Fran Meneley

The Makerie

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of attending the third annual Makerie Creative Retreat, right here in my home town of Boulder, Colorado. The brain child of the darling uber-event-organizer, Ali DeJohn, it was a fun filled crafting/art weekend at the lovely Chautauqua Park. 

Being a local I opted to bunk at home, but most participants were from parts elsewhere and we were treated to cozy cabin accommodations. Since the 1890's Chautauqua has been hosting groups of all kinds and it's so wonderful to have the creatives move in!

My first day's class was with the wonderful Janine Vangool, editor of one my favorite magazines...Uppecase. 

We got to pick her brain about the magazine business and create our own little magazine covering the Makerie. We were cub reports on the beat and we got a chance to photograph and write four pages for our very own little zine. I had the great pleasure of "covering" Molly Hatch's class, Word Play. Such a treat to meet her and peek in on her creative process and see what her amazing students were up to!

Classes included instruction in letterpress, leather accessories, stamp carving, doodle drawing, food styling/photography and collage transfer. ALL were fabulous and as I got to roam through all the classes as a cub reporter, I got a first hand look at all of them! I would gladly have signed up for any of them.

The food! Oh the food!! Lunches were provided by the really wonderful human being/chef extraordinaire, Katie Bruzdzinski of eat Private Chef & Catering Co. Wow. The food was simple, healthy and oh so delicious...

...and LOOK at the presentation. I am a sucker for kits of any kind and this was by far the absolute best lunch presentation EVER! Bothering to bother...that's what I'm talking about. See this post for my thoughts on that. I'm gluten free these days and was prepared to take apart my lunch and dig for the things I could eat. But no...Katie prepared a thoughtful, tasty gluten free lunch for us "glutards" as my son likes to call us, and my customized box even had my name on it! Oh Katie...I felt the love and am so deeply appreciative. The way to my heart is clearly through my stomach...if only my husband could figure this out! Dinners were equally as excellent at the newly remodeled Chautauqua Dining Hall. 

My second day in Makerie land was at the Lyons Farmette, a 20 minute drive from Boulder. A little farm with the most wonderful animals...they are an events facility of the highest order. Many a summer weekend and night are filled with weddings and farm dinners.

A wander around with my camera, I met some new friends and dreamt of the coming summer.

And just in case you didn't get enough of that little goat face...here she is again. Oh my god, I fell in LOVE! This mama goat gave birth three days later and just stole my heart. 

With panche a plenty, and absolutely no stuffiness or self-righeousness, the farmette was a great location for Aran Goyoaga's class on food photography and styling.

A whiz with a camera and the goddess of natural lighting, she showed us how to...

...style and shoot food like the pros. Her new book, Small Plates and Sweet Treats is full of gluten free goodness for everyone.

Spring was coming to Chautauqua and the Makerie managed to squeeze itself in between two snow storms...so happy making to see the bits of green and color springing up.

The final dinner was sponsored and hosted by the fine folks at Creative Bug and I loved the table decorations they did!

Janine spoke at my beloved Two Hands Paperie on Sunday morning and we had a chance to hear more publishing stories...so inspiring.

For anyone with a hankering to get their hands and hearts engaged and moving...come to the Makerie!! They have 3 one-day events this summer and then the big retreats again next spring. Like them on Face Book or follow their blog for the latest happenings. Oh and Instagram. Just love them and come next year!! Do you hear that my Seattle art friends????

 

A Paris Lunch

2013 is off to a very good start! I am working my way through The Artist's Way with 3 wonderful women friends and fellow artists. I've done it twice before over the years, but always on my own. This time we've formed a group, a sacred circle, and are getting together once a week to check in and share our experiences. It's powerful stuff and I feel blessed to be a part of it. Thanks, Alix!

These journal pages came out of my weekly Morning Pages assignment...a little reminder to be open to the new and a visual that came to me reminding me to just let it go...all the things that I don't need anymore. Little lanterns of light set free to flow on down the river. 

And part of our weekly assignment is to go on an Artist's Date. A weekly check in of fun, play, frivolity...a joyous, well filling, outing each week designed to inspire our inner artist. Last week I wandered over to the newly moved and remodeled Longmont Cheese Importers.What a total TREAT! If you live in a 100 mile radius...go there!! Housed in Longmont's defunct original diesel-fueled power plant, built in 1931...

...just the building oozes that vintage charm that cannot be duplicated. And look at the gold typography on the doors!

Once inside, you feel as if you have landed in Paris...or somewhere near by.

They have paid great attention to detail in recreating both a...

...French cafe and Europeans style shop. Oh how this makes me miss bread!

My lunch was delightful. A little charcuterie plate and gluten-free crackers! So accommodating and I didn't even ask, they offered, when I sadly, but politely turned down that ridiculously fabulous french bread. My company was a new book by Canadian author Louise Penny...very smart and charming murder mystery...thanks Lisa!

After lunch I strolled through the shop taking in all the yummy delightfulness. They have an entire room that is a refrigerator - with coats to borrow so you don't get cold...

...filled with CHEESE!...

...and olives and other wonderful accompaniments.

And linens from Europe...

...and dishes from France, Spain and Italy...

...and jams and sauces...

...and other sweets...

...and books that made me want to go home and have a tea party right away! What a wonderful hour and a half! I felt transported and inspired. Exactly what an artist's date should do! I highly recommend the group experience of doing the Artist's Way. Form your own sacred circle and see what magic comes your way!

Architectural Gems

Way back in December...what seems like forever ago now..I ventured to the big city to take Judith Cassel-Mamet's wonderful Architectural Gems drawing class. For three Mondays we gathered to learn about perspective drawing and had the chance to explore some great Denver landmarks. This is a keyhole view from inside the State Capitol Building looking out to Civic Center Park and the Rockies in the background.

We wandered the Capitol building on one of the days. It was too cold to draw outside...this journal page is the result of my explorations. Amazing what you can do with an iPhone these days. Just loved the beauty and grandeur of the old civic building. Very surprised how completely accessible everything was.

Beautiful brass statue of Abe Lincoln...the patina of his hands worn off from the people's touch...

...and these great reflective, solid brass drinking fountains...love the shapes against the geometry of the floor. They don't make 'em like this anymore!

Another day I ventured to the plaza by the Denver Art Museum and the public library to take in the architectural gems by Michael Graves (library on the right), old Denver Art Museum by Gio Ponti and the new Denver Art Museum by Daniel Libeskind. That's quite a few big egos in one small space...but we are lucky to have them represent in little 'ol Denver.

My journal pages of that day...so many good things to draw and angles to take in! 

Other days were spent in the Capitol Hill neighborhood (what I think is also called, Quality Hill) with grand old homes from the silver mining boom days of yore. 

This detail from the wonderful old building on 23rd and York, where Judith teaches. It looks a little chinese to me...but was working on the lines. A little wonky, but what a treat to sit in the winter sun and just look and take those lines for a walk!

Hope you are walking your lines and doing something creatively good in this last stretch of winter!

Que Vida!

 

Well, well...hasn't it been an interesting week?? It all began for me with a trip to see my daughter in NYC just a few days before the Frankenstorm...AKA Sandy Storm of the Century.

Tea was sipped and stories were told...with a keen eye on the approaching storm...

...the Plaza Hotel was strolled through...on the way to a shoe sale at Bloomingdales. Not for the faint of heart. Bloomingdale's shoe sale that is. The Plaza has an AMAZING food hall in the basement level now, totally worth a look and nosh if you are in the neighborhood.

The sights were taken in while supplies were stocked up on. Two cases of water. Check. Solar powered phone charger. Check. Food. Check. New rain coat. Check. A girl has to look stylish while wrangling an umbrella in 40 mile an hour winds!

More tea was enjoyed in the wonderful Bowery Hotel lobby. I flew the coop before the storm, but my daughter weathered the storm until she'd been without power for two days. We decided it was time for her to get back to a land locked state until the power was back on in lower Manhattan.

The best part of the week was last night's Day of the Dead celebration with friends from Two Hands Paperie! The community alter filled with love...

...and loved ones who have crossed over. That's my grandmother - namesake to both my daughter and I...tea being her beverage of choice.

Faces were painted with roses and flaming hearts...

...and beautiful turquoise eyes..

...and blue birds and calaveras...

...thank you Mia, for putting it altogether and bringing...

...this wonderful group of women together! Viva la Vida!!! 

Break Into Fall

I have to say, whoever invented fall break was a freaking genius in my book. While the teachers need time to plan, the kids get time to goof off. As a side note, I think I went to school from the day after Labor Day until Thanksgiving with nary a day off...but that was back in the stone ages, know what I mean?

But I digress. I was happy that my son had a long 5 day weekend so we could hit the long ribbon of highway down to Santa Fe for a little autumn adventure.

We trekked out to Bandelier National Monument and hiked through the Ancestral Pueblo ruins. I look very tiny here against the magnificent stone backdrop...

...while Parker climbs to peer into one of the ancient dwelling spaces.

I think one of the main reasons we make the trek is to EAT! And this time...

...we participated in a great cooking class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking...

...making 4 different kinds of Tacos and...

...our own tortillas. Oh so good and really easy. Here the oldest and the youngest in the class begin the feast. 

A little journal to record...

...our aventures...

...and daydreams...

...and autumn hike in the wind and rain.

The color these past few weeks here in Colorado and in New Mexico...

...has been pure gold. Everywhere. What a beautiful autumn season. 

The colors making their way into my recent journal pages...

...I'm going to miss it when the leaves fly and the days darken, with the beckoning of the next season. All the more beautiful for the fleeting. Hope your days are golden too.

 

A Walk In The Woods

So far the tail end of summer has been a whirlwind of transitions and the to-do list keeps getting longer instead of shorter. Whew! I'm kind of ready for the cooler, shorter days of fall! So when I had the chance to take Marty Colon's wonderful Illustrated Field Journaling class, I jumped! Two whole days with nary a cell phone or computer in sight - just the beautiful woods above Jamestown, a wonderful teacher and our journals.

I've always looked at wonderful nature journals like Hannah Hinchman's and wondered, where do I even start? I am a committed journaler, but have not really included or explored a field journal approach. Marty is a masterful teacher, leading us four eager students through step-by-step instruction on how to both structure and fill an illustrated field journal. HIs "No Big Deal" approach made so much sense and put everyone at ease.

After some discussion and explanation of field journaling, we jumped right in. He had this fabulous box of treasures that I could have ogled for about an hour, but we were asked to pick one object to draw. One that seemed difficult, one we didn't think we could draw. Of course everyone's biggest hurdle in this class is thinking that they can't "draw". 

So we began with a blind contour drawing to connect with the page. If you really do it right, it shouldn't look like what it is. The idea is to make your eye and your hand move at the same pace while you "draw" your object and NOT look at your paper. Which for me was the hardest part. It's really simple hand eye coordination and very satisfying. 

Leading us into another bit of drawing, we picked a new object, this is one of the cool bird skulls from the box. From upper left, a blind contour drawing, a mostly blind contour drawing, a minute drawing and a 30 second drawing...changing the angle each time. We added some observational writing and three questions....and voila! An Illustrated Field Journaling page! 

Another approach is using thumbnails to create a page. This limits the intimidation factor by narrowing your drawing space to a 2 X 2 inch square, eight of them on the page. And some observational writing and the place and date and...another page is created!

This time we were to choose a flower or plant and create a page. I chose thumbnails so I could capture different parts of the plant. It was at the end of it's life cycle and it created a marvelous standing plant skeleton, with many dried parts to explore.

We went back to the box for another nature object and this time the assignment was diagraming...another fun and useful technique for field journaling. Simple drawings and observations along with questions. I discovered a lot about sea urchins just by taking 40 minutes to observe and draw. I knew nothing when I started and now I really see the structure and have 10,000 questions about this amazing creature's shell and life.

 

Our final assignment was to make an Event Map. We all said we could have done this for a whole day. It's a wander and wonder on paper. We began at a little pond surrounded by an aspen grove. You just start to wander and "map" your walk through the woods. Whatever catches your attention, stop and record it. Continue until you've filled as many pages as you have time for. This is a wonderful way to learn a "place". Marty likes to do this soon after he sets up a camp site to really dive in and learn about his surroundings. I think it easily translates to an urban environment. The next time I check into a hotel in a new city, I'm heading out for a walk around the block to see what's there in my new neighborhood, stopping to observe and record along the way. It was great to be a student again and just wander and wonder and journal. Soul food for sure!

I don't think Marty has a website, but you can contact him via email - [email protected]. I signed up for this class through the wonderful Two Hands Paperie (and BTW their new class schedule is up) but I know he teaches other places, so shoot him an email to find out about his next class.

 

A Lifetime Isn't Enough For The Beauty Of This World...

The last of the New Mexico road trip posts. A journal spread/watercolor of the front of Mabel's house from a shady adirondack chair one hot afternoon - pencilled onsite and finished in the studio. 

Mabel's front door...my comfort drawing in the midst of a week of stretching and experimentation with the pencil and looking and seeing in a different way.

An early morning retreat for drawing on the mighty Rio Grande while it was peaceful, quiet and cool. A little cross and it's reflection in the water. A watery memorial? Sun glinting.

Besides my little retreat to outline drawing (Mabel's door), I spent the week in Sas's Drawing as Discovery class really exploring other ways to draw.

Four exercises for seeing with a pencil...blind contour in the lower right hand corner...a quick gestural drawing of the same nest, apple and rock to it's left. A little more time for detail in the upper right hand corner. And finally a five minute drawing in the upper left. One pencil, looking for the both the volume and texture. Ditched the rock, added a horizon line.

A sunny morning in my solarium perch brought my trusty Faber-Castell pen to the creamy white page for a blind contour drawing of my bed.

And oh the figure drawing morning...difficult for me, not my favorite drawing activity. Looking for the volume and not the outline. Much easier when I switched it up and picked up a brush and some ink. With this drawing I finally felt like I was getting closer. Such a mystery.

Approached this BIG piece of blank paper as a fencer would. Black gesso, brush in hand. Begin. Make a mark. Respond. Draw. Obliterate. Draw again. Some white gesso fencing. Add some pencil marks. Moments and movement caught in time. Satisfying. Freeing.

I journaled along the way and as contemplation when I reached home base. The map of my summer rambles in the Land of Enchantment. Little photos and watercolors...

...detailed borders, ephemera and lists...

...black and white photos and haikus. A shelf of bones...

...and reflections on my visit to Georgia O'keefe's house in Abiquiu. 

An altered postcard for Consuelo and a bit of a poem from Mary Oliver...

"A lifetime isn't long enough for the beauty of this world and the responsibilities of your life. Scatter your flowers over the graves, and walk away. Be good-natured and untidy in your exuberance. In the glare of your mind, be modest. And beholden to what is tactile and thrilling. Live with the beetle, and the wind."

from: The Leaf and The Cloud.

My Rambles Were Sweet And My Reveries Spacious

I can begin to feel the summer dipping into fall and my rambles in New Mexico but a memory. It all began in Santa Fe with a stop at the International Folk Art Market and wound it's way up to Taos for a wonderful week of drawing in the desert with the lovely Sas Colby.

Stops were made to take in lovely hollyhocks, which should be the New Mexico state flower...instead of the spiny yucca. I'm just sayin', it just seems obvious.

The red chile ristras lovely against the adobe walls for a late lunch at Rancho de Chimayo...

...and a stop at my favorite chocolate shop with colorful hats and "ole jesus" gracing it's door...

...while an afternoon thunderstorm settled over Taos Mountain.

My perch for the week was at the very top of Mabel's House, a little solarium...

...a glass jewel box of a room, surrounded by big 'ol cottonwoods to the west and south and Taos Pueblo lands to the north and east.

The sun up early, filling the space with desert light...

...and a very gracious bathroom window, almost floor to ceiling, letting in an incredible...

...view of the sacred pueblo lands.

My perch was NOT easily accessible. And if you ever venture to Mabel's, beware the stairs are barely a degree shy of a ladder and it's impossible to be up there during the heat of the day...

...but the rewards of the sunrises and sunsets, the world slipping into and out of being,...magical.

My tea tag (channeling Emily Dickinson) one morning said it best, "I hope your rambles have been sweet and your reveries spacious." And indeed they were.

Around The Folk Art Market

Earlier in the month my friend Ellen and I headed down the long ribbon of highway to the Land of Enchantment to spend some time drawing in the desert. As a way point, we stopped in Santa Fe and spent an evening at the International Folk Art Market. The largest gathering of folk artists in the world!

Their lovely wares displayed...

...on the outdoor plazas of the International Museum of Folk Art (which is worthy of a dedicated day of viewing all by itself).

Artists from Afghanistan to Zambia represented 54 countries over the 3 day market. It was like the United Nations craft fair! 

This is a particularly lovely display of earrings from Oaxaca - earring heaven really. I swooned.

Pottery from one of the European countries respresented.

This lovely South African woman was making a basket out of telephone wire...she graciously let me snap a photo while she worked.

This Haitian artist had an incredible booth filled with gorgeous beaded vodou flags. Think sequin and bead over every square millimeter of each one of those. I've done this...it's incredibly intricate and time consuming.

One of the best things was all the artists dressed in clothing from their native lands....

...as well as demonstrations of their work.

This wonderful woman I just caught as I was standing in line...love her image in the mirror and her blouse and skirt! What is her story? So many, many moments like this, and so little time. We went to the opening night of the market which kept us out of the afternoon sun, but afforded us only about 2 hours to see the whole market. And of course I had to see each and every booth, which left no time to eat or drink or watch demos. 

This is Aboubakar Sidiki Fofana from Mali. A textile artist extraordinaire, his mission is to bring back the art of natural indigo to his native land. He has honed his art over the years with time in both Paris and Japan. His initiative employees 4 people full-time. He hand dyes organic cotton and looms into these exquisite creations.

The one with the color gradations...dark to light came home with me. Look at those blues! Swoon!

As the sun set over the New Mexico desert, I was very grateful to see so many nations of world artists gathered together in this way. I came away inspired and hopeful.  

Isabelle Farm Dinner

Just as the insane heat wave set in, and before the Flagstaff fire started, we had the great pleasure of attending a farm dinner out in the fields of eastern Boulder County. The night was hot, hot, hot at about 100 degrees, but the shade of the dinner tent kept the scorching heat off of us as we downed ice water and a chilled malbec rose.

The corn was just about knee high and the green rows so lovely...

...the eggplant looking a little parched, but cool and watered under the red sheeting. It's a very efficient watering system and keeps just the plants watered and not all the weeds that watering all the earth between the rows would attract. Being an organic farm, it's important that weeds NOT get a foot hold.

Farmer Jason gave us a little tour of his organic and sustainable farm and fields which provide a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), farm stand and produce to local restaurants, like Zolo's that hosted the farm dinner. 

Farming hours are long and the views spectacular! Fortunately July has brought much needed rain to his farm, water being one of his constant worries.

And so we gathered under the shady tent...

...to enjoy the fruits of the farm and the ...

...chef's labors...

...starting with warm skillet bread and a tomato cucumber salsa. You can peruse the menu above for the rest of the fabulous dinner, but I was too busy savoring every bite to take more pics!

The eat local movement and farm dinners are growing in popularity all over the place - check your local scene to join in. It's a wonderful way to connect to your food community, experience directly where our food comes from and enjoy some really great food. As the sun set on Isabelle Farm...all of us were as content as this lovely canine mascot. Hope you are enjoying your summer too!!