Portland Art and Soul Retreat

I just got back from Portland's Art and Soul Retreat. What a wonderful place! It was my first year attending- definately going back next year- and hopefully taking a lot more classes.  I was able to do 2 this time around; Thawed Charlottes ( small wire doll) and Mechanical Bird ( mixed media). Both were amazing! Here are some photos from the classes and final projects:

Thawed Charlottes with Jessica Acosta

Getting the face on...

Following the diagram to make our little wire friend...

almost there....

and here she is! These were so fun to make. I am already planning out my own little faces for them.

Mechanical Bird with Kerin Gale and Charley Slaughter:

Next up, my all day class making this kooky bird!

It doesn't look like much in th beginning....

Then it starts to come together, after a bit of struggling with wires and copper domes....

add diamond clay and some paint...

added some old keys and found objects I had.... collage papers, old sewing pattern pieces, and some sewing words cut from an old Spanish dictionary....

All finished! Just need to add some eyes and a few other simple embellishments, but I love the way it turned out. This was such a great project!! I'd love to hear what you think of my Art and Soul creations!

You can see these teachers websites on my sidebar. Jessica is at Doll Project and Charley and Kerin are at Mixed Media Art and Remnants of Olde.