Egg ATC's

I know last Sunday was Easter, but it is still April! I made all of these egg ATC's except the last one for a swap with Latest Trends in Mixed Media. I have never worked in any other shape format for an ATC before. It was a lot of fun! Thanks Sherre for hosting this swap and sparking my creativity in a different way! I also want to give credit to Karen from the Graphics Fairy for the many free images I used in these ATC's. Karen shares wonderful free images on her site that are to die for. I am so grateful to her. In addition, my new blog background is thanks to Kathy from her site Background Fairy.

Bird ATC's

As you can see I have a lot to share about the Women's Gathering I attended. An added bonus to the retreat was a gift from Julia to stay an extra night, Sunday, if we wished. Five of us stayed and had more wonderful time relaxing, visiting, more eating, reading, napping & creating art. Kathy Frost, another very good friend, art educator & artist was also on the retreat. This was a wonderful surprise because I did not know she would be there in advance. Kathy brought some incredible paste papers and dyed textured rice papers which she shared with me. The oranges in the 1st ATC & the blue and rust in the 2nd one are Kathy's papers. Aren't they gorgeous! I gave the 1st ATC to Kathy as a gift to thank for sharing.

My Archetype Collages

On the Women's Gathering that I wrote about in the previous post, I created 3 collages based on Archetypal Companions that spoke to me during our growth work sessions Friday night and Saturday morning. Collage #1 represents the Warrior Companion Archetype. The definition of an Archetype (from Wikipedia) is a model of a person, personality, or behavior. The use of archetypes to illuminate personality and literature was advanced by Carl Jung early in the 20th century.

Friday night we all received an archetype companion card. Mine was the Warrior. Each archetype has a positive & negative side. You can find many enlightenments about yourself in both sides. Part of this session was to brainstorm & write down what popped into our minds about our archetype card. I wrote that my card was right on target because I am a fighter. I clench my teeth. I grab hold & never let go. Everything is all or nothing. I want to win or be right. (I have mellowed out a lot on this one) I warrior to teach my students. I feel that we are in a constant state of battle & much of the time I feel like I am beating my head against a brick wall. Warriors are usually very loyal which I am. I associate warriors with the color red-blood & tears.

In the background of my warrior collage is an atomic bomb and bombed ships in Pearl Harbour. The falcon represents strength, power, & agility. The images of a female tribal warrior, Queen Elizabeth and an Amazon warrior represent me.

My 2nd collage represents the Crone companion archetype. Most people think of a crone as a wrinkled, incapacitated old lady or a witch. In archetypes the crone is the stage of womanhood which is honored & revered as a role model, a mentor and a having great wisdom. My collage has images of women from all walks of life, involved in different activities that are important, entergetic and vital. The colors also reflect life and energy.

My 3rd collage honors the crone again but specifically Georgia O'Keeffe, my favorite artist and woman in history.

Women's Gathering

April 3-6th I attended a Women's Gathering in Blue Ridge, Ga. This is the 3rd retreat that I have attended facilitated by my very good friend, Julia Speer. She is an incredible artist & art educator. Julia has an extensive

background in Women's Issues. Her site is well worth a visit. The focus for our weekend was "Mask as Metaphor-Accessing Your Companion Archetypes." Nine wonderful women,
including myself, spent the weekend on growth work and creating art. We created plaster gauze masks and collaged or painted them based on our personal experience with Archetypes. I made my plaster base mask, but chose to work on
Archetypal
collages Saturday. I am including many photos which show us creating, eating, socializing and connecting. An added bonus are photos of "Deja View" the fantastic house which Julia rented for our retreat.