What can I really say? Many times during the workshop with my new found friends, lifetime friends I just know, I thought to myself ‘Life really can be this sweet, and is…right this minute.’ Monday night at dinner together we all just laughed until we cried, and then cried until we laughed, and I just looked around at every face glowing in the amber light of the room, closed my eyes, and tried with all my might to press it into my heart hard drive forever. File…Save. What an incredible weekend.
So of course we did lots of cool things, like…photography and stuff. I’m posting some lovelies here so you can see what we were up to, and some of the photographs we created together. Our first session was what I affectionately refer to as ‘the tank’ where our beautiful models are floating in a homemade shallow reflecting pool in gauzy vintage gowns. Next was the Haute Couture session with gowns made from simple yards of fabric, ribbon, and clamps, with lovely head wreaths fashioned by Arielle Langhorne from her discoveries after her walk in the woods! One of my favorite memories of the weekend was our paper coating party after our family dinner Sunday night. We all wore our PJ’s and gathered by relaxing red safelight and coated paper to create our antique process Van Dyke prints the following day. Paper, chemistry, PJ’s, safelight, and wine make a great party.
We began Monday with mixed media collage art class, and everyone had an absolute ball making a huge fantastic mess with paper, photograph, glue, paint, clipping, gold leaf, ink, beeswax, you name it. Wow, what a scene. Everyone made some wonderful art and discovered a lot about themselves they didn’t know…a fun and fancifree morning for everyone indeed. Next was our little studio in the woods session, my personal favorite. We set up a complete studio with nature as our inspiration, and created some beautiful figure studies. We spent the afternoon finishing our Van Dyke prints in the darkroom together, a wonderful discovery for everyone, amazing conversation…there is something about that safelight and a group of friends. It must be magic. It just makes me never forget people.
Our last session was the three graces, a celebration of women and the lovely antiquity of the beautiful inn and its robust history. We shared an incredible meal together afterwards, caught the night together, an unforgettable group hug, and an experience that is a ring on my tree forever.
Enjoy the portraits from the workshop and the candids below. A humble and heartfelt thank you to everyone, from my heart.
show hide 6 comments