Hello Friends,
It has been a long while since I’ve written, it has been a rather busy summer. Still, some of the most treasured and sacred time I have teaching and sharing is during our small workshops each year. I look forward to them with such energy and spirit, and we are always a bit sad when they are over.
Our Wayside Inn workshop just a couple of weeks ago was no different, what a special group of people, and an absolutely beautiful weekend. The Wayside Inn is the country’s oldest operating inn, and is a dreamy place to spend a few summery days, brimming with history, ghost stories, foggy mornings, candlelit evenings, flowery gardens and wonderful wistful nature all around. We all met each other in a cozy room upstairs, had a fanciful morning of conversation and contemplation, took a few deep breaths, and set in for a relaxing few days. After a lovely lunch together we gathered vines and flowers and adorned our models and set for our first session. We costumed, adorned, and photographed beautiful women all afternoon, in a shallow pool of water, on a soaked linen background, and later in romantic chantilly lace dresses fashioned from pieces of fabric, ribbon, and a few pins. We had a wonderful day on the lawn, making new friends, bathing in the sun, and making beautiful images. Later in the evening we shared a family style dinner around a charming old New England table, chatting, laughing, truly relaxing and sinking into the loveliness of the day. After dinner we all coated paper by safelight in our PJ’s for Van Dyke printing the following afternoon. There is just something magical about that safelight, there is nothing quite like it. We all made safelight friends, and then off to bed. Some of us slept better than others…some of us had the room next door to the ghost.
The next morning began with a special studio session with one of my favorite people, the beautiful and mysterious Bonnie Hutchison, adorned in a handmade floral wreath and my oldest, most beautiful vintage gown. We then had an absolutely splendid afternoon in the tent for art class, where we played with dye transfers, altered inks, acrylic transfers and collage, and best of all, encaustic collage. We made an incredible mess and felt like children, everyone was free to experiment, play, and create. It was a glorious afternoon, and an equally lovely evening, as we photographed two beautiful women in white gauzy gowns at dusk in the woods and fields and windy nature paths across the way. We all gathered inside again for another cozy meal together after our beautiful day, and then gathered again together upstairs where we talked and laughed until we cried for hours.
I am so grateful for our new found kindred spirits, for all of your inspiring stories, your encouragement, and the inspiration you have given us. We hope were able to find as much in us as we did in you.
Enjoy this selection of images from the workshop I captured of our incredible models. Thank you again to everyone for such a memorable and heartfelt weekend.
Signing off for now, I’ll be writing about our Santa Fe workshop very soon!
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