3 Must Read Books

Hello there!!

How is everyone? I wanted to pop into today and let you know a couple of things! First off – Trina and I are so, so excited that we ONLY have ONE more spot left at ArtWorthy 2016!

We are over the moon happy and so grateful for the beautiful souls who have signed up to join us for this special long weekend! If you have been sitting on the fence, now is the time to snap up this spot! With a private gourmet chef, yoga, meditation, EFT sessions and loads of ART making you won’t want to miss out! Valentine’s just around the corner so treat yourself to some SELF LOVE!

 

Ok, so I also wanted to tell you about three FAB books that I want to recommend!

#1

This book literally changed me! Literally. If you haven’t read it yet. Do. It. Now.

#2

This fabulous book was gifted to me by the lovely Trina and I ate it up! Full of wit and several laugh out loud moments – you will love this quick read about empowering your life with that sweet little word YES!

#3

And last but not least, this book knocked my artsy little socks off! Building creative confidence is not only powerful, it may radically change your existence! My belief that we are all creative beings is the cornerstone of this book and unearthing that creativity is not only your RIGHT it is your DUTY! Hiding those gorgeous gifts from the world is a major bummer for everyone!

I adore the little trailer for this book too! Check it out…

Okay, those are fresh off my stack of books! Check them out and let me know how they affect you I would love to hear about it!

Much love and gratitude to you all!

xo,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Outlander Art Retreat: Scotland

Hello my friends!

I do hope you are well and that the holiday season is treating you kindly. I know it’s crazy busy! We got the tree up early this year and the house is all decked out in lights and trim. So pretty!

In the midst of all the festive mayhem, I’ve been plugging along on a very, very important project of mine. A dream really….that has finally come to light. I’ve meticulously planned my first international Art Retreat for May 2017!!  Now, I just need guests to take along with me!

Who loves Art AND Outlander? Show of hands! Well, I do and I’m hoping some of you do too because that’s what this Art Adventure is all about!

I have found as an artist, that nothing inspires me more than travel and good stories! The Outlander books first captivated me (completely) when I was pregnant with my first daughter. I devoured the books and created art around the characters. I even named my second daughter, Claire. It’s not a co-incidence!! ;)

A fan? Yup! A fanatic? Yeah, maybe but I thought why not combine two of my passions? A perfect excuse to travel with some like minded friends and see Scotland while creating art along the way!

So who’s with me? As Jamie would say…”Je suis prest!” (I am ready.)

If you want to read more about this extraordinary journey come check out the page here or click on the image below.  I’ve got a detailed day by day itinerary all planned out! It’s dreamy!

I hope to meet some of you in Scotland!

Happy Holidays and much love to you all!

xo,

 

 

 

My Top 5 Favorite Art Books

Hi there lovely people!

How’s the week treating you so far? Yesterday was blissfully rainy and I was knee deep in editing project videos for Flight & Feather! I’m so excited that class opens on Monday! I can’t wait to share all these projects with the students! I couldn’t resist and threw in 3 bonus lessons too! Why not? I was having a blast creating so it’s a win win. ;)

Here’s a pic of one of the bonus lessons I will be teaching! Loved making this one!

Anyway, today I wanted to share with you my top five favorite Art & Creativity books right now!! Highly recommended and full of inspiration, wisdom and ideas! If you are feeling a bit out of creative juice grab a new art book! Perks me up in no time…along with a strong coffee!

Okay so here’s the line up in no particular order! They are all fabulous!

 #1 Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop by Serena Barton#2 Birds In Art by Caroline Bugler

#3 Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

#4 The Art of Expressive Collage by Crystal Neubauer

#5 Encaustic Mixed Media by Patricia Baldwin Seggebrush

Hope you guys check these out! You can never have too many books as far as I’m concerned! Happy ART reading!

xo,

Making Friends with Encaustics

Hello lovely people!

Hope your weekend was fantastic!

I’ve been busy preparing the online classroom for my Mixed Media & Encaustic workshop and I’m getting questions about Encaustics and what you need to start.

So let’s talk Encaustics – yeah…it sounds pretty serious, a little scary and slightly dangerous but I’m here to put your fears at rest! In my personal experience, I have found that working with this magical medium has been incredibly enjoyable, very experimental and basically tons of fun!

I wanted to share the Wax Set Up video that will be in the online class. My hope, is that seeing this will help you guys feel more comfortable exploring wax! You just gotta try it!

and here is what I use in my simple, yet effective set up…(the clay tools are for carving which I’ll be showing you in the workshop.) I’ve included some links below if you feel like shopping! ;)

Surface thermometer * Mini griddle * Clay tools * Encaustic medium * Hake Brushes

For fusing I use a simple Craft Heat tool…

Great encaustic books to check out:

And I recently discovered some great videos on YouTube by a very talented encaustic artist: Nancy Crawford

Check out her YouTube channel here.

Here’s one of her quick videos…

So my friends, I hope this helps you make friends with Encaustic wax! This medium truly blends so beautifully with so many of our supplies and adds another level of dimension to your work!

I encourage you to check it out and of course I would love for you to join me for the online Workshop.

Our early bird pricing ends on June 12th! So don’t miss out! Class opens June 23 and is self paced! You will have lifetime access too! :)

Let me know if you have any questions!

xo,

Ivy

Happy Valentine’s Day

Hello friends! Happy Friday and Happy Valentines’s to you. I hope you are surrounded by the people you love. Hubby and I are going out for a much needed date night. Can’t wait to get all prettied up and sip a fancy cocktail.

I did splurge yesterday on a little gift to myself – this book – and I’m so pleased I did. I’ve already devoured half of it and I’m loving every page. If you were a fan of Eat, Pray, Love then you will LOVE Paris Letters by Janice Macleod. I’m so tickled with the book that I just subscribed to receive one of her magical, illustrated letters from Paris via her Etsy shop. Anyways…had to share this with you!

Okay I’m off to get ready for my date….it takes a while these days! ;)

Much love to you all,

Ivy

P.S. I’ve been doing a ton of art so I promise to share more of it next week! More vintage treasures to show you too!

Queen of Flowers II – A mixed media collage

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! This week flew by and I am just now getting the chance to sit down and visit with you. How has life been treating you?

I wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the sweet and encouraging comments left after my last post. It’s always a bit scary to share my artwork – so please know that I greatly appreciate the support! Art is such a core part of me. When I actually take time to do it, I am amazed at how it fills me with happiness and peace. I was so pleased with the last collage that I did a second one. I snapped pics of my progress with my phone to document the evolution of the piece.

Similar to the last project – I started by collaging bits of vintage ephemera to the inside of an old book cover.

Enter my muse (another Anthropologie model) who I painted over, inked her face and hair and added scrapbook papers for her dress. You can also see in the upper right hand corner I added some pink acrylic paint to start balancing the color composition.

The last details were added to complete her, including a sweet antique Australian stamp (a little shout-out to my homeland!), a jeweled crown and of course a bird. Gotta have a bird.

I stamped the cover of the book with this chickadee stamp and added the word “fly”.

So there you have it, another little collage project that I was able to complete in a couple of days during Claire’s naptime. So much more fun than folding laundry!

I have just listed prints of this collage and the last one in my Society 6 shop too!

Have a beautiful weekend!

xo,

Ivy