Orr, Minnesota!

We had a fabulous week up in Orr last week.  It was our 5th year to go, and last week's weather was PURRRRRRRR -FECT!  It was in the mid 80s, low humidity during the day and cooled nicely for night time.  Lots of family and friend time and time to enjoy the beautiful Pelican lake.  I just published a little web gallery of pictures from one day there when one of the Dad's bought materials like rounded, long pieces of wood from a bannister place and tied them together using knots learned during his Eagle Scout days.  The kids were trying it out!  Check out the gallery. Will add more pics here later...

http://gallery.me.com/ckayser#100026

Kids Art Camp II !!!

Art Camp II was a great success, too! I had a couple more kids in this camp and all were mostly older along with young Tate (age 6) who really loves painting so I let him paint in this camp even though he was a little under the age limit. He did a fantastic job! We mixed a world of colors with primaries, secondaries and tertiaries, and learned about toning, texture, composition. We critiqued all the paintings and talked about each artist's pieces. Lots of great comments thrown out to help them along their way in their painting journeys.

Thanks for a great, fun week working with each of you, Hazen, Hugh, Isabelle, Tate, Grace, Blair and Marley!



Precious little Tate painted a thank you note for me! (Thank you for the art class). I hugged him UP after he gave that to me! Thanks, Tate!!!!

Art Camp I - Wow!

I had a wonderful group of young, budding artists this week for my first art camp of the summer! Wow, did they do a wonderful job! We did self portraits first, and this is a shot of them with their paintings. They learned basic color theory, toning, proportion, scumbling and other fun techniques. They even learned critiquing and involving in conversations about art and fun stuff! Way to go Elizabeth, Hannah, Anna, Gemma and Maggie - you were so much fun to work with, and I hope you continue on with your artistic journey!

Putting Down the Camera

As some of you already know, I have decided to end my photography services as I am concentrating solely on painting and teaching. I have agonized over the last several months about this decision with much thought and prayer and feel that this is what I need to do.

I want to thank my clients over the last few years for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to work with you as it has given me great joy in getting to know you and deliver images of you and your loved ones that will be treasured for a lifetime.

I am proud to refer work to my good photographer friend John Magnoski! John does professional fine art weddings and portraiture and is super creative. He's a great guy and fun to work with as I shot a wedding with him last year. I highly recommend his professional services for any kind of photography you might need.

Please continue to check in with me on painting stuff, my blog, my painting blog of all my latest work and if you might be interested in taking a class from me!

Thanks again!
Claire

Twins and Friends Art Show!

Despite flash flooding and power outages all through the evening of the show opening, we managed to have a fairly well-attended opening, and we certainly appreciated those who braved the weather conditions to come for the artful evening! Thanks to Chicago based jewelry artist Jean Basse for outfitting so many of us with her beautiful jewelry made of gemstones and pearls. Here are some pictures from the night! Enjoy!

The main gallery wall in Carole Foret Studio!

Carole, Carla Swinney, and me



Carole (left) and me, right.