This past weekend I had the opportunity of spending one day {of a three day art retreat} at the first Makerie.

Colorado has been needing something this lovely and Ali DeJohn has delivered.

I was only there for the opening ceremony and one day but there were so many little details that an artist’s heart would connect with.

I went to Boulder to take an art class taught by Flora Bowley.

I knew going in that this would be out of my comfort zone…especially with a time frame, completely different art style and a room full of people.

( I teased Jenny at the beginning of class that there was no way she would be clean at the end of the day.  She was…and I now have to send her a prize)

I wanted to be true to Flora’s process and really tried to listen to the steps she was giving and guiding us through.

To be honest it was beyond hard to not use my own techniques, colors etc.

Painfully uncomfortable.  I was really surprised by this.

The morning started off with Flora telling us to drip paint onto the canvas and spray with water and make it blend, drip etc.

As that first layer was drying we started on the next canvas.

Our next step was to take red, orange and yellow…close our eyes…and paint the canvas with our hands.

That piece was then set aside to dry.

We brought our drip piece back in and we didn’t paint on it… everyone else in the room did.  It was supposed to encourage us to feel uninhibited with our piece.

That is not exactly how it made me feel:-)

It wasn’t that big of a deal because I knew it was all going to be covered up but for me art is relaxing, calming, joyful…..this was chaos to me and  I think I needed a stiff drink:-)

Luckily, Jenny Doh and I were in the class together and were laughing and singing the whole time.

(don’t even ask me why whenever I am around Jenny I make up the stupidest songs you have ever heard)

The first half of the day was truly just exploring Flora’s method, techniques etc.

After lunch we were told to reevaluate our piece and decide what we liked.

When Flora came to me I was honest that the piece made me a little nauseous. I wasn’t the only one in the room that felt like that about their piece…..at this point we were kind of creating messes and if that is not your regular process it can be hard to feel like you aren’t creating something “pretty”.

At this point I was given freedom to pick what I liked about the painting…even if it was a tiny part and make my piece about THAT.

And I did.

Then it became fun.

This piece is obviously very different than what I regularly create but that is why I wanted to take Flora’s class.

It is still me.  It is my color palette, my organization in creating and I just made what felt natural.

I love learning new things.  I just didn’t expect it to be so uncomfortable at first.

It is sticking with something.  Growing.  Stretching. Maybe puking along the way…haha!!!!

Not only did I come home with a new piece of art (I was supposed to finish two) but I got to spend time with two women that I adore!!!

Not too bad of a day!

How are you at learning new techniques and getting out of your comfort zone??