A RETREAT, ART, FRIENDS, AND A TEACHER, ALL TREASURES

This past weekend was more than an art retreat for me.

It was three days that deeply touched my soul.

Officially, it was a K.C. Willis Art Retreat

held at Clark Mansion

in Taylor, Texas (east of Austin).

For me it was a weekend of renewal, validation,

new friends, an old friend, amazing art instruction and

laughter - straight from the gut.

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE

The piece above is my first of two that I made

during the retreat.

It measures about 16" x 20".

All it is lacking is the vintage rhinestone

under the photo on the cabinet card.

(I couldn't wait to show it to you so use your imagination)

Above you're looking at a close-up of the

baby picture of a little boy.

Of course, the boy in the baby picture

is the boy in the main photo.

A close-up of the quote I wrote for this piece.

The picture you're looking at above is my

second piece. I will be attaching it to a

16" x 20" black canvas before I hang it.

I'll also be adding large tea stained (cream) ball fringe

to the bottom and

a piece of vintage jewelry to the bottom left corner.

Do you see the "open top" hand stitched

"envelope" on the bottom right?

Inside of it, and peeking out, is a small

photo of the girl in the piece.

I'll be giving it a wash to create a ghostly hue.

The lady on the envelope? The little girl as an adult.

One of my new friends is Susan and I'm

almost positive this piece above is hers.

I do know one thing and that is that it isn't quite finished.

Susan is a delightful artist and a lot of fun.

The best part is that she lives in San Antonio!

I'm also pretty sure this piece is by Rita Blanks.

Don't trust my memory!

(not quite finished)

I KNOW who created this piece!

My new, darling friend,Robin Woodward.

She and I have been blogging friends for years

and one day I mentioned this retreat and suggested

that she might be interested.

She was, we met IRL, went shopping, were roommates,

table mates and she is now my dear, sweet friend.

She is absolutely darling and this piece

is my favorite! (Not completely finished)

Susan created the above piece and what makes it so

special is that the little girl on the pony IS SUSAN.

What a wonderful piece!

I absolutely adore not only this darling piece of art,

but, the artist, too!

I've known Rita Blanks for many years

and though I don't see her often enough,

I adore any time that I get to spend with her.

Isn't this piece the bomb??

Here we all are with one of our two pieces.

We had such a wonderful time and

we learned and had so much fun with our

precious teacher, K.C. Willis.

If you are ever in a position that you can take one of her

Internet courses (DVD) or attend one of her retreats,

you will be blessed, entertained and

you will learn so much that you will be so stinkin' happy that

you invested in her teaching. She's amazing!

The Clark Mansion is a delight!

You can find the very

fascinating facts of it by clicking on "Clark Mansion".

It is a private home owned by Sherry Clark and she

holds weddings to art retreats on the property,

so let me just say,

if you're looking for an amazing place

to do "something",

give her a call (512-365-6709)

There's Sherry waving from the amazing front porch.

The greeter stands next to a historical marker

at the entrance to the property.

A lovely front yard with lots of seating.

A perfect place to sit and drink

your morning cup of coffee.

An alcove under the grand staircase.

The mansion has only had two owners

and both have done all they could

to keep it's integrity.

You feel like you're in another era - fabulous!

Look at this inlaid wooden floor -

original to the house.

The wallpaper??

I was tempted to tear off a panel.

Seriously.

The chandelier in the front hall.

Yeah, original to the house.

I will always regret not taking my big suitcase.

The oak front doors and their lead glass windows.

Oh, mama.

The grand staircase is one of the first things

that you see when you enter the house.

That lamp at the base of the stairs?

I stayed away from it.

Can you imagine if you were the one to

fall into it and knock it off.......

The ballroom is where we 'held our retreat'.

Mine's bigger. Just sayin'.

The house even has a keyhole window! Shut up!!

A fainting chaise in the front room.

The amazing woodwork above the door(s).

I know that the buffet and

the dining room table & chairs

are originals to the house.

I fell in love with the glass swan centerpiece

on the dining room table.

The windows in Robin's and my room

were topped by stained glass.

The sun shined through every morning

and it was a sight to behold as

I was getting ready for the day.

One of my favorite things in the house

was the reading light attached to the

headboard of my king size bed.

This is a picture of my sweet friend, Robin,

and our fabulous teacher, K.C.

We all have battles to fight and everyday challenges and I'm no different.
I've had a rough time for about a year, even had a dear friend "destroy me"
(my words) a couple of weeks ago with words and attitude.
My point in sharing that with you is so that I can tell you this:
Always find time, find some way, to enjoy what makes you passionate.
And, find that one person that you can trust and don't keep those moments
that destroy you to yourself. You'll be much healthier mentally if you can just
talk to someone.

(Oh, and btw, he didn't destroy me - after I stopped hyperventilating and
immediately talked to my bff, Annette, about what had just happened,
I did what God would want all of us to do.
I forgave him in my heart and I pray for him every night.)

I am well. I've got my joy back!
God bless you all,
           Jan

MY LITTLE GIRL, BRAT

I woke up this morning and thought it was going to be just another day.

A day working on the Creepy Doll room, of doing laundry, of fiddling around in the studio, of playing fetch with Sister and spending time with my mom.
Then I got "the news".

Christmas morning 2010

It happens to all of us at least once in our life.

News that drops you to your knees.

It's happened to me more than once, but, this time was different.

It involved my "child". 

'Brat', as I've called her since she was a child, is our daughter "in name".

In fact, I made up an adoption decree, framed it, and gave it to her for Christmas this year.

We adore her.

I adore her and love her like one of my own children.

Heck, she is one of my children.

Though I had known her throughout her childhood,

it was when she was in high school and worked for me in my art studio

that I got to know her best and became more involved in her life.

Day before T.G., circa 2004

I even taught her how to make her first cherry pie.

She has recently become engaged to the most wonderful  young man, Will.

I love him and am so excited that he's marrying such a wonderful girl!

This morning was when everything in my world stopped.

Brat's sister, Taylor, called me for her.

Brat's a first year teacher/coach in Austin, Texas,

and on her way to work today the roads were very icy.

She lost control of her car on one of those icy roads.

She headed across the center line into oncoming traffic.

No one was hurt badly

except Brittany.

She has a lacerated liver

and has shattered her pelvis on the right side.

I've been on my knees all day in my head.

Praying, texting, praying, calling, praying, taking calls.

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

I trust you with everything in my life.

Most of all with my kids

and I know that you have Brittany in your loving hands.

I know that you're taking care of her

and will continue to do so.

But, oh, Jesus, can you please take care of me?

Can you please take care of all of us that love her?

My middle son, Blake, and Brat have been best friends

since high school.

Hardly a day goes by that they don't text each other.

Blake's a groomsman in her wedding.

And he drove to the hospital this afternoon

carrying his sleeping bag.

He's going to stay with her and sleep on the floor of her room.

I couldn't get there today.

Our roads are so icy.

No way I could make it to north Austin.

Tonight's supposed to be the coldest day of the year.

I hope to be able to go up on Friday and stay through Saturday.

I'll leave mom here to take care of Frank

and I'll sit with Brat and hold her hand and read to her

and tell her how much I love her.

And, all the while I'll be praying; continuing to pray.

Will you pray with me?

Please?

Brat

Did you notice that this post had photos and that they aren't sideways?

That you didn't have to go to Flickr to see the photos that went along with the post?

How about that?

I had a virus.

Yeah. And, I have a really good virus protector.

It snuck in kinda like a teenager getting home after curfew.

I was happy to pay the $75.00 it cost to get rid of it and my appendage back. *sigh*

Thanks for stickin' with me as I post oh, so sporadically.

I love y'all a lot,

Jan

A visit from my cousin. . .CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE DID??

"CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE DID??" ??
Oh, good grief.......Ummmm, let's think about that for a minute.......
what would we have been doing???...........
walking the pasture looking under rocks for rattlers?
cleaning out my flower beds without gloves so we can be sure and 'dig' into a grub with our fingers?
spending the days at Wal-Mart looking for photo ops?

If you guessed any of the above you would be wrong *and you don't know me very well*.
*okay, Wal-Mart's a possibility*
The correct answer would have been "SHOPPED".
Oh, yes, we shopped and I'm going to share with you the spoils of our days out AND introduce you to two of my favorite places.
Shall we begin??
Oh, yes, let's!!!

We started out in Fredericksburg which is a town that visitors to the Hill Country often make their place to stay - the shopping is amazing and, of course, can be a wee bit pricey because of the tourists, but it is fun to shop there! We started out with lunch and then went to the Rebecca Rather bakery, Rather Sweet, to buy a goodie.
*SIDE BAR: Rebecca has put out three cookbooks. I would HIGHLY recommend her first one for anyone that likes to bake as she has her desserts in there along with some of her most popular entrees. The cookbook is titled The Pastry Queen. You can buy it on Amazon and like Barnes and Noble.*

After we bought our goodies, I took them to a shop that I had been wanting to go to but was saving for my cousin's, Suzanne's, visit. It's off the Main Street which was wonderful; the prices were so good it was heaven. And, we had the whole place to ourselves because they were closed, but the sweet owner, Pam, let us descend upon her while she was working.

YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.

These chairs, of which she has in all colors, are made by a company called Torrans, http://www.torransmfgco.com/, and, from listening to Pam, are the best out there. Her prices are below retail and she ships. You should call her, you know you want to.

Very cool vintage jewelry and handmade jewelry all throughout the shop.

I fell in love with these spider back chairs! I left them there in case one of you wanted to purchase them.

Darling clothing. Mom bought a linen top and I think Suzanne bought a precious lime green raincoat.

Isn't this so cute?? Pillows thrown on a vintage couch. I love the way Pam has her shop put together.

Vintage belts! Boy howdy, some of these brought back memories.

This little fellow is holding up a rather large piece of ceramic. I think it's supposed to be a vase, but mom bought it for me (and the other one for Suzanne) because I wanted it for my studio for pencils, scissors....oh, you know...

Okay. So, I sat on this couch and held this vintage photo album several times trying to decide if I should spend the money (I knew Suzanne would be at the ranch for another day of shopping; I had to be smart with my money) for this wonderful old album. I'd decide that, no, of course not, what am I thinking??, and I'd get up and continue looking around. Then I'd be back on the couch holding that darn album. I knew I could do something wonderful with the cover and there were some wonderful picture frames inside that I could use in several pieces of art...NO! PUT IT DOWN....................so I did; and I walked away.

A shot of the frames inside the vintage album that I gave up.

A close-up *taken in horrible light* of one of the frames in the vintage photo album that I passed up. *sigh*

So, guess what! We get home and we're unloading our bags and my mother pulls out the album and hands it to me. I saw SHOCKED. I never saw her do it and never missed it on the couch. I was so touched that, well, I teared up a bit. And, you'll be seeing some of those single frames in my Etsy shop someday *soon, I hope*. Thanks, mom!!

Now, remember, if you're interested in some of those wonderful patio chairs, Pam ships and it's cheap, I mean, it's very inexpensive - the shipping, and so is the price on her chairs. WHOOP!!

The next and only other place we hit in Fredericksburg was a new antique mall.

Mom stayed in the car with her book (totally cheating) so Suzanne and I hit the mall. It wasn't too big so we didn't ditch my mother for so very long.

I found three things that I felt I must have and I'm going to show those to you now - you'll love them, no doubt.

I SIMPLY LOVE good cabinet cards (verses bad cabinet cards....good grief). Well, I do, and I know exactly what I'm going to do with this one. Loved it, had to have it. It's circa 1911 - WHOOP!!

Ask anyone and some of them will be able to tell you that I collect icky looking doll heads, naked babies and appendages. Love 'em. In fact, when I went to the fridge about thirty minutes ago to snag a diet Dr. Pepper, I found one of my larger ickier heads sitting in there.

My mom. She did it. Real funny, mom. (LOL)

So, when I saw this little darling whose eyes close when she lies down, I bought her for my collection. I'm doing an entire room (the work room) in an icky baby doll theme. It's going to be great!

A Baby Ben DeLuxe clock by Westclox. It's seen better days but I collect vintage clocks and sometimes this well worn look really speaks to me. I loved it. I bought it. (It was a really good price - I got the booth owner all the way down to $8.00 so I was happy to purchase it)

That's it for Fredericksburg......we got out of there after shopping at only two shops. I think that's a record.

Thursday we headed to Boerne (Texas, in case you're not familiar with where I live) which is also a wonderful town for shopping, heading first to a cafe for lunch. Then it was time to hit some shops.

Are you *mixed media artists* dyin'??? This picture shows the front and back of the most beautiful rose napkins I've ever seen. You'll see these and others in my Etsy shop.

This precious garland is going to be glittered and hung along the headboard in

the June Marie Guest Room.

Isn't she precious?

These darling glittered vines are something else I found in Boerne. I think they'll be great in collages!

And, the silver glittered flowers on collages - WHOOP!!

Yes, this glass fleur de les (did I spell that correctly? lol) dome really is this big - it's REALLY BIG! I bought it on sale.................wanna guess??..................for $8.50. Oh, yeah, it's my birthday, it's my birthday.....

I imagine you're probably sitting down by now if you started out reading this post standing up because it's so very long (and fascinating). And, that's good; that you're sitting down, because I'm going to tell you about the above short and wide glass dome. It is from France, has "Fromage" etched on the front and was $83.00 retail.

Oh, yeah. Eighty-three dollars. Somebody shoot me.

That price was because it is from France. And, if you're wondering how do I know the shopkeeper wasn't fibbing about that, I have shopped in her shop for years and she knows me and I really don't think she'd lie to me. I always carry the Tank's Uzi when I shop for just that reason.

It was 75% off and I got it for $20.00. (That's a good price even if the shopkeeper thought my uzi wasn't loaded)

Tired yet??

Well, I'm exhausted, but there's more!! And, it's really cool...............precious, actually, and it'll go quickly..............you'll see what I mean...............

There's an antique shop in Comfort, Texas, called Blackbird Antiques that my newest junky BFF, Anne, took me and my mother to a week ago and I didn't have my camera with me or I would have taken the pictures then and blogged about it in my last post.   ...........So-o-o-o mom and I took Suzanne there to introduce her to Molly and Hudson....

The front of Molly and Hudson's shop, Blackbird Antiques.

Meet Molly and Hudson. Are they too stinkin' cute?? They're in the shop every day, either lying on their beds (they're sitting on Hudson's bed in this picture)or sitting in their living room or.......

 

This is Molly and Hudson's living room.

Are you dyin' here? All of M. and H.'s living quarters are set up across from the cash register area so that their "master" (the shop owner:) won't be too far away from them! So, check out this living room and we'll move on...

Hmmmm, looks like M. and H. are planning on having some wine and an appetizer before supper.

It's a dog's life.

Get this, on command Hudson will jump from his bed to the L.R. couch.

What a hoot!

Everyone is welcome in Molly and Hudson's home! They love having guests, especially the ones that scratch them behind the ears.

This is Molly and Hudson's nightstand.

The whole city knows that every well heeled pug has an armoire.

Molly's dresser....every girl needs a place for her vintage hats and perfume bottles. **don't forget that you can click on the pics to enlarge them. the attention to detail in M. and H.'s "home away from home" is amazing"**

Their kitchen table. (psssst...do you see the slot machine on the table?? I don't know for sure and I wouldn't want to start any rumors, but I think maybe, just maybe, that one of the pugs has a gambling problem. that is so sad.)

A red convertible *just like mine:)* for afternoon drives in the country. Molly has to drive because Hudson got his driver's license taken away by "mama" for using the car as a chick magnet.

**and, so you don't have to ask, none of M. or H.'s things are for sale. They JUST had a garage sale.

Well, sweet friends, that's it. I think this was the longest post I've ever done. I promise not to do it again! I wonder how many of you made it to the end....leave a comment, 'K?, so I can see.

I think it would be interesting.

Or sad.

Or FUN!

Have a fabulous weekend and know that I simply adore you all!

xoxo,

. . .Jan

I forgot to mention how much fun my cousin, Suzanne is......she's a hoot. When we weren't eating, we were pretty much laughing. I recall one moment during her visit where we honestly couldn't catch our breath.

I could have died and it would have been my mom's fault - but that's another post!

Suzanne's the best and we so enjoyed her visit!