Yay! Thanks to these amazingly generous sponsors {and a few more that we’re currently talking to}, Girl Crush Seattle with the lovely Tif Fussell has been reduced in price. Instead of $275, it’s NOW $175! I am so overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone who is trying to make these workshops happen – thank you all soooo much. There are 4 spots left {and for those of you who have already signed up, I’ll be refunding you $100}.

If you’re thinking about attending, here’s what we’ll be doing… we’re going to spend the morning talking inspirations and artist blocks, and then try a few exercises to help break through those pesky blocks. Then we’ll have a lovely lunch followed by an afternoon of creating a collaborative piece of art that will be hung as a group show {for a month!} at Assemble Gallery & Studio!!! Tif is stepping away from her Dottie Angel persona for the day to be the artist that she truly is… and I’m actually going to get out from behind the blog, roll up my sleeves and make some art! Both Tif and I love collage work, that uses found imagery and found objects. We’ll supply all sorts of things to put into the piece. Here’s a sample of some of Tif’s work, and some of {gulp} mine:

Yep, quite the combo… I can’t wait to see what happens when all 12 of us put our work together! Oh, and half way through our amazing art project we’ll take a tea party break – art, tea/coffee and a whole bunch of beautiful cupcakes. But wait, there’s more… before we all head home, we’ll be giving out gift bags {made by Tif!} filled with all sorts of artsy surprises {you’ll have to wait and see}, along with a copy of Uppercase Magazine! See, you’ve got to come! Sign up here.

{Thank you so much to Assemble Gallery & Studio, Trophy Cupcakes, Uppercase Magazine, Caffe Vita, and the lovely Tif Fussell for helping make this happen. Oh, and ps. I’m working on lowering the price for all of the other workshops too, so stay tuned as the announcements for the other cities roll in… just working on sponsorships! Happy weekend}

I love this work by Hanna von Goeler, and it just so happens to be a perfect intro into this bit of news I have for you.

So, as most of you know {I hope!} the Girl Crush workshops + tea parties are underway! San Fransisco {with Lisa Congdon} happened last Saturday, Seattle {with Tif Fussell} in May is almost full… but the rest only have two or three sign-ups. I did a little survey and realized that $275 was just too much money for most people in this economy. In San Francisco I used almost all of the money to put the event together {there was a little bit left over, and since I never intended these workshops as a way for me to make money, I am donating it to Southern Exposure, an arts center in San Fransisco that supports emerging artists.} Most of the money went into the tea party part of the event {which was amazingly delicious!!}, but after talking with all of the women that attended, the most important part of the day was actually meeting each other, hearing Lisa Congdon’s story/experiences, and breaking through a bunch of our insecurities/artist blocks. And so, I’m going to lower the price in all of the cities. YAY! My plan was to make them the same price in every city {seems fair, right?}, but the price will be determined by the sponsors we are able to get in each city. I didn’t go the sponsorhip route in San Francisco, but should have. I’m going to work more closely with the host artist/venue to see what we can do about having a lovely tea party {it still has to be fancy – pizza and plastic cups just won’t cut it I’m afraid!}, at a lower cost to you.

Here’s the thing {heart currently on sleeve}, I just really want these workshops to happen. San Fransisco was amazing! All of us got so much out of it, including a whole bunch of new friends/creative cheerleaders… who doesn’t need a few more of those in their life, right? Right!

Anyway, thank you for listening… I hate talking about money! As I work with each city, I’ll let you know what the prices have been changed to, and exactly what you’ll be getting at each workshop. Stay tuned! xo

I literally don’t even know where to begin… well, at the beginning I guess! The first of eight Girl Crush workshop + tea parties happened this past Saturday in San Francisco, at the lovely studio of artist/illustrator Lisa Congdon. She welcomed 14 of us {12 attendees, me, and my amazing intern Taylor} into her creative, inspiring, art-filled studio for the entire day:

She shared her story {from 1st grade teacher, to full time artist… ok, there were a few other stops along the way!}, and the behind-the-scenes of her process. So much beautiful work in one place! The other thing there was an abundance of {besides neon pink}… lovely, warm, inspiring, open women. Really, their reasons for attending the workshop were amazing, and their willingness to share their experiences truly blew me away. We spent  the morning talking inspiration, artist blocks, and the mean things we might like to say to our inner art critic {which I won’t repeat here!} {*”Amazing Things Will Happen” ~ hand lettering by Mary Kate McDevitt}

… and then of course there was the tea party! The food was amazing, and did not stop coming! {Thanks so much to Batter Bakery, Square Meals, and Coffee Bar …mmmmm!}

Of course after five or six chocolate ganache cookies, what better activity than a gallery walk! Lisa had arranged to take us to three galleries around the Mission. We popped into Guerrero Gallery, Southern Exposure, and Gallery Hijinks:

Gallery Hijinks is the gallery that reps Lisa’s work in San Francisco. Jillian, {on the right} the owner/director was amazing! She gave us the low-down on how she got started {just fueling the whole ‘insanely inspiring day’ theme}, and then back to the studio for a few more cookies, and a raffle {Lisa gave away two of her Collection-A-Day books, and two large panels… not to mention a zillion things in the gift bags! See, is it any surprise that I have a girl crush on her?}

Thank you so much to everyone that came… I am so honored that you trusted me, and I’m so thrilled with the lovely, inspiring day we had. It was a dream come true for me! And of course, thank you to Lisa for inviting us into her creative space – we loved every single minute of it! xo

*Most of the photos were taken by Taylor, my heaven-sent intern! Also thanks to Maggie, and Tiffanie who took a few of the shots as well.

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Ok, I’m not usually a ‘testimonials’ kind o’ girl, but I just had to share some of these email snippets from the women who attended! {If you weren’t at this one, I hope you can make it to one of the other 7 cities – there’s a list of cities & dates in the right side bar}

The experience on Saturday was such an amazing one and to think I was so super nervous about the whole thing. Everyone was so interesting and beautiful and I wish I had miniature versions of all of you to keep in my pocket. On my drive home, I thought a lot about the things that were talked about and I felt a shift in my thinking and just now writing about it, I’m getting teary eyed because Saturday was exactly what I needed to get me over the rather significant hump of ennui that I was using as an excuse for not moving forward with my creative work. ~ Catie

I had such a blast yesterday.  What a great group of inspiring women!  Thanks everyone for being so supportive and encouraging. ~ Kelli

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your space.  I don’t know if it’s the light, or the nooks and crannies of art and collections, or if it’s all the creativity that you’ve already oozed all over the place, but that room does make one feel like all kinds of amazing things can come spiraling out of one’s head at any time. And to all of you, thank you for being so gosh darned neat-o yourselves. Surrounded by so many interesting stories and pursuits, it would have been easy (for me) to feel overwhelmed and somehow lesser.  Instead, you all left me feeling like I was riding a rocket of supersonic awesome. ~ Maggie

A day later and I am still beaming about yesterday. What a fantastic time being with like-minded women and having the chance to hear Danielle and Lisa’s stories, and ask all those questions. I came home a changed person.~ Tiffanie

I just landed in San Francisco! Yep, tomorrow is the very first Girl Crush workshop + tea party, and it’s happening at Lisa Congdon’s lovely studio in the Mission. The fancy sandwiches & stacks of sweets are almost ready, the gift bags will be stuffed this afternoon, the neighborhood galleries are waiting for us to pop by, and the inspiration/artist block bashing starts tomorrow at 9am! I’ll report back with photos and details next week… have a lovely weekend! xo

{1.Hello Halo 2. Victoria Smith ~ Sunday in the City series 3. CJ Prints 4. Victoria Smith ~ Sunday in the City series 5. Ork Posters

Yes, this is an announcement for Girl Crush No.8, and I am beyond thrilled to tell you that it’s going to be hosted by a major girl crush of mine! In fact, she was one of the very first artists that I ever wrote about, AND I just did a post about her last summer on sfgirlbybay…

Jennifer Davis! Oh my word, I love everything in Jennifer’s bizarre/beautiful portfolio, so when I received an email from a gallery in Minneapolis saying that they’d like to host a Girl Crush workshop/tea party with me & Jennifer, well, I jumped on it! Luckily Jennifer did too, and so we’ve booked it for Saturday June 23rd! We’ll spend the morning talking artist blocks and inspirations, have a delicious tea party style lunch, followed by an afternoon of making art a la Jennifer Davis! I know… so fun, right!? Now, where are we going to do all of this? At the lovely gallery that emailed me out of nowhere, of course! The Soo Visual Arts Center:

So. Much. Fun.

I hope you can come… you can sign up right here!

When you hear the name Dottie Angel, I’m quite sure you immediately think of the faceless, crafty goddess who resides at Mossy Shed, and looks a little something like this, yes?

Well, I am so excited for you to meet the woman {with a face} behind Dottie Angel… the insanely talented, Seattle based artist, Tif Fussell:

Tif and I have planned an AMAZING, collaborative, creative tea party for Seattle! The theme… “assembling”, and I’ll tell you why. Twelve of us are going to “assemble” at the very lovely “Assemble Gallery & Studio“, where we will “assemble” a collaborative, mixed media collage {using vintage papers, thread, text, images, buttons… whatever Tif and I can dig out of our studios, really}. After spending the morning talking artist blocks & inspirations, we’ll have plenty of ideas to work into our piece! Now, the most exciting part… our finished, “assembled” piece will hang as a group show at Assemble Gallery! Seriously. When the show comes down a few weeks later, the collage will be snipped into individual pieces, and you can each take one home for your very own studio wall. Here’s a quick look at an example that Tif put together:

Ah, so lovely! Oh, and did I mention that we’ll be eating stacks of sweet little cupcakes while we do this?! Yes, yes we will. If you’d like to join us on Saturday May 19th, in Seattle at Assemble Gallery & Studio, just click here to register. YAY!

{Thank you so much to Tif, and Andie & Emily at Assemble… and to Seattle blogger/writer/photographer Melanie B. for getting this whole Seattle Girl Crush rolling on Twitter! I think she has it almost sold out, so sign up soon!)

When I first announced the Girl Crush Workshops + Tea Parties in January, I did not have LA in the schedule… but then a WHOLE bunch of you emailed, and tweeted, and left messages on my facebook page… apparently you really like art, and you really like tiny little cakes! So, all of that to say, I listened. And look who I got!!!

I’ve had a girl crush on LA based photographer Stephanie Vovas from the first moment I saw her work. She’s a very successful photographer who specializes in, well, vintage-looking sex-kitten kind of shots… um, is it wrong that I want her styling team to make me over so that I can pretend to be one of these sassy vixens? Just for one day? Please!!! Ok, look at these stunning images, and I guarantee you’ll have a girl crush too:

Love. So much love {…you might recognize some of her subjects –  Robin Tunney, Gillian Jacobs, and Diora Baird to name a few!} Anywho, I’m knee deep into a girl crush over here, and I hope you are too because, on May 26th Stephanie and I will be hosting a Girl Crush Workshop + Tea Party at Edgar Varela Gallery :

What a great space, right!? We’ll spend the morning talking artist blocks/inspirations, followed by an amazing catered lunch. But wait, there’s more! After lunch, Edgar Varela himself, will take us on a gallery tour of the neighborhood, giving us the inside scoop on the latest shows in downtown LA. It’s going to be fabulous… wait, is that a Beverly Hills word, or can I use that in this post?

Sign up here if you’re interested!

Wow – what a month it’s been! I can’t believe how well these Girl Crush workshops+ tea parties have come together! The first one, with the lovely Lisa Congdon in San Francisco, is exactly one month away! It sold out within a week, and as of a few days ago, is completely organized {right down to the color of the sprinkles on the cookies!} … and here’s who I need to thank for that:

First of all, a truckload of xoxo’s need to go to Lisa for being our host! She is clearing off her work tables, and filling them with cupcakes; she has organized a bunch of fancy swag*; AND she has even arranged an afternoon of gallery hopping around the Mission! FUN!

1. Daily Dose of Sunlight: seriously, this girl literally is a daily dose of sunlight! Taylor, a blogger and photographer, dropped from the heavens into my inbox, and asked if she could be my Girl Crush helper/intern for the day. I said, um… YES!

2. Oh my word – you should see the menu for the tea party! A very gourmet tea party lunch will be catered by Square Meals, and the insanely decadent treats are being made by Batter Bakery {thanks to Anne Sage from Rue Magazine for the reco – we’ll save you a sand angel Anne!}

*3. Arch, an art supply store in San Francisco, has very kindly donated a bunch of arsty stuff to be popped into our swag bags! Thank you Arch xo

4. Cargoh is the home to my lovely online shop where you can purchase a spot in any of the upcoming workshops. Speaking of which…

April is just around the corner… if you’re in New York you should come and spend a day with me and painter Samantha French! And a little further along in the 2012 calendar:

Painter Lisa Golightly in Portland, and mixed media artist Alyson Fox in Austin… AND the latest announcement, made just yesterday:

Yes – Shauna Alterio will be hosting a tea party at her gorgeous loft in Philly! She’s the woman behind Something’s Hiding in Here, and Forage Bowties {along with a zillion other crazy creative things!} Two spots have already sold for her October 13th workshop/tea party, so sign up soon!

Stay tuned… I have an amazing artist on board for LA {also in 2012}, we’re just trying to confirm a space and a date! Ok. That’s it. Whoa – I have to sit down after that. Have a lovely weekend! xo