Online Photography Workshop – Camera Craft

Hello!

Happy Friday! On this gorgeous summer day, I’m excited to share with you that the lovely and talented Galia Alena asked me to be a contributing teacher to her new online Photography workshop – Camera Craft! Of course, I accepted!

Here’s the workshop description straight from Galia…

Camera Craft is designed to help demystify your camera and the technical side of photography, empowering you to follow your inspiration, and make expressive and beautiful images. It is photography 101 and it is so much more. I want the participants to walk away feeling like they have enough of a grasp of the technical stuff that they can really let their creative voices sing. Between all the samples and the guest contributors you wont be able to help but be inspired.

I’m so very thrilled to be a part of this AMAZING course!

Photography, as many of you know, played a huge role in leading me back to my creativity. Essentially, it led me back to what I love – ART – and for that, I’ll be eternally grateful to this magical art form! The class will actually be divided into two 5 week modules – “The Art of Seeing” & “Into the Light”. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR BOTH.

The Art of Seeing starts 31st of August

Into the Light starts 26th of October

As a contributor, I will be sharing a few tutorials on some of my post-production editing, including a peek into how I edit photos on my iPhone! Super fun and addictive I assure you!

Galia has an incredible line up of contributors including, Misty Mawn, Danielle Cohen, Stacy de la Rosa, Liz Lamoreux, Jeannette Le Blanc, Erin Faith Allen, Eileen West and Ashley Fincham!

To learn more and sign up go here. If you happen to purchase from my link it would make my day too!

Thanks so much again for all your love and support!

xo,

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An Art Playdate with Jane Davenport

Hello friends,

Hope your Summer is off to a fabulous start! As you know I’ve been super busy with my two online classes! It’s been such a rewarding experience to build these and launch them! Thank you for all your support!

So, I’m gonna do a bit of a flashback to April when I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Ms. Jane Davenport! Out of the blue she contacted me via Facebook and told me she would be in Portland in the Springtime! She would be visiting with her friend Diana Rast and we immediately made plans to have a little Art Playdate!

My dear friend Robin helped me prepare the studio for the event! Thanks Robin!

Of course I wanted everything to be perfect!

We started the morning with fresh coffees and some laughs! Jane and Diana were both totally adorable and so much fun!

I felt so lucky to host them!

Then we headed to the studio to get a jump start on the project I had planned for the day! We were going to be doing mixed media collages and paintings on plaster and then using encaustic wax on top! Fun fun!

Jane had to get an antler selfie!  ;)We had a beautiful lunch on the lake!

Then back to the studio to finish up! Jane and Diana both completed beautiful pieces!

It was such an amazing day! Thank you Jane and Diana for coming to spend the day with me!

On that note…I must share with you Jane’s latest online workshop!

It’s all about the beautiful art of Figure Drawing! Jane’s lyrical line work and bold colors make for striking and graceful figurative work! Plus, with her background in fashion illustration she has tips and tricks you don’t want to miss!!

Check out this great promo video for the class…

Looks so fabulous right? Go sign up here.

Okay my creative friends…I’m back to work!

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo,

Ivy

I’m dreaming of…

Hi there. How’s life treating you? We are back into the swing of school around here and I’m trying to get organized and make the most of each day. Not easy. I often find myself being pulled in so many directions that I get overwhelmed. So, I retreat into my own little daydreams. Highly productive. Not.

We have been renting a beautiful home in a fabulous neighborhood but it’s been three years and I’m getting itchy feet! Growing up, I lived in 10 different houses and two countries (the U.S. & Australia). When Chris and I got together, we moved 5 times in 4 years. Finally, we settled in Portland and have lived here for almost 11 years. No wonder I’m getting wanderlust!

Moving is in my blood and I’m totally dreaming of us buying a large piece of land and building a sweet farmhouse. I want a big porch, an old barn for my art studio, chickens (why not?) and a large, white kitchen, where I would bake bread and make delicious meals. Realistic? Probably not, I don’t even bake – but wow, does it sound good to me right now. I’m being drawn to wide open spaces, quiet, solitude, a slower pace. A place to focus and create. Sometimes life just feels so noisy. Know what I mean?

So in my procrastination, I pulled my favorite farmhouse images from my Pinterest board to share my vision with you…

Okay…I think I got that out of my system. Now back to the laundry…ugh.

Have a beautiful afternoon.

xo,

Ivy

* For sources and more dreamy Farmhouse images see my Pinterest board.*

Room service at Dawn

Hi there! Happy Friday! Wanted to share a few more Instagram snapshots from my Sydney trip.

One of my favorite mornings there we ordered a room service breakfast, promptly delivered at 6 am. Jetlag didn’t really slow us down, it just had us going to bed early and waking up with the birds – which – actually turned out to be a gift. Watching the sunrise over Sydney harbor is quite breathtaking and enjoying a hot cup of tea in the snuggly hotel robe wasn’t too shabby either…

I have a thing for itty bitty jars – especially when they say “Made in Australia”.

What a magical way to start the day. I felt so grateful for this sweet indulgence.

Have a gorgeous weekend!

xo,

Ivy

Home again

Hi dear readers! Yes, I am home from beautiful Sydney and I’m still trying to take it all in. It is always a bit surreal when one day you are in another country and the next you are in your own bed. Always trips me out a bit. We actually got home a week ago but my family stayed on to celebrate Grace’s 7th birthday…so…this is my first chance to sit down and post.

I have dozens of photos and I promise not to unload them all at once but I thought today I would just share some of my favorite Instagram shots from the first day of our adventure.

We landed at 6:07 am. Bright and early!  After enduring all the fuss of customs and luggage wrangling, we jumped into a cab and headed to the Four Seasons Hotel. Even though I was exhausted, my heart was beating fast with excitement! I was actually here. The view from our room brought me to tears. Of joy.

Like good little travelers, we resisted the urge to stay in our room and sleep and instead went for a brisk walk in The Rocks district, discovered a sweet cafe, downed a few coffees and a tasty breakfast.

The feeling of being back in Sydney was rather indescribable. Surreal, bizarre, overwhelming, exhilarating. I was overcome with gratitude that somehow, in a matter of a few days, my dream of returning to my birth city had been actualized. I was in Sydney, with my beloved husband, staying at a beautiful hotel and only hours away from seeing my childhood friends. To quote my dear Aussie friend Jo – “I was completely spun out!”

After a very short nap, we got up showered and felt somewhat human again. We had to seriously rally because we were off to the Opera Bar for sunset drinks with my mates!

The Opera bar was swarming with people, all taking in the gorgeous view, the warm sun and of course the lovely drinks. I scanned the hundreds of people looking for familiar faces. The butterflies in my stomach raged and my trembling hands were doing their best to steady a glass of white wine. I was nervous and excited at the same time. What would it be like to see these girls after 19 years!?

Just when I thought that perhaps we arrived before them, two hands fell on my shoulders and spun me around. In front of me was two of my girls. Claire and Natalie. We screeched, laughed and embraced in one hysterical mess. I’m sure we looked crazy but we didn’t care. Before I knew it, another two friends arrived with bottles of bubbles, warm hugs and endless giggles. While the champagne flowed, we caught up with one another like no time had passed at all.

The night unfolded beautifully! We ended up at a sushi place where we were joined by another friend. Chris celebrated his birthday there – the actual day had been lost in time when we crossed the date line!

After that we meandered the Rocks, linking arms, sharing stories old and new and laughing about high school memories. My heart was flooded with happiness.  It felt good to be home.

Okay more to come – I will break it up a bit so I don’t bore you to tears – I promise.

What have you been up to while I was away? Anyone else travel or start a new Spring project? Do tell.

xo,

Ivy

Hello, Sydney.

{artwork via here}

Hi there my lovely readers!

Well, I have some exciting news to share with you today – we are leaving for Sydney, Australia on Thursday – yes, as in two days from now!! A last minute opportunity landed in our laps yesterday, when one of my hubby’s clients invited him to an executive retreat in Sydney. Well…as many of you know, that is my birthplace and there was NO way in hell that I wasn’t going with him. So we scrambled and made arrangements for my parents to fly in and take care of the girls! I’m in total shock!

I’ve gotten in touch with several of my childhood friends, so I hope to meet up with them and catch up! I haven’t been back since we left in 1994!! I was in the 11th grade. It was so hard to leave all my friends but at the time we kinda idolized America and I had fanciful notions of becoming a cheerleader, dating a quarterback and going to Prom! ha! Things didn’t quite pan out like that…

Anyway, I have always wanted to go back and visit so I feel incredibly grateful for this chance! I will be taking tons of photos and hope to post a bit while I’m there!

See you when I return from the land Down-Under…

xo,

Ivy