So now it is Friday morning September 18th and I am at the destination of why I actually started my trip across the Midwest to Colorado. (See previous posts). The Makerie, which is a company owned by a very sweet and smart lady named Ali. The Makerie arrainges and sponsors art retreats and this is her 15th. There will be one in Philadelphia in April of 2016. She set up a retreat with one of my very favorite artists, Geninne Zlatkis. I received the email early in the year and thought about it for maybe 5 minutes at the most and signed up. It was very limited seating (eleven) and it sold out quickly with a waiting list of 84 people. It was held in @handstudio, which is actually an individuals working space who of course was in our group and Fran is her name. I will have some pictures later in the post. It was a beautiful day in Boulder, sunny, perfect temp and a beautiful studio and I get to finally meet Geninne! She greeted each of us with a hug and “Hi, I’m Geninne”and she had her signature hat and pretty skirt.We all were just really thrilled!! This was the package that was at each place setting. Geninne had stamped our name tags, and bags with her handcarved stamps. Inside the bag was our carving tool, pencil, a small art palet and a paint brush, tags and cards to stamp on and a pencil along with her “Making an Impression” book that she wrote about handcarving stamps. Paula, who also was a classmate and was living in the area made these wonderful paper houses with little battery tea lights and a matching chapstick because she knew how dry the air is in Colorado. She also brought a perfect acorn which I absolutely love. All my classmates were lovely women and we represented all over the country, New York, Florida, Montana, California, Colorado, Kansas and Indiana. Everyone was interesting in what they did outside of art but we all had so much in common too. We have kept in touch through instagram and facebook.

So we all sat down and got started. We introduced ourselves, explained where we were from and what we did and told when we started following Geninne. Let me tell you now that Geninne is a lovely, giving, funny and humble woman. We all loved her personality and wanted to go home and live near her. We felt so lucky to be with her and each other for three days. First off we were going to learn to carve stamps. We all went outside and foraged through Frans shrubs and garden to find natural specimens that we could draw simply, to carve. Here is the picture of where everybody had been sitting and stamping on the paper cover table. We all would stop and take pictures and instagram them. It was a great time!! Ali always had healthy snacks out, different ones each day. Dried mango slices, snack mixes, nuts, dark chocolate raspberry chewy wonderful things. She also had very healthy lunches for us each day, sponsored by different companies. Whole foods, The Long i Pie Shop and another that has slipped my mind. We used compostable utensils and pretty cloth napkins. It was all just a real treat!

Here Geninne was showing us how she carved her fishes. She, zip zip, drew it onto the block and , zip zip, carved it out in no time flat.(She has done it a few times :). One of my lucky classmates won it in a name draw.

Just another closer angle of her carving out the fish.

When we finished our stamps, Geninne arraigned them on the floor so we could take a picture and see all of them. It looks so pretty and so many great ideas that everyone came up with.

We also stamped in a heart everyone’s stamps along with Geninnes and drew a name for it. We will also get a high resolution copy for ourselves to print off.

We all also made pictures with our stamps and hung them up to be photographed. These are fun and pretty.

I had gone around and taken pictures of other classmates areas to show their different ideas.

The bulletin board in @handstudio. It was a wonderful studio with interesting things to look at, magazines, a beautiful bathroom (so important to women). We loved Fran too and wanted to live by her, such a gracious and soul beautiful woman.

I especially loved her heart with wings. She had art items all over that were made by other artists along with her creations she makes. It was such a fun place to be.

On our third day (Sunday) we broke out the acrylic inks and Geninne explained her process for painting on rocks. I had not used colored acrylic paint before and really enjoyed it. Here is everyone’s creations laid out on this woven piece which was a great backdrop. I love looking at all the ideas.

Here are other items from my retreat. In the bag we also had the Turbo cards that Geninne made when her dog got sick and passed away recently. I had watched him from when he was a puppy and these were very special. The smaller one is her business card. We received a recipe card from the Long i Pie Company with a beutiful watercolor illustration. The bag that Geninne made up to put items in that she sold. My cards and tags that I made from the stamps I carved.

She brought with her prints and originals that she was selling. I bought the leather journal that she and her husband Manolo make. It has a moleskin table inside of it.

I have made notecards up from the stamps I carved at the retreat so sell at an art fair on October 10. It is A Renaissance in Roanoke.

I have continuted to carve now. It is very soothing and addicting. This stamp was made from my sweet potato vine leaf. Notecards I am also selling at the art fair.

I picked up some colorful acrylic inks and continue to paint on rocks now. I am hooked…you just put little things on them and they are just so cute and decorative. I am in the process of finding more.

Painted a tall ship and a whale tail on that larger rock.

I was just in awe of the mountains and the sunsets. I couldn’t get enough of them. I chose my hotel perfectly because it was only 3.2 miles from the @handstudio. It was a Hampton Inn only two years old and the beds were so comfortable. I reccommend it whole heartedly and I had a huge unobstructed view of the mountains. My retreat was everything I could think of…and more. Thank you Geninne, Ali, Fran and all the new artist friends I made.

We were sad when we knew we had to go, back to our regular lives. It was a retreat from the world doing something we love to do and meeting someone we admired. As usual, thanks for stopping!