Headed home Soon

I’ve had a great week or so with family and have been enjoying my little grandsons! I’m ready to get back home and see what I can create!

When I’m away from the studio I always get this feeling of big anticipation and I daydream about what’s next! I honestly don’t have a set plan or an idea in mind about what I’ll paint next… but my time away facilitates new energy every time!

I do fiddle in my art journal, watch YouTube videos, peruse the social media posts of my favorite artists…but soak in the surrounding scenery as well.

You know what else is a motivater? Sales! I’m feeling all the gratitude today after some awesome sales! Selling a piece of art lights a fire in me. It embeds a boost of joy and confidence and validation deep down so a big THANK YOU to my buyers for doing more than just buying some artwork. Thank you for giving me the confidence to pick up the brush to let the creative in me emerge again!

More soon!

Xo

L

P.S. here’s some Georgia peaches 🍑 for you ! That color though…. ❤️

Wee bit of time away

I’m taking a wee bit of time off …. You can still sign up for workshops ( September 2024 and April 2025) paintings will be visible again soon! If you REALLY need to contact me please email at baker.lisa47@gmail.com.

See you soon !

P.S. going to meet him ! 😉

Co-Teaching WORKS

My last post was all about anticipating the upcoming workshop in June. At the end of that post I mentioned two artists and gave the link to our registration. It takes you to another squarespace site. It is the website of Theresa Benavidez. Here’s the back story why.

Story time!

Theresa is local to Kansas City and we actually met on Instagram. I think it was most likely HASHTAGS that caused us to begin following each other. I pinpointed August of 2017 as our first meeting. I packed up my art supplies and drove to her home about 40 miles away which had a designated studio to spend the day playing with paint. From there we began scheduling very regular meet ups to paint together.

Not only did we turn out a TON of work going forward but our conversations solidified what art goals we both had.

One day we were pushing ourselves to loosen up ( still a thing 7 years later) and in talking we realized we both would love to teach a group. A workshop. Both of us had teaching in our backgrounds and we began to lay our work side by side. We realized that our work was similar enough to pair well together but different enough that people could clearly identify who’s work was who’s!

We looked at a calendar, chose some possible venues, put together our info and media pics and planned our first Co-Workshop in Liberty, MO. It was a great success !

The first session of our workshops is usually me teaching with Theresa being personal support to all the attendees… after my session and after a quick provided lunch we move into her teaching and me roaming through to assist the artists. This system works really well for the group.

Many of the attending artists agree that they glean quite a lot from learning from two teachers at one workshop.

Co-teaching just works for us. It may not be for everyone but we’ve continued to offer two Kansas City workshops per year ever since ( except during Covid).

So fast forward to right now - we do have seats available for June 8th if you are considering a workshop. This one has all supplies included and the name of it is “Elevated Abstracts- Working in a Series” It will be focused on working on multiple pieces at once and tying them all together while discovering your own style and creating a cohesive body of work. Sign ups are at :

https://www.theresabenavidezart.com/elevated-abstracts-in-person-workshop

Grab your spot and maybe a friend and come paint with us!

XO

L

Anticipating the next workshop

Good morning!

As the days go by I am getting more and more excited about the upcoming workshop June 8th. All the things that I want to teach… show… and remember to tell… swirling around as my excitement builds.

I’ve taught for years… going way back to my time creating scrapbooks. Almost 25 years ago!!!! I got brave enough to agree to teach a group of eager “ croppers” how I did what I did with my family photos and creative layouts. I found it very rewarding and realized that people were really eager and I was able to give them some degree of newfound confidence.

Occasionally I had more fun with the papers, colors and embellishments than I did with the photos which now in hindsight should have been a clue. I was drawn to the colors and textures. Not so dissimilar to RIGHT NOW. As well…I moved right into paper crafts in mixed media with art journals and collage. That was also therapeutic, kept my interest and allowed me to try a lot of things. In my mind I knew a journal was mostly just for me and no one really needed to see my creations. I could do whatever I wanted in those journals. The FREEDOM!!!!

Holding onto that idea I realized some 12 years later (long after I’d stopped scrapbooking) that I still had the urge to create with color and texture.

Fast forward to now and it is all clearly connected... all of that discovery, experimental bravery, and combining color and texture make me the artist I am today.

I know for sure that I’m extremely curious as a creator and always ready to dive into a new technique or sample a new product. I then want to share that knowledge with whoever wants to hear about it.

Teaching workshops now is not so different than teaching 24 years ago. The best part is …there is now 24 years of experience and hopefully really valuable information to share.

I continue to have the strong desire to teach however I can. From one on one sessions in person …to zoom calls for those farther away… to group workshops locally and what I call “ travel teaching”.

It’s the best of both worlds for me. I get to do what I love while explaining it to others as they find their own unique style and in many cases discover their true gift as artists. What could be better?

So I’m jotting down notes, practicing what I’ll show and gathering some supplies to ready myself for Saturday June 8th! It’s always as fulfilling for me as it hopefully is for each person attending!

If you are on the fence about signing up just do it! I promise you will come away excited, way more brave…and eager to create more!

Here is the link to sign up for next months workshop. It will be with two artist ( more on that in my next post) and all supplies and refreshments included.

I hope you will join us. Seats available.

https://www.theresabenavidezart.com/elevated-abstracts-in-person-workshop

xo

L

Traveling to Teach

I wish I was better at keeping up with this blogging business …but here I am.

It’s already mid May and time has really rolled along this year! Winters end rolled right into Spring and here we are! In March I had a surprise message from my lovely friends in Midland Texas that an opportunity to teach there again had arisen for April. It was only about a month out from that point. I rearranged a couple of commitments and accepted the ask and packed my paints and flew down to teach a three day Abstract Workshop at the Midland Palette Club. It would be my second trip down in less than a year as I taught there last May. I am not at all sad about it. In fact it was as good as the first visit if not better!

Let me just brag on the Midland Palette Club for a moment. If you are unfamiliar just click the link and go check them out. They are a fabulously talented group of amazing artists that are friendly, warm and make you feel like royalty for the week! From transportation, to offering amazing accommodations, to taking care of meals and any little thing I might have needed….they do it with such genuine kind hospitality…both times I have been down there I’ve been a little sad to leave. I, as well as some of the artists attending, didn’t really want it to end even after three days of painting our hearts out. You would think that the days would be long but they just literally flew by! I can’t say enough about not only having the opportunity to go and teach and meet everyone but how much I learned from them as well! If you ever get the chance to teach there, attend a workshop or even stop by one of their many events don’t miss the opportunity. If you are wanting to explore a creative outlet such as painting there are many opportunities for you to join this group at whatever level you may be at creatively. Get on their mailing list!

The Club is big at ‘giving back’ and supporting some very worthy causes and that speaks to my heart on a whole other level. I have made what I consider lifelong friends in Midland and will forever be grateful for having gone TWICE! I’ll upload a few pictures so you can see their space and some of what we did!

Thanks Midland! You guys are the absolute best! Till next time!

xo

L