sometime in April. But don’t wait till projects are in to secure your seat. We may be full.

Ronnie Bringle’s “Five Days in Focus” seminar: Be sure to register with Ronnie for her five day seminar held at Artful Endeavors, Aug 18 – 22, 2009. We’ll paint Ronnie’s outstanding “Welcome Friends” on a 20 x 24” framed canvas. You’ll get a little landscape experience plus all the blending techniques that Ronnie is known for in her still life set ups. Register at www.ronniebringle.com.

Kathie George Seminar: We had such a great time painting with Kathie in Sept that we have invited her to teach for us again next Nov 16, & 17! We’ll have more information for you later. Meanwhile, let us know if you would like more watercolors, batik, or mixed media.

Registration information will be posted on www.artfulendeavors.net

Basics In Decorative Painting

All you need is the desire to paint!

Our Basics course is designed for students with no painting experience OR for painters with experience but who are not familiar with our techniques.

Over a 5-week period, we paint and practice, learning basic techniques and art theory. Starting with unfinished wood, we learn general preparation, which can later be adapted to various surfaces. By the end of this class you will have completed a great painted project and will be prepared to continue with your decorative painting education.

Classes in the basics are limited to 6-10 students so that our teachers can provide individual attention.

We also offer ongoing classes since there is always more to learn.

Class Fee: $195 includes supply kit, paint, and brushes. Your choice of wood is purchased separately.

Beginning Basics Classes

5 week sessions

New session starting in Jan!

Day: 10a – 12:30p Or

Sept 24 Evening: 6:30p – 9p

Contact Liz to register at 919-847-4101.

919-847-4101

Register Now!

We have gift certificates! Tell your family and friends it’s just what you want.

Painting for 2009

We’ll paint this chilly snow bunny, a wonderful Shelley Prior design, in Jan on Weds and the cute Sherry Nelson chipmunk will be painted on Tue morning. Watch for the rest of the schedule to come out soon!

Be sure to mark your calendar for our New Year of Painting Party on Sun, Jan 4, 2p – 4p.

Bring a snack to share, your family, and friends.

Students in our classes will exhibit their painting for us.

Santas, Elves, and Kings

We're painting for the holidays. Santa's are always some of our favorite subjects. Here are some of the wonderful designs from Jo Sonja Jansen and Bobbie Takashima that we're enjoying this season.

We have more snow scenes, snowmen, and even some nonholiday projects coming up.
Join us for some painting fun.

Be sure to check out the wonderful new painting by our students on Students Artful Endeavors.

Explore your Creativity

My wonderfully creative friend, Gail is a wonderful writer. When she writes, you can almost visualize her thoughts. I have her permission to post an article she wrote on creativity that hit home with me. Here is Gail Schmidt. You can find more about Gail's creative thoughts, on line business, and on line classes at Shabby Cottage Studio.

A Fragment of Thought on Creativity Posted: 16 Oct 2008 10:47 AM CDT It has long been a belief of mine that each and every one of us is creative. And that the hardest thing is to convince people that yes they are creative...they just haven't given themselves a chance, or as many of us, are to hard on themselves. Sometimes we have a tendency to think that if something doesn't come easily or quickly...if we try our hand at something new and we "don't get it", on the first few tries, well then we're just not creative and can't do that. We give up, move on, all the while telling ourselves and others...oh I don't have a creative bone in my body. Sometimes this belief that you are not creative is more a matter of preconceived ideas of what is considered being "creative". It's interesting that children never have this fear. Watch them at play as they invent imaginary friends or invent games that only they know how to play. Hand them a box of crayons and a piece of paper. Soon they will be telling you a wonderful enthusiastic story about what their drawing is all about. Even if all you see are scribbles. I've said it before and I will continue to say it. Creativity is a mind-set. And attitude. More so than skill or talent. Creativity comes in many shapes and forms. When it comes to being creative so many of us, as we grow older, seem to lose our child like spontaneity and sense of fun. We become more concerned about our notions of, is it right or wrong, or feeling embarrassed or frustrated if we try something new and don't achieve perfection on the first few tries. Be gentle on yourself....if there is something you truly want to learn to do, don't give up on it after a few tries with the familiar, "Oh I don't have a creative bone in my body". Give yourself a chance. Embrace each mistake as a moment of learning. I do not remember where I heard this but many years ago I heard about spirit points. The conversation was about mistakes and perfection. A spirit point is a mistake purposely put into a piece of work to keep us humble and remind us that only God is perfect. Perfection is not the elimination of imperfection but the ability to learn to incorporate imperfection into our life. I know I myself am still learning this. Want to try something creative? Then set youself one rule on whatever you choose to attempt. No negativity. Allow youself to feel free to explore, to experiment, to make mistakes with no fear of ridicule or feelings of failure. Embrace your mistakes! :-) xoxo Gail

Forest Elf

Here is the Forest Elf, a Bobbi Takashima design that we'll paint on Nov 1. Register now!