dj pettitt - gentle whispering hues

an artful journey retreat

It's good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they'll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly. (song lyrics by Curly Putman) I'm back home from An Artful Journey -  inspired and ready to create! 

I enjoy driving to Los Gatos so much more than flying. Much of the drive from southern Oregon to Central California is filled with enchanting views of snow capped mountains, beautiful blue lakes, farm land, and rolling hills dotted with sheep and cattle. The weather and traffic  were perfect on both 8 hour drives, and I enjoyed snapping photos each way. On the trip home, I took photos through the car window while driving (eyes on the road of course). I don't drink coffee, so I needed something to keep me awake. Since I shoot randomly, and don't know where the camera is pointed, I get a lot of crooked images with blurry trees, guard rails, and empty sky, but it keeps me awake and I usually end up with a few keepers.                                                                Imagine my excitement when I downloaded the photos and saw that I had captured a  wonderful cloud face that I hadn't seen when I took the shot. I love cloud faces, and this is one of the coolest I've seen.                                                                                                                        

Below are more window shots from the drive home:

One of the highlights of the drive was being serenaded by Red-Winged Blackbirds at a rest area. There were hundreds of them in the trees surrounding the rest-stop, and it sounded like they were ALL singing. It was the most beautiful sound.                                                        
An Artful Journey was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with friends and students from some of my past classes. The entire retreat was outstanding. Once again, Cindy went above and beyond to put on an amazing event. I'm excited that I'll be teaching there again in Feb 2012.

(attendee prayer flags)

The weather was cold in the Santa Cruz mountains, but so beautiful! It even snowed briefly one morning.                                                                                   Along with snow, we had rain mixed with moments of sun the first few days, and lots of warm sunshine on the last day. When the sun peeked through, the rain drops on the new spring growth sparkled like diamonds on velvet. I drank in the beauty and can't wait till we have spring bulbs and flowering trees here.                                                                                                       

 

Check back tomorrow for more retreat photos! I have more flower and rain drop photos to share as well.

Leaving for a couple weeks

Going to An Artful Journey in CA! I'll be back the end of the month. Have a great couple weeks!

Here are a couple shots through our kitchen window. We're finally getting some brighter days and I'm craving some outdoor camera therapy. Hopefully I'll find some time to do some wandering while down south.

 

demo in Los Gatos at An Artful Journey

I'm so excited to be going to An Artful Journey in a couple weeks! I won't be teaching this time, but I'll be there enjoying the retreat, visiting with friends, and demoing a fun background technique. I love how versatile this technique is, as well as fast and easy. Below, I painted a crow over one of the finished backgrounds.

I had hoped to vend while at An Artful Journey, but I haven't felt well enough to create much for quite some time. I'm so happy that I'm finally getting well though. I was feeling better for a while, but relapsed after trying to do too much. Thankfully, I've found an adrenal tonic that is amazing (although it tastes horrible), and when combined with resting the past few weeks, it has made all the difference in getting well. I can't tell you how good it is to feel like creating again.