Here she is,
My sweet Sadie in our 
field of flowers, our meadow, are happy place this time of year.  
The flowers will be leaving soon, like a dear friend that you don't want to leave town! 
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For those of you creatives who have not sketched from life before, there is nothing like drawing for observation.  This little watercolor drawing was done in my field of flowers.  Just a sketch for me, a sketch to update my skills so I don't get rusty.

Don't have the time?  You really do!  If you have five to ten minutes or 30 minutes to watch a show, you have a little time to sketch a plant, flower, or tree to update your art skills.  
I recommend beginning with sketching organic shapes as they do not have to be perfect!
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Felix the Cat follows us around like
a dog! Yes he is quite a character! And puts up with the young rambunctious 
Sadie the Lab. 

I hold SECOND SATURDAY Art Journaling 
workshops in New Smyrna Beach in June, August, and September.
If you would like to come learn how to play
in an art journal, the class is free to the public as it is sponsored by the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Click below to register. 
 ​https://atlanticcenterforthearts.org/store/expressive-art-journaling-june-8-2019/
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Every Spring our front yard Magnolia's bloom and their fragrant smell lures me to the front yard to observe, reflect and paint them! 
Magnolia Grandiflora 
acrylic painting
30 x 40 inches
painted gallery wrapped edges ready to hang.
Email Laura for to inquire about purchasing.
30 day money back guarantee!  

This month I am featuring two artists who have been creating through Art and Wellness workshops for a year or more. Both artists have come to a level of understanding on how to express their own story both visually and narratively. Thanks to these two artists for giving me permission to share their Mixed Media artwork.   Pam Crawford Palmer and Laura Rocco recently created these works with collage, paint, pens, and other media choice on boards. 
Scroll down to read narratives that accompanies their work. 
TREE AS HUMAN EXPERIENCE
​ Art and Wellness workshop sponsored by the Atlantic Center for the Arts. 

FEATURED ARTIST: Pam Crawford Palmer 

Trees as a Human Experience
Thoughts on my mixed media piece from a recent Laura Bohn workshop
- Pam Crawford March 2019
Peaceful and connected with a sense of movement – a setting sun
reflecting a heart shaped configuration of branches. Palm trees
in the background – an explorer or harvester climbing a palm –
green leaves reaching up with roots reaching down into a starry
night – a tree under a full moon, people gathering together, bare
branches reaching to connect with the roots of the blooming green
tree through the starry night sky – words about journeys – yours
and mine – independent yet intertwined.
Feelings of community – friends – hope – love – adventure –
peace and being connected.
Sunrise and sunset colors – what do you represent?
Roots and branches, do you show how we are all connected yet
separate in our endeavors and needs?
Are we gathering in support and celebration?
I think so!
All of this is my intent
Thank you, art, for showing what my soul feels.
​

For this work, Laura Rocco chose a Haiku by Candy Polgar.
“Alone with myself
The tress bend to caress me
The shade hugs my heart”

Join me, Laura Bohn, at the beautiful Atlantic Center for the Arts

Come enjoy this visual and narrative mixed media art process workshop using your printed or found tree images, words, collage elements, and memorabilia. Based on either memories of trees, symbols, metaphors, or how you relate to trees in the environment through time. This workshop will include a brief session of forest bathing (shinrinyoku).
this Workshop is over.
Contact Laura to schedule a workshop. 

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Day 17 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 day challenge and I am almost finished with painting 7! Yes I could have worked smaller but I just wanted to see how many large and medium size paintings I could get going on.  SWELLS reminds me of the glass waves that come a day or two after hurricanes including the last Hurricane Florence.  The calm glassy waters after a storm is a metaphor for the calm after the storm! 

Greetings Creative Friends,
As the weather finally begins to get cooler and the season becomes busier, 
self-care becomes a necessity to balance out the activities of the season.

Here are some healthy creative prompts in easily managed time slots for busy people

•  5-10 minutes of meditation/yoga/stretching with deep breathing
•  5-10 minutes of daily writing
• 5-10 minutes of art journaling (doodling, collaging, writing, quoting, ,painting). 
• 5-10 minutes photographing nature 

For this Workshop 

• We will do a five minute deep breathing meditation on self-care
• Create a personalized tin as either an alter or treasure box.
• These tin cans contain self-care cards which we will create
• Or the Self Care cards can stand alone and fill your tin with personal treasures or make an alter. 

   Email Laura Bohn to reserve your spot!  bohnlaura1@gmail.com 
   Details and payment deadline will be emailed to you when minimum participants has been            met.
    
      If January is a better option for students, let me know and I will decide which month is  better for the workshop.

​Thanks

Taking photos on your phone of nature can be a therapeutic and creative use of the phone.
The above photo was a photo I took while kayaking on Lake Disston.  I then used a filter on my phone to age it and added a Robert Frost quote.  

The last Spirit Doll Workshop for 2018 was a wonderful workshop!  (Stay tuned for one in 2019) 
The participants made so many amazing personalized figures! To view photos check out
my artist's page on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/lauraknapikbohn/

So, this is number 5 and 6 for the 30 paintings in 30 Day challenge.  Day 17 and I am on painting 7! Yes ten behind but alas, these art two large paintings I began for Day 16 challenge. I won't be finishing these just yet...so untitled and unfinished while I move on to painting 8 tonight after work!  
These two paintings are created by following lines and mark making intuitively, working abstractly.  I can't wait to see how these turn out when I have more time to work on them.
Please feel free to comment! 

Day 15 of the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days ( September challenge) and I am on......wait for it...........
Painting 5! Yikes this is the fourth painting I have done for the challenge.
For THE WATCH, I began painting with a brush since I was feeling burnt out on painting with the trowel knife.  I loved painting the first few paintings with a trowel tool but then I needed to switch it up a bit.
So I started this painting with huge brush-strokes and in the lines I saw what looked like an anhinga start to form. intuitively. I followed what I saw by outlining it a bit and decided that the anhinga was worthy of painting.

The anhinga can not fly until her wings are dry so she must exercise quite a bit of patience.
This anhinga is on the watch possibly with wings that have just dried and now she is ready to fly. Or perhaps she is getting ready for a swim.  
This bird is an astute swimmer and swimming is one of my favorite past times when it is hot out.  I can relate to the traits of this bird so the patient, flying, and swimming bird is a metaphor for a lesson in patience and recognition of the wonderful traits of this bird. 

Well, with my classes and life getting in the way, I only have 3 paintings so far! Can I blame it on my puppy?
 Instead of starting my fourth painting the other day, I kept working on this 3rd one.  I know the Leslie Saeta 30 day 30 paintings challenge explains you don't have to finish each painting but I got carried away trying to figure out what I like and don't like about the above painting.
It is not finished but I am finally stopping for now and moving on to my fourth!
It is day 14 and can't imagine making it but still trying! So here I go! 
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