Goldfinch and Thistle class

I finished the Goldfinch and Thistle design by Ronnie Bringle and it turned out even nicer than I expected.

I had a canister sitting around waiting for me to come up with just the perfect design, and I think this was it.

You can paint this design on your special surface that has been waiting for your inspiration or choose from our unique choice at Artful Endeavors. Wouldn't this look striking on one side of a mirror frame with an oval mirror on the other side? Or, there is a tin pocket just the correct size, or that little square stool would be just right! Such a versatile design.

This class starts on July 16, 10a - 12:30p and finishes on July 30, 10a - 3p. Register now!

Society of Decorative Painting Convention

Come into the studio to see all the fun products, packets, and paints that I brought back from convention. We had a great time and came back with lots of inspiration. It was wonderful to see everyone that I only get to see at convention.

I talked with Ros Stallcup, Ronnie Bringle, Ginger Edwards, Trudy Beard, Peggy Harris, Gretchen Cagle, Andy Jones, Doxie Keller, Rebecca Baer, and many more inspiring artists.

Mary and I took some interesting classes at convention. We enjoyed painting a couple of cute and fluffy ducklings with Lydia Steeves who is a delightful person and excellent teacher and artist. We’ve painted her designs before and I wanted to experience her teaching. I was not disappointed.

We painted a fun oil landscape with Cheri Rol, a beautiful painter, great teacher, and nice person. And attended an audit with Trudy Beard, awesome, and Bobbi Takashima, wonderful artist. I brought back more of Trudy’s wonderful packets for us to paint.

We were able to experience more painting with the Jansen Traditions Global Blending. Wonderful paints. And I enjoyed meeting and painting with Sue Pruitt, Traditions Artist.

DecoArt has some wonderful new texture products that we’ll be using in upcoming designs. We saw outstanding crackle texture, that’s one step to crackle, a terra cotta texture, a glass texture, and Fierro texture which makes a great sparkly wrought iron. I can’t wait to do some designing with these new products. DecoArt has also developed new improved enamel paint for glass painting. Check out the DecoArt web site for more product information.

Mary and I enjoyed the week together and we’re still friends. We’re looking forward to our next excursion. Wonder what that will be.

Liz

Register For Upcoming Summer Classes

Summer is here and we’re ready for summer painting with special classes and a varied schedule. We’ve found lots of great new projects to create. Check out our flexible summer schedule. Notice that some of our classes run morning and afternoon so that you can get more painting in during one day and save gas. If you missed a class earlier in the year, check with me to see if you can paint it this summer.

Watch for more fun decorative painting classes coming up in Aug.

You won't want to miss this Goldfish Beauty, a Peggy Harris design, that we'll paint on Friday, July 18 in a 10a - 3p class. Such fun! Register now.

Tuesday 10am - 12:30p Open Class

Make up a missed class or work on your own project with assistance from Liz.

Wednesday 10am - 12:30p
July 2, & 9 Fuchsia on Faux Stained Glass, Johanne Marcotte design. Scroll down to see the photo. We learn lots of exciting techniques to make this wood piece look just like real stained glass.

7/16 10a- 12:30p & 7/30 10a – 3p Ronnie Bringle's Goldfinch & Thistles. I'm working on this one now. I 'll post the picture as soon as it's finished.

Starting Aug 20 Ros’ beach window

Wednesday 1:30p - 4p

Aug 20, 27, 9/3 10, &17 Nativity from a choice of designs. We couldn't all decide on the same design from our variety of interesting choices. Come by to see the options.

Wednesday 6:30p - 9p

June 25, 7/2, 9, 16 & 30 Paris Grocery by Linda Locke. If you missed this one before, be sure to contact me to see about joining the class.

Cary Tuesday 6:15p - 8:30p

July 15 & 29 Peggy Harris' Cat in gold fish bowl. Such a delightful design.

Aug 19, 26, & Sept 2 Tiger bench. Striking! We love this design by Glenice Moore.

No classes Aug 1 - 17

Santa in July

We’re painting Ronnie Bringle's Big Fat Santa on July 12, 9am – 5p. It’s a definite. Liz is teaching this wonderful dry brushed design.

We’ll get the Santa with his bag and list painted with maybe just a little finishing up to do on your own. I’ll tell you how I painted the trim and border. It will be a full day of painting.

I'll have the prep and pattern ready for you as soon as you are registered. Contact me at Artful Endeavors to register. You can paint him on anything you would like.

Santa and I hope you can join us for the day. It’ll be a cool way to spend a hot summer day.

Stained Glass Fuchsia

No I didn't paint on stained glass. It's painted on wood to look like stained glass. This wonderful technique and design is from a Johanne Marcotte design.

The class with Liz starts July 2, 10am for 2 weeks. Registration is open now.

Another Wonderful Portrait

Yoko has been painting this portrait of her son in our Tue morning open class and has just finished. What a wonderful painting she has created.

Yoko Nishiguchi

A Cutie

This is not a painting, yet.
We had a wonderful time at the beach this year on our vacation. It was Maddy's (my grand niece) first beach trip, first time in the ocean. She thought the sand tasted strange and the cold water kept coming up onto her. Not impressed. She liked her little swimming pool much better and the toys tasted great. Can you tell that she is at the stage where everything goes into her mouth?
When her Mom took her down to the beach for the first time, there were 4 of us following close behind with our cameras taking photo of her every move. I felt like a paparazzi.

Cool Summer Give Away!

Every time you come into the studio between June 21, first day of summer, and Aug 31, you can enter your name for our drawing which will be held Sept 2, 2008.

When you register for a class you can enter your name 4 times!

The prize is a painting

by Liz Miller CDA

Winter Sleigh Ride

A Note From Bernice

Hi Liz,

I wanted to let you know how much fun your monthly Friday classes are to attend. Learning to use different elements with our painting is definitely inspiring and provides a jumping off point to try something new and/or different.

The butterfly card this morning was wonderful. Everyone chose different color combinations and all looked amazing.

Also, the recent batik class and portrait class was great. While I enjoy all the projects we do, it is important (for me) to step outside of my comfort zone and attempt more.

Thanks for being such a wonderful and patient teacher.

I certainly would recommend and encourage any of your students who have the opportunity and time, to try these different classes.

Being able to finish the project in a couple of hours is also a plus!

Thanks,Bernice

Girl's Night Out!

We had a fun time with our Girl's Night Out and created a wonderful butterfly card. We also had a group creating the card in the morning for those who couldn't make it Fri evening. It was exciting to see all the different variations of the card that our painters produced. Such creativity!

Be sure to click on the photo to see a larger version.