Whoa...Montana!

I am back from Montana.I still can't believe what an amazing experience it was!

Sara Mast and I came up with the concept "Fuse" for our workshop last year.  Our vision of how it would unfold came true.

It is not until you are in big sky country that you get  it. There is an openness and connectedness to the earth and the cosmos that I never felt before.

Sara opened her house and studio for 4 days to myself and 3  students. It was a small workshop  that created huge energy...so much that the rains and rainbows came almost every night.

We spent the first day going over  materials, health and safety practices with both encaustic and oil along with basic technical information. The second day  things heated up. Sara and I "riffed" on  the 30 drawings in 60 seconds. Everytime I do this excercise myself it changes, so adding Sara's input to the mix was great. We watched as the participant's uptightness left and freedom seeped in. There was collaboration and dialog.

Hanging the work up is the time to look, see, analyze, reflect and discuss ways to move forward. This is not about product, finished works of art or creating a "style". This exercise along with others are about discovery and reconnecting.

We demonstrated our own unfolding process of collaborating together. It is something we have been discussing for a while, collaborating not only by teaching together, but by painting together.

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It was fun but we need to work on knowing when to stop...maybe we need to do a timed session.
 

We also worked on a monoprint together.

And we had the students try it out. It was very interesting to watch the egos  coming and going.

Another group activity

Three of the days we had a Gyrokinesis instructor and a Nia instructor give us a class. We all felt  tensions being released after hard work in the studio and a sense of community.

Here we are on the last day..very happy but very sad for it to be over.

 We are plotting and planning for next years workshop.  Mark your calendar: Workshop 1- July 28-August 1.  5 spots are filled
If you are interested please email me: lpart@earthlink.net
or Sara:sara.mast@wildblue.net

From painter Karen Chesterman
"The atmosphere of the workshop was one of playfulness and serious focus.  Sara and Lisa demonstrated the limitless possibilities of expression inherent in the medium.  It was just what I needed to take back to my studio.  Thanks you again for a great workshop,  you guys are a dymanic duo....."