SHOREHAM RETREAT OCTOBER 2011

Shoreham proved once again, that i am the queen of temptation. Three more picked up the brush. lol

In October 2011 we headed back down to shoreham in Victoria for our weekend retreat.
It only seemed like yesterday when we were down there in the cold winter of May.







This time around, we had lovely sunny days to enjoy the walks around the property, to walk to the winery next door and to enjoy the time away from the kids and hubby's.

Trudi completed this wonder page
showcasing her camping adventures.

Most of the crafty women who attended settled in to scrapbook for the entire weekend. They created a large array of artists pages for their albums.....

Jo completed this lovely page
of her and her son Brad.

During the weekend, i managed to tempt three of the lovely ladies to have a play with my paints;

Vicki was the first to have a go
and she created a wonderful flamenco dancer.

Sherryn was next to surrender to the brush and
she was extremely happy with her sunset in aspendale painting.



Anne completed her masterpiece on last morning
and had to carry it home wet.



During the weekend i managed to complete a few artwork pieces myself.

I worked on a few more flamenco style dance poses, one of a couple embracing and then i worked on a semi-nude reclining on a bed to be framed and hung in my own bedroom.

Then on the last morning, i tried to paint a nice male portrait.

THE ARTISTS RUN RIOT IN POINT LONSDALE

In August 2011- we headed off to Queenscliffe, Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads.
Check out this post to hear what we got up to.....

Well i just got back from a fantastic weekend away!

We were extremely lucky to have the most wonderful weather for MOST of the weekend and our little group of friends was officially named by a roving photographer. The weather beaurea had forcast rain, rain and more rain, but apart from a little light drizzle on friday afternoon, the rest of the weekend was bright and sunny- (so we needed our suntan lotion rather than our umbrellas!

Wrap up of the weekend, as follows:

FRIDAY AFTERNOON- QUEENSCLIFF MARINA
After our mid-afternoon arrival, we headed out in search of some dry land to set up and start our masterpieces. We were able to soon overcome the cold, wind and rain at Queenscliff Marina, by huddling under the shade near a few vacant shops to do all our painting.

After we painted these wonderful boats at the marina, we were privy to the most beautiful rainbows as our reward for waiting through the rain and then we enjoyed a stunning sunset as we set off back to point lonsdale to our house.

Our night was finished off with fish and chips, and then we settled down to enjoy the serenading of Clive,

our paint teacher who had brought his guitar and harmonica.

Nibbles, a warm open fire, lots of wine and heaps of laughter was enjoyed by all.

SATURDAY- THE LAKE AND LIGHTHOUSE AT POINT LONSDALE

Our first stop after breakfast on saturday morning was the reflection lake just outside of point lonsdale (on the road to queenscliff). The morning started with a grey sky then turned to a stunning sunlit sky with just a dusting of clouds. And thats were we painted, chatted to the other visitors at the centre and then we just sat and watched the sky move across the water. We enjoyed the simply breathtaking views that our camera just snapped up so we could paint some more when we got home and back to class.



Kathy and Elwin hard at work.



During our paint out down at the lake we chatted to a photographer called scott haskins and he later went on to blog about our group in his 365 challenge later that night. Daryl ended up being the winner of the main photo that showcased our group in his blog. Scott's blog site is http://www.scotthaskinsphotography.com/blog/ 



Daryl in the forefront and Sue setting up in the background.



Then we headed down to the lighthouse after a quick lunch back at the shops at point lonsdale.

Me and my masterpiece. lol

Many of us set up along the pier to capture the wonderful lighthouse in all its glory.

Here i am with my masterpiece, that aparently i could have sold off to a few gentlemen who i thought were giving me a line. lol 

Clive reminded me later that night, that the men HAD NOT been telling ALL the ladies that their paintings were fantastic and that i should have seen the opportunity and pounced and got myself some money. lol







 Aparently i have to learn to be cheekly like Sue when people ask about her paintings. She asks for large sums of money as a joke. No-one has bitten yet, but one day they will, we all joke............... lol

Still painting as the sun starts to go down.

The end of the night was spent at Lombardi's on Hess, where we enjoyed a few bottles of the good stuff thanks to Graham the retired QC, who also provided the best laughs of the weekend. 

SUNDAY- Coffees at diver Dan's place- BARWON HEADS

We ended up (by special request) up at diver dan's place (from the TV show Seachange) on sunday morning, as we HAD tried to book a dinner at his main restaurant for saturday night prior to ringing Lombardi's, but the place was booked out for a wedding. So we all agreed to head to Barwon Heads for coffee on sunday morning for our last paint practice for the weekend.

We searched high and low for Diver dan, but unfortunately he knew we were coming, so he hi-tailed it out of Barwon Heads, as our reputation had preceeded us. lol

So we set up our easels along the sand in front of the pier or on the other side of the building and painted the actual heads. Many people stopped to chat and check up on our work. Some even painted themselves, and showed us their artwork on their phones.

elana and graham on the sand by the pier.

My masterpiece. lol

Sue and Vicki taking a walk to check up on the others.

Then we all packed up and some headed back to queenscliff to catch the ferry back to sorento, and others headed back to melbourne via geelong.

SHOREHAM RETREAT MAY 2011

Shoreham camp in May 2011 was held at iluka, the girl guide's camp facilities and was actioned packed, as usual.

 

As well as scrapbooking, eating, getting our facials and massages, eating, partaking in the worldwide craze of planking, eating, enjoying the clinkers yes or no game, and eating, i also got to try my hand at painting animals for the very first time!

Oh, and did i mention we got to eat too, thanks to our wonderful chef Mark, who attended to our every hunger whim. Cooked breakfasts of eggs and bacon or pancakes, morning teas, huge lunches, afternoon teas, roasts for dinner and supper too, did i mention we got to eat well???

we played games and painted too.

My first animal painting was of duchess, my nieces' cat. i was quiet excited with the finished product.

 Now some of the ladies DID actually get a bit of scrapbooking done- and here's the proof.

My second animal painted was one of sarah's precious dog bella. I was very very excited to see that bella turned out even better than my Duchess painting.

Thanks to Trudi, our next scrapbooking/craft retreat will be held in October 2011, after i return from my painting adventures in Point Lonsdale.

THE ARTISTS RUN RIOT IN LOW HEAD TASMANIA

JANUARY 2011

The fantastic view of Low Head light house was the scene of more corruption in the beginning of the new year!
2011 was the year that i finally managed to encourage BOTH my sisters to join in the fun of an art group excursion.

Whilst celebrating my older sister's 50th birthday in tasmania,
i managed to convince them both to spend one leisurely afternoon with my teacher Clive and some of the students from the tuesday night AND wednesday night classes (which will be merged this year into one great big fun class!).

My youngest sister started the fun rolling with an official photo in the area.

Then we set up with our temporary clip boards, water paint paper, paints, brushes and started to draft our initial masterpieces.

Then with our artwork completed, we then headed off

to check out the views around the area and to check out the rest of the group's artwork.

Then as evening settled, a few of us checked out the penguin parade, while others photographed the sunsets and then headed to the local pub for a meal, drinks and a bit of a flutter on the pokies.

Then my sisters and I settled down at the low head tourist park in our comfy cabins for the evening and then we set our alarms nice and early to continue our madcap adventures in the apple isle- our next stops- off quadbiking and to complete the task of meeting /photographing 50 new friends for my sister's 50th birthday.

SHOREHAM RETREAT OCTOBER 2010

OCTOBER 2010 WE HEADED DOWN TO SHOREHAM TO CRAFT, PLAY AND WATCH THE GRAND FINAL REPLAY AT THE WINERY NEXT DOOR.....


Well here i am painting my little heart out at the craft retreat held in Shoreham Victoria October 2010.

20 ladies headed off to enjoy the tranquil beauty of the countryside   ( however MOST did not venture out of the mess hall) as they were head down scrapbooking.

With chef in tow, we enjoyed ENORMOUS amounts of food- eggs and bacon or pancakes for brekkie, morning teas of scones jam and cream or homemade sponge cake, lunch of homemade soup or rolls with salad, afternoon teas of more cakes and fruit, dinner of roast beef and pork, and then supper- we had very little time to actually craft between meals.

So after all the pampering at the day spa on saturday, we enjoyed a little crafting and then we headed to the winery next door to enjoy a glass or two of red or white, and the big screen TV for all the footy made fans to watch the grand final replay after the previous week's draw.

THE ARTISTS RUN RIOT IN WARATAH BAY

JULY 2010
WARATAH BAY WEEKEND AWAY

July 2010- A group of 6 painters ventured out on friday afternoon for the scheduled 3hour drive to Waratah Bay to spend the weekend painting.
Most of us arrived around 5pm to settle in. Ingrid was the last to arrive, as she missed the turn off and ended up at phillip island, which is miles away out of the way.

Once Ingrid arrived, we piled into two cars and headed for the pub at Fosters (about 40 minutes away) for dinner and drinks. After a wonderful meal, we headed back to our log cabin with bottles in hand, and settled in for the night, to get to know each other.

Prior to breakfast on saturday morning, Clive, Sue, Ingrid, Penny, Mike and I headed out for a walk along the beach to check out our prime painting spots.

After checking out the beach, we decided to have a really quick breakfast, and then we piled into the cars. Our destination would be Tidal River at Wilson's Prom, around the bay to the national parklands that we could see during our morning walk (as shown in the distance in this photo).

Our first stop at wilson's prom was the Tidal River, a beautiful inlet where the ocean and the riverbed meets.

Sue, Ingrid, Penny and I all set up our easels, whilst clive (our teacher) and Mike (penny's hubby who does not paint) went for a bush walk.   

After lunch at the cafe, we decided to follow the river around the corner, through the bushland to Elephant Rock for our second painting spot.

After a wonderful day of sunshine and stunning views, we returned back to our log hut back at Waratah Bay, to settle in for the night. As it was very cold, we decided to stay in and enjoyed home made soup and toasted bread for dinner, rather than head down to the pub again.

Supper followed with chocolate cake and even more chocolate, washed down with lots of white wine that we had purchased the night before, and we stayed up till late at night discussing our own creations and the wonderful views we had seen.

Sunday morning we took up our postions on the beach, which was a short walk from our log cabin.

Overall, a wonderful weekend was had by all in attendance.