Caution: Old Lady Running

About six weeks ago, I did the strangest thing.  I went to my gym – the same gym that I have been going to for years, where I know every member, every machine, every class schedule and every instructor - and I cancelled my membership. I went downtown to a wonderful locally owned store and bought a pair of frighteningly expensive and flashy turquoise running shoes. And then I put in my headphones, pulled on a baseball hat so no one would recognize me, and I went for a run.

I am not a runner and never have been. I used to run in high school to stay in shape for the sports that were actually fun, like soccer and field hockey. And I once pretended I was a runner to catch the attention of a guy I liked in New York. I would hide behind a tree in Central Park when I knew he was going on his run, and then as he neared I would leap out and run past him. Needless to say, we never dated…

But here I was now. Running. Trudging, really. And I didn’t know why, except that it felt like something I needed to do. My ankles throbbed and my lungs burned.  I peed a little bit in my pants. I had been going to the gym regularly, but this was hard. I had to stop and walk.  A lot.  But then, after a few times, I started walking less and running a little more. And then a little more.

Stephanie Sersich on The Art of Teaching Non-Artists

I love to teach folks who have never "done art" before.

Often they have been making things their whole lives (meals, friends, schedules, babies, messes) and were just unconscious of creating. Getting in touch with one's own artistic sensibilities is tough, purely because it is conscious. By the time we are adults, we've developed some sort of fear of expression because we've become more conscious. It's why kids have fun making anything from paper-plate masks to iced cookies. There is no self-consciousness, no fear. 

Good Fortune

Elizabeth and I recognize our good fortune – we live in Maine, an unbelievably beautiful state.  We started Idyllworks because we wanted to share what we love about Maine with other women.  What could be better than bringing women together to share in Maine's bounties?  

We so look forward to our first Idyllworks weekend in June; sitting on the porch at Grey Havens watching the lobster boats and seagulls and sun rising and setting.  I can smell the flowers and feel the breeze off the ocean as I write this.  Maine is truly a glorious place. 

Sunrise at Grey Havens on the island of Georgetown

Retreat Into Knitting

About a million years ago I was living in NYC and my boyfriend’s mother came to visit from Canada. While she was with us we got one of those spectacular snowstorms that hushes the city into a serene white wonderland.  She spent the weekend on our futon couch listening to the radio and working on the knitting project she had brought with her…a wool fair isle sweater with a yoke woven from brilliant greens and blues. I watched in awe as her needles clicked. I had never seen anything more magical. We pulled on our snow boots and trudged around the corner where I purchased my first set of knitting needles and some buttery soft merino wool. I began knitting that day, and have never stopped.

My Resolve to Create

The week between Christmas and New Years is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  There is a lull in the holiday action that I take advantage of to relax, reorganize and reconnect. 

Not much exciting happens, really.  I buy a funky new journal and commit myself to daily writing...again.   I send my holiday cards (which are much more fun to do after the buzz of pre-Christmas activity).  I call friends I have not spoken to in awhile.  Catch some local sales to stock up on warm winter sweaters.  Clean the house.  Take a few long walks with the dog on the beach. 

A romp with Willy on the beach

Art Workshop: Maine Kissing Ball

I know the holiday season is busy. Decorating takes time, and then of course you have to undecorate after the New Year. So who in their right mind would actually make their own decorations rather than buy them?

I would.

It forces me to stop. I put on some music, pour a cup of coffee, and do something unheard of - I sit down. My hands get stained by berries and sticky with sap from pinecones. I am thinking about nothing, just singing and twisting and snipping and poking. And afterwards I have two priceless things; something beautiful that I made myself and a clear head.

Want to give it a try but don’t know where to start? 

Try making this amazingly simple, all-natural, gorgeous Maine Kissing Ball.

A Complementary Art Workshop...

We all can most likely recall the day our sixth grade art teacher, perhaps while wearing a striped pantsuit and dangly parrot earrings (did I just date myself?), tried to teach us the color wheel. Emphasis on tried. Primary, secondary, whateverary. Making a science of color is like dissecting a poem –once you take it apart, the magic seems to disappear.

Idyllworks artists know how to teach without losing the magic. 

Here is a glimpse of a typical Idyllworks art lesson. Free of charge…and pantsuits.

We could tell you that complementary colors are found directly across from one another on the color wheel…red and green, orange and blue, yellow and purple. And you will not remember it.  But what if we instead showed you complementary colors...