Friday, April 4, 2014

A couple of weeks ago I had

the AWESOME opportunity to take a class IN REAL LIFE with the 
fabulous, oh-so-talented, [and humble] 
Junelle Jacobson. 
I signed up for this amazing event over five months ago - 
I wasn’t disappointed.
 [I can’t get enough of this favorite little owl of mine]
Throughout this post I’ll be sharing bits of the art we created during the weekend 
 [partially so Junelle’s mom can see that we DO finish things… lol]  
I absolutely adore how Junelle brings her faith to her art – how she weaves in her relationship with God to the pages / projects she creates [and inspires us to create as well!]
It was so precious when she was a bit overwhelmed 
with all of us fan-girls taking her photo as she started our class—
 [BUT WE WERE THRILLED TO BE THERE!!]
 Then Donna came back in the classroom and joined in the fun.
I know I’ve shared more than once that I think Junelle is a wonderful art teacher – when I take her on-line classes it really does feel like she’s sitting right beside me showing me how to sketch each little piece of something and add water colors or paint and papers, then splatters or ink to give it that perfectly imperfect,  finished look.

She opened a whole new aspect of art when she taught me the basics of water-color – love that. I also REALLY LOVE her whimsical take on sketching and water colors and art in general.  It’s taken me back to what I’ve always loved to do and help me make it better [I hope -] 
So, anyway, I hopped on a plane and took off to Charlotte , NC 
all by myself one Thursday afternoon… 
[Was THRILLED] to meet one of my bestest friends from college for breakfast the next day – It was just so wonderful to sit down and catch up on each others' lives.
And I LOVED the little town we met in [Statesville], although, I think the guy who took our photo had had a little too much caffeine [we met at a coffee shop!] 
Our bad for not checking it before we left…
Then I headed over to the Donna Downey Studios – I’ve taken classes with Donna before [first back in 2008 in Chantilly, VA – then at her Inspired Event in 2009 – then at scrapbook stores in Georgia – and most recently [only – NOT] at Spark, in Utah, during 2011.]
I’m always inspired by her art and how she’s so willing to take risks and try new things
 [and put in the work to become proficient at it too!] 
So let me just say – HER STUDIO IS AWESOME.
 And for $10 / day you can go and create there using all of her goodies!! 
I wish it were closer to home!!! 
 And even though we are very different - 
 I think she’s a hoot.
Soooooo ----
Junelle started us out teaching us how to sketch basic spring things – lol – 
the name of the class was “Letting Our Inner Gardens Grow” – 
So it was definitely garden themed…  
From sketches she walked us through some basic water color techniques – LOVE. 
Then we started our art journals… 
I chose a little square book by Max Lucado 
and hoped to use some of the quotes in it as part of my art… 
What says spring more than forsythia and redbud trees?
 [A total copy from an on-line friend –  Thanks Rene – yours is better!!]
Once they were ready she walked us through different ideas for the pages inside. Junelle was very hands-on and walked around our little group and offered praise and assistance as needed. We used water color and acrylic [and anything else we wanted from The DD Studio] to make our pages come alive. And since I’m still grieving my mama’s death 
as well as the recent loss of my cousin, you can see that some of my pages reflect that as well as the goodness of God [even when I don’t understand His ways…] 
And yes, you can see that I’m still working on some pages…
Of course, we had to do a lamb or two – always SO FUN. 
I’ve not decided on the verse / journal / quote for this one yet. 
And Junelle suggested we try a black background 
[the ‘Timeless, Boundless Love’ was in the book already –]
I covered the insides of my book with the paper 
our sandwiches were wrapped in – lol – I loved that newspaper print!
[Remember I used it for the bird’s nest on this page as well --
it's a favorite page of mine -]
And I incorporated some of my travel stuff and stamps from Donna’s studio – 
with hand-drawn flowers...
And drew one on my girls with the song – I Need Thee Every Hour Most precious Lord… I need thee – HOW I need thee… every hour I need thee…
So meaningful to me right now...
Then finished up with another of Donna’s stamps – quote in the book 
and a little water color bird flying free from its cage… 
I love this little book that depicts a bit of where I am, right now, in my life. 
And I love that this art is just for me – 
there’s just something special about creating just for me – 
although, I hope you’ve enjoyed it too.  
Maybe it’s given you some ideas of things you can do?
For the front cover [which I ALWAYS do last for some reason] I decided to use one of Junelle’s quotes [from a photo I took of it --] – in her own handwriting [which is beautiful, btw.]
 I’ll share more about the weekend in a couple of days –

Side Note: I attended one of Donna’s Inspired Events a few years back, so I was aware of the attention to detail that she and Bill give to each person attending, and this little weekend was no exception. They are THE MOST WONDERFUL HOSTS and will do whatever it takes to make you feel special. Her mama makes the best lunches and they offer whatever your little heart desires in the way of candy, drinks, and goodies. As I said before we had access to tons of products in the classroom – and she has a WONDERFUL store where we could purchase just about everything we used so we could continue to play with it once we got home.

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