Winter Wonderland

I finished our fun winter wonderlandscape! We'll paint this on Nov 18th at 6:30p. It's an easy painting so you can bring a friend to introduce to decorative painting. Details.

I'll be at Jerry's Artarama Art of the Carolinas this next week with the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild. We'll be looking after the instructors and working in the ATC make and take it area. Come see me on Friday afternoon.

Art of the Carolinas

The dates for the show are:
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 13 - 15, 2009.
The workshops begin on Thursday, November 12, 2009.

TRADE SHOW HOURS:
Friday & Saturday: 9:00a.m. - 5:30p.m.

Sunday: 10:00a.m. - 3:00p.m.

WORLD OF ART CHALLENGE
Featuring the
Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild.

The pieces can be viewed in the Boardroom in the workshop area during Art of the Carolinas at the N. Raleigh Hilton next weekend:

THURSDAY
12:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
9:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.
SUNDAY
9:00a.m. - 3:00p.m.

Be sure to check out CMMG's Artist Trading Card station in the workshop area.
They will have a make and take area set up for free fun!!

Lets Have a Painting Party

We're planning a painting party for Friday, Nov 20, 6p - 10p.
We'll paint a delightful little chipmunk eating a stick of peppermint, another great Lydia Steeves design, eat pizza and party.
This is not a difficult design, so you can introduce a friend or relative to the fun of painting.

Register now so that we can have your surface and paints ready for you.
Mark your calendar and plan to join us.
$32 includes surface and paints.

Santa at the Fair

I'm proud to share that my Santa, a Ronnie Bringle design, received Best in Show.

Children's Decorative Painting

Artful Endeavors sponsors Best in Show for the children's decorative painting at the NC State Fair. We like to encourage our your artists. Congratulations on your wonderful art work!
Here are the entries from

Preeti Chandra ages 3 - 8

and Jessica Dohme ages 9 - 15

What's Happening at Artful Endeavors

We've had a busy fall at the studio, painting Santas, ornaments, and assorted other fascinating designs. Many painters have been focusing on holiday gifts and decor items while some of us have painted more winter themes. We've planned an exciting schedule to finish up 2009 and start 2010, so be sure to check the schedule and copy it for yourself. We have lots of winter themed items with scenes, birds, snowies, and Mrs Santa is visiting Cary to have her picture painted. Be sure to note that we have more 1 & 2 week class coming up so that you can work them into your busy holiday schedule.

I have some request for a Friday class in Dec. We can paint a design that can be used on an ornament or small gift and can be completed in two hours. If you are interested in painting on Fri, Dec 4 let me know. This would be a class where no experience is needed so it could be a great holiday event for you and your friends. Respond to artfulendeavors@earthlink.net.

We've had a number of our painters return to painting after a break and have heard from some that plan to return as soon as life gives them a break. It's been great to see everyone again and the studio is definitely more lively. We appreciate all of our painters efforts to help us keep the studio door open and our classes available. I hear that the recession is ending, so please take heed and come on back to join or start our classes.

Our community of painters has grow since we have had some enthusiastic new painters join us, some for the first time as they paint the basic project, you remember the blueberries I'm sure, and some painters who have recently discovered us. We welcome all of you and enjoy sharing our painting experiences with you.

We have a Painting Party scheduled for Friday, Nov 20! Mark your calendars and plan be here. We'll paint Lydia Steeves' adorable chipmunk with a candy cane. He is realistic style and so cute. This is not a difficult design so it's a good time to bring your friend or relative that might be interested in painting. The fee includes your surface which will be a clever small banner, just the right size for this chippy, and the paints which I'll furnish. Be sure to register soon so that I can have your supplies ready for you that night. It's 6p - 10p. We'll all chip in on a pizza and bring goodies to snack on. This will be the first of our fun painting parties.

More party fun! Some of you remember that we have our holiday party after the first of the new year since it is so busy at the end of the year. Our New Year of Painting party will be held on Wed, Jan 6, I think. I'm thinking through details, maybe another painting party with a fun design that we can complete in a couple of hours. I'll ask for your suggestions on date and subject so come help me decide on the fun details.

We'll plan another Basics class for Jan. I just need to decide on dates. Please spread the word. You are my best advertisement.

Did you make it to the state fair? We have quite a good display of decorative painting this year. It was so much fun to see all the paintings.

We tried to take photos of as much of the display as we could so we'll have photos to show you. Congratulations to all of you who took home ribbons. We're working on adding a catagory for our patterned designs on canvas for next year. The craft and hobby department has been so nice to work with us.
Congratulations to Barb Watts who earned Best in Show for Hobbyist with her wise men fire screen! Way to go Barb.

If you visited the Village of Yesteryear I hope you said hello to Janice Axelson. She had a wonderful display of her paintings and was a great example of all the exciting painting we are doing these days and the historical significance. I was glad to get a chance to meet Janice in person.


Be sure to watch for my project in the next Decorative Painter. It's the little gift bags.

More news later.

Explore your creativity at Artful Endeavors.
Liz

November Painting Party!

Painting Party/ Girl’s Night Out!

Friday Nov 20, 6p - 10p

We'll bring snacks and drinks and have fun painting the delightful Chipmunk with Candy Cane by Lydia Steeves.

Add this night to your calendar and join our first painting party!

$32 includes surface and paints. They will be ready for you to dive in with your paint brushes.

This is not a difficult design so you can bring a friend or relative for a fun night.

We'll order pizza and have desert goodies!

Please register ahead so that I can make plans to have your supplies ready.

Classes and Seminars

I've been working hard to paint samples of our upcoming projects for you. Be sure to check out our Welcome Santa on the class page. This is a Sat, Oct 24th class.

The studio students and I have been choosing new projects to update our schedule for the rest of the year. We've made some exciting choices and I'm looking forward to painting them. I'll post the updated schedule as soon as possible.

Our Holiday Bird class was full and lots of fun. All alike and all different. It's always interesting to see all the variations.

Remember to take some time for yourself and plan to paint.

It's really DecoArt Americana Paint

Awhile back I received a question from a fellow decorative artist and thought if might be of interest to you.

Hi Liz,

Your projects in the gallery are so pretty. I noticed that the colors are so vivid and brilliant. I noticed a lot of your classes are in acrylics which leads me to ask about your gallery projects. Can you tell me the paint medium that the Sunflower and Monarch, Fall Collection, Fruit Table, Christmas Memories and Potting shed are painted with? My guess is that they are all Jo Sonja paints. Usually the Decoart & Delta paints are not as brilliant since they don’t have much pigment. I hope you did not mind the question, you are a lovely painter. Thanks so much for your time. I am planning on attending a seminar at your studio and I look forward to meeting you.

Patty Bookmyer

My answer:

Hi Patty,

I don’t mind the question at all, however, sorry, you are wrong.

I am an acrylic painter. Most of my paintings are painted with DecoArt Americana paints where I get the “vivid and brilliant” colors. I’ve been using them most of my decorative painting career and fine them to be an excellent paint and very versatile. I love color! I do use the DecoArt Traditions some times and find them to be wonderful paints with strong pigments especially the reds and yellows. And they are compatible with my Americana. My portrait work is done with Jo Sonja paint which works well with the techniques that I use. I plan to try the Traditions with my next portrait.

All the pieces that you mentioned are with Americana paint.

Patty's response:

Hi Liz,

Oh my goodness, you are good!! You have inspired me to keep working at developing my painting skills with the DecoArt Americana paints. DecoArt should really let you promote for their product because you are amazing!! Also, I have learned something new with you mentioning that the Traditions are compatible with the Americana paints. I have heard good things about the Traditions paints but did not want to invest in another complete set of paints since I have the DecoArt, Jo Sonja and some oils. Thanks again for emailing me back with the answer.

I do not mind at all if you post my question and please add the comments I made about you being inspiring and that you are amazing with those acrylics!! It is always nice if someone shares knowledge and experience with others. That is how we learn and are inspired to keep trying.

Thanks again for your time!

Patty Bookmyer

Artful Night Out

Chatham Street Cafe was lively on Aug 24 with decorative artists enjoying an evening meal out together and we had a great time. The company was wonderful and Gayla had a delicious buffet prepared for us. With classes back in session I'm a little slow in getting our photos on the blog.



Here are a few photos of our night together.