Jane Davenport's Blog, page 47

Art Retreats in Australia

I love art retreats. LOVE. It’s a chance to empty yourself of the trials and tribulations of life, and refill with artful inspiration, new friends and experiences. I have planned some VERY special Art Retreats at The Nest, my property in Byron Bay Australia for 2015.

Earlier this year, Angus and I were wandering around the gardens and I said “we should build a guesthouse in this spot. Somewhere for friends and family but also for the retreats”. I imagined a simple building, something like my Studio. But Angus saw something a little grander and he enlisted the help of his talented architect friend Henry Powers and our builder buddy Ben Asher. Between them they cooked up ‘The Sanctuary’.

It has Japanese influences, but a light, airy and contemporary Aussie feel. It echoes the look of our house, but has its own character.  Angus totally outdid himself!

So the finishing touches are being wrapped up this week, and it will have its first trial with our Christmas guests. I want everything to be blissful for my first artist guests in January…

My first artist guests will be participants in my MENTOR retreat. I quietly put mention of my MENTOR retreats up in my store, and they are full  bar one spot  January 16 to 18  and two spots on 13th to 15th February 2015 Session. These are limited to 4 people. You stay in the Sanctuary. We look after you. We make art all day and you can make it all night if you want to! It’s a chance for me to work on an individual basis with you.

Click the image for info:

On March 21 and 22, I have an Artomology Weekend Workshop. We will be  concentrating on Whimsical Faces!

The weekend workshops are a bustle of creative activity. You arrive at 9.30 for a 10am start and we make art all day and I send you off exhausted and inspired at 5pm. Most people stay in Byron Bay overnight to enjoy the beach, buzz and yummy restaurants before you head back to the Nest for a Sunday of art and learning!

You can click here to book and for more info.

 

In July 19 to 26 2015, I have have my first week long retreat in Australia. I have planned Escape Artist retreats in amazing places ( and will continue to do so – so much fun!), but I thought, this is my favorite place in the world, right here. So why not share this space?

I can’t wait to share my home and beautiful Cape Byron with you. We will create art here of course, but also visit some of my favorite journaling haunts. These are places that you may recognise from my videos and workshops. You will do yoga with my instructor. Angus will cook for us. We will go to Miss Margaritas for the best nachos ever! And we will make a lot of art.

It is in our winter, so we can snuggle up to the fire if it’s cold. But winter here is beautiful. It’s green, so , so green. And very conducive to creativity.

You can find out more here!

I can’t wait to share my space with you at these unique events.

Spaces will fill quickly, but we will have waiting lists if you miss out.

Have a wonderful day dreaming of ‘the Nest’!

xoxox

Jane/ Danger

read more about my  Art Retreats here

 

 

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Drawing lessons from my own humble beginnings.

I have just completely reworked the very first workshop I ever created. ‘Draw Happy’. It was 2011 and my very first step into filming myself.

When I was refilming I cringed a little as I looked at the old videos – but thankfully, my message was so heart-felt  and useful that those wobbly baby steps could be forgiven by the people who have taken the workshop!

Draw Happy is my ‘starter-kit’ – a mini workshop that has helped thousands to start Art Journaling and to relax into their drawing . I created it especially for people who say  that they ” can’t draw” . I love that I can get peeps creating faces in no time. I have concentrated drawing a face down to the absolute minimum and I call the result a ‘Draw Happy’ face because it has a style of of it’s own!

There are several reasons to draw faces.

1. It is regarded as one of the most challenging subjects to draw, and yet we start there ( building courage!).

2. As an Art Journaling tool, being able to represent yourself,a friend or family member is SO creatively freeing.

3. Probably the best reason: Drawing people is fun!

What I noticed in my classrooms, is that after the initial rush of the first drawing steps, after a month or so, many people then start to get frustrated with their drawings. We all want to get amazing straight away! And this phase of learning is critical because people can give up on themselves. What it comes down to is practice and the gradual building up of skills. But I can’t always be standing in the room encouraging you to keep drawing, so I thought how can I short-circuit this potential blip?

I created my Jane Girl  Stencils to help new drawers work through some facial proportion lessons as a teaching aid that could help decipher the landmarks of the face and really bring learning along much quicker. In particular, three-quarter turned faces and profiles cause a bit of angst for people not confident with drawing them ( I have a stencil dedicated to each of those scenarios in each of my ‘Jane Girls’ series).

So I decided to add a few videos of the stencils in action to the workshop. And I thought it was so powerful to see how you can create beautiful, complex, nuanced face from such a humble beginning that I wanted to share one of the videos with everyone.

I hope you enjoy this little peep into ‘Draw Happy’. If you are already a member, you can just sign in to the School and see all the new videos ( we just extended all our class memberships – past present and future to Lifetime Access – so go have a look!). If you would like to join, or have a creative being in your life that needs a little encouragement, you can register here.

If you are already drawing then, this class will probably be too basic for you. Try ‘Supplies Me!’ instead – the all new version of that starts in January 2015, and then you will be ready for ‘Beautiful Faces‘ in March.

I design all my workshops so they fit with each other. My guiding principle is to keep you drawing and painting. I don’t want you to give up. What I want for you, is  all the joy that fully living in your creativity brings a person. That is my contribution to making the world a better place.

And to think, this all started with some wonky videos taken at the beach.

It’s important to celebrate your beginnings, isn’t it?

xoxox

Jane / Danger

p.s I even left that original vid in the workshop!

 

 

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MY BOOK HAS TOUCHED DOWN!!!

I knocked myself out over this divine little number! Look at her – isn’t she  – can I say it — breathtaking?

And we are receiving our advance copies this week. My hands are shaking as I type. Luckily I can’t smudge my words ‘cos I  *may* be a tad emotional and elated.

I got my first copies on Monday…and my Advance copies sailed into Sydney Harbour on Friday. They are grooving their way on up the Pacific Motorway to my doorstep as we speak!

I have an awesome deal in my store when you order an Advance copy and the Workshop together!

And of course your copy from me will be lovingly signed!

So you can also sign up for the Workshop which opens on March 1st.

The books are listed on  Amazon and other booksellers as available from Jan 1st.

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The books are listed on Amazon and other booksellers as available from Jan 1st.

There’s lots more info on the shop site – I hope you celebrate with me!

xoxox

Jane/ Danger

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A week of announcements!

I have quite a few big announcements to make this week. Really fun stuff!

But the first is the winner for the tote bags! As you know, my tiny doglette, Tinsel, picks my winners for me, and she loved learning a new french word: ‘époustoufflant’ (breathtaking). It’s fun even trying to say it.  so… drum roll please…

Aurélie!

“Waoow! Your brand new tote bag collection is just amazing! It is quite difficult to choose which bag I prefer… I just love your ‘girls faces’. They are your ‘marque de fabrique’ as we say in french. But this time, I would be soooo happy to get your ‘Feathers in her hair’ bag. It is just ‘époustoufflant’ (breathtaking) ! I love this strong and soft at the same time profile. The ethnic touch and the fact that it looks like a dreamy Rorschach design. Well, that is quite normal because your art makes us dream.

Congrats!

You can see the Totes here: http://society6.com/janedavenport/bags

If you have one of my totes and are somewhere beautiful, please send me a pic, or tag me on Facebook, of you and the bag it in use!

Here is Angie Partridge in Rome with ‘Dreamer’. I met the lovely Angie in the UK earlier this year at my Arty Party workshop. Don’t you love her hair?

This is the tote I took to the beach this weekend ( Nature Study):

I’ll be back later to tell you about my other shenanigans ( bounces in chair!).

xoxox

Jane/ Danger

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Epic Pen tips, a whirling rainbow and Moonglow.

A little video on my favourite pen in the universe.

You can get it here: http://www.instituteofcute.com/epic-drawing-pen/

That pen makes my heart throb. Like mad.

And the Daniel Smith Primatek watercolors are having the same effect… especially Luna Blue, Kyanite and Moonglow ( click the image to get your hands on some Moonglow!)

I have been working on lots of new work and planning my next two workshops. I am nearly ready to spill the beans on them both… but their are clues everywhere!

If you follow me on Instagram you saw this little beauty whirling around…

I’ll just test it out a bit more before I tell you all about it – but hello! magical…

xoxox

Jane / Danger

 

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Get whimsical!

InterWeave, who publish Cloth Paper Scissors, my Whimsical Face DVD and all my Art Lessons: Supply Stash Series seem to be having an especially awesome sale at the moment. Did you know that they sell art supplies in the USA too? It’s where I first saw a Gelli plate… I thought it was the most fascinating thing. And obviously plenty of others did too because they were always sold out!

Fast forward a few years and now if you type in ‘Jane Davenport’ on the search bar on the  interweave site, up pops a lovely list of arty publications that I authored/created.  In fact three of my publications made the Editors Picks List! Having a mind trip about that.



Anyways, just sharing.  Maybe some Christmas Stocking fillers for yourself are on the cards? Use the banner above  or the link below to access the sale.

Save up to $30 when you spend more at Interweave

Happy weekend and get your art on!

xoxox

Jane/ Danger

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Frida is an Emotion

I have a review on the new Distress Stain Sprays over at the Cloth Paper Scissors blog today. Do you really need more sprays? Probably not, I know I don’t! But I have Rainbowitis, and the distress colour range is just so beautiful ( hello Tea dye, Antique Linen), so I’m willing to risk too much of a good thing.

When I sit down to create, I rarely know what is going to happen. I have a general idea, and maybe a feeling for what colour or art materials I want to use. first. And life just goes from there.

I am thinking about Frida a lot ( part of my brain has a little Frida shrine set up with flowers and candles) so it’s little wonder that she keeps making appearances in my artwork. Mr. Angus refers to her as ” the lady with the eyebrows.” Yes. the eyebrows. But so much more. So, so much more…

she represents a feeling to me… an emotion.

The Art Lessons are here.

Click here for the blog post.

 

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Guest Blog Post at Cloth Paper Scissors

I have a review on the new Distress Stain Sprays over at the Cloth Paper Scissors blog today. Do you really need more sprays? Probably not, I know I don’t! But I have Rainbowitis, and the distress colour range is just so beautiful ( hello Tea dye, Antique Linen), so I’m willing to risk too much of a good thing.

When I sit down to create, I rarely know what is going to happen. I have a general idea, and maybe a feeling for what colour or art materials I want to use. first. And life just goes from there.

I am thinking about Frida a lot ( part of my brain has a little Frida shrine set up with flowers and candles) so it’s little wonder that she keeps making appearances in my artwork. Mr. Angus refers to her as ” the lady with the eyebrows.” Yes. the eyebrows. But so much more. So, so much more… she represents a feeling to me… an emotion.

The Art Lessons are here.

Click here for the blog post.

 

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Fridalicious Friday!

This week is Fridalicious! I have Frida on the brain as usual (My other obsessions are Marilyn Monroe, mermaids and art supplies.) but lots of Frida things are happening at the moment, so I thought I would gather them all up in this post.

WHY FRIDA?

After studying Frida is depth for my online Frida-inspried workshop, I am wearing bright colors and flowers in my hair as a daily tribute to my art-hero. It feels good to be out of black! Although I share none of Frida’s pain (or obsession for a notorious womaniser) Frida and I share quite a lot.  We are artists, we swear, and have an earthy sense of humour. We share a cosmically aligned birthday  (she altered her birthdate to time it with the Mexican Revolution!), we both share a love of journaling, dolls,  and teaching ( her students referred to themselves as Los Fridos.I wonder if I could get my student to call them selves Los Jane-ohs?).

STUDYING UNDER THE MASTERS

My lesson about Frida Kahlo is the feature of ‘Studying Under the Masters’ this week. ( Click here to join.)  Creating my artwork for the workshop  was a joy, but very challenging. For this collaborative workshop each participating artist aims to re-create an artwork from their selected ‘Master’. It was HARD! But slipping on Frida’s shoes, flowers and color has changed me forever. We then used our ‘Masters’ inspiration to create our own work. I created the coolest journal in the world. I don’t mind telling you that lol! It’s full of Frida and her amazing spirit – so of course I think it is the coolest thing ever!

I started filming the workshop in my studio at ‘The Nest’ and finished it when I was in Bali. I was meant to be relaxing before and after my Escape Artist retreat ( which was wonderful!), but instead I was a whirling flurry of paint and Fridas!

My Workshop has inspired some awesome Frida Kahlo paintings… My love for Frida is shared by many!

Just in case you don’t know who I am talking about, check out  ‘Frida’, the movie with Selma Hayek. Frida Kahlo is not only one of my favourite artists, but fills me with inspiration and emotion. I am making a pilgrimage to her house in Mexico City next April as the highlight of my ‘Viva Frida’ workshop. That workshop is full, but I’m sure once won’t be enough, so just come along next time ok?

……………….

FRIDA KOAHLO

Last year, one of the Koalas that visits my garden had to be rescued ( you can read the story and the meaning behind the funny koala pic here). I named her Frida Koahlo. Even though she could not be saved, which still makes me tear up, because of her, I become involved in supporting the wonderful ‘Friends of the Koala’. They rescue, rehabilitate and research these endangered animals in my local area.

My dear friend, Diana Rast, is a wildly talented glass artist based in Florida, known as Dizzy Bead, and she was so touched by the plight of these cute animals that she created a series of memorial ‘Frida Koahlo’ in GLASS. She has very kindly donated this Limited Edition Collection to raise funds for koala rescue.

Click here to make your donation!

FRIDA INSPIRED ART

I find it too difficult to separate Frida from her Art.  Frida was art. That is how she inspires me anyway. But her magic is that she inspires everyone in a different way.

‘Little Frida’ – This is my latest Frida print. My Society 6 Store has free international postage and $5 off per item until November 9th.

Click here for the special offer And there is one more Frida to come next week…. as part of a special Blog post with Cloth Paper Scissors next Monday…. I’ll let you know when that is up on their site…. this is a sneak peek:

These are the Frida Books I recommended in my class! Click the image to go straight to Amazon!

This is her Art Journal:

This one is about Frida as an artist.

This book is about Frida’s life.

The Frida movie featuring Salma Hayek is a favourite:

For a bit of fun:

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Art Lesson 11

Art Lesson 11 is here.

click here to buy it!

Art Lessons 2014 Vol. 11: Freestyle with Distress Inks and Stains

 

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