Tuesday, November 17, 2009

back from the retreat....

i am waiting for photos to show up from the other retreat participants so that i can post them here.
i am talking about the WCA (women's caucus for art) artist retreat last weekend. i went with my older daughter, brooke. we drove up on saturday night (because i had a swim meet to attend saturday - my youngest daughter swam).
anyway, brooke and i drove up. we were late, we were lost- there was fog or perhaps it was a low cloud because we were very high up on the mountain driving around. we aren't sure and it was eerily dark out. so we were 45 minutes late. or i thought we were late-- turned out we were not late at all. stressed for nothing. i was to be there for an after dinner "glam paintover" demo in the cabin's main room. but it was fine. turned out it wasn't to start until about 7:30 when all the ladies got back from the dining hall and settled in to the main cabin's large room with a toasty crackling fire and wine for all.
my demo included a few juicy secrets as i was talking while drinking. oh dear. aw well, everyone had fun. we all laughed.

so now i am going to admit this. i was not looking forward to sleeping away from home, especially when i was told to bring sleeping bag. i had half way planned to come home that night after my demonstration, BUT, the cabin was newly made, sparkling clean, the beds were built into the walls and each wide enough for two people. there were 6 beds to each room. we only had four people in our room. brooke and me and 2 others, jamie and ellie. brooke had bought me a sleeping bag so sweet of her. it was actually pretty soft. i was worried it was going to be made of nylon and all noisy like a taffeta skirt. but it was made of soft fabric. modern times.
we all talked and laughed until bout 2 a.m. (don't worry the sleepers were far enough away- we didn't bother them and they didn't hear us). then we all woke up with headaches from the altitude or perhaps the wine and late night chatter. it was a total pajama party. an aspirin each in the morning saved us.
then we laughed and laughed everyone in such great spirits. many tried their hand at the glam paintover in the morning. their work was excellent. i think the relaxed atmosphere helped everyone produce good work.

the food was awesome, organic and made from what is grown on the grounds. very rustic and heavenly.

so, basically brooke and i didn't want to come home. i mean we barely got there. we envisioned ourselves standing at the door as everyone left, waving goodbye, and saying see you next year, then turning our attention to organic gardening and living the camper person's life. but we didn't, we left too saying all the way home, wow, that was fun and i'm so glad we went. see, the night before when were were lost on our drive up and i was seeing ghosts only the dark deserted highway we seriously thought of turning around and speeding home. or maybe turning into a nice motel that had a bar. but we braved it and should be honored a girl scout badge of some sort.
********
i saw the art that everyone had done all day. the encaustics workshop produced some amazing work and the portraiture class looked as though everyone had taken portraiture before. but they hadn't. not everyone anyway. there were (free) donated paints, paintbrushes, supports and many other materials. all this, including workshops and meals (friday afternoon to sunday breakfast) was included in the $135 price. can't beat it. so i hope to see you there next year. we had 17 participants.

7 comments:

Davielle aka Princess Magpie said...

Lisa, I have heard fantastic things about Camp Stevens, and THIS sort of retreat there would be perfect. was it only a one-night sleepover, then? did everyone arrive on Saturday morning? or did they arrive Friday night? I'd LOVE to attend one up there next year. I'll seek their website and try to get signed on for news & updates. THANKS for the post, and I really like (love) the image you posted with this ... post. -- Davi

Lisa Bebi said...

the retreat started friday afternoon. friday evening was a workshop about inner being of some sort. wish i had been there. then 2 workshops on saturday, plus my demo. i can tell you no one wanted to leave.

Unknown said...

it was so awesome - I would love to go back!

Lisa Bebi said...

brooke does carlos know you have this "brookeismuchsmarterthancarlos" user name?

Jaime Lyerly said...

Yes, I am curious if that is her user name too! The two of you together are a riot.

Lisa, I thought your demo was part art lesson, part stand up comedy routine. Even though we were all tired, you keep us going with some great information.

I still haven't uploaded my pictures of retreat or looked at my workshop surveys to find out what people REALLY thought of it. I was so moved by Ellie's workshop on Friday night that I am going to the one she is having in Vista on Saturday. So another weekend of neglecting homework for art....

Jaime

Lisa Bebi said...

jaime i personally think that that is the healthiest way to go about school work - neglect it for art.

Unknown said...

Oh, I forgot I did that! I think that I actually changed it to this because he lost a bet a couple of years back and I wanted to needle him... I can't remember. But hahaha! It's funny!

Search This Blog