the red thread...

A few weeks ago I dragged myself out of my hermit-y ways and headed to Maryland to the Blue Mountain Retreat Center for the annual Red Thread Retreat.  This was my second time attending the retreat, so I knew I would be in for a weekend of fun, laughter, delicious healthy food and lots of art making.

The first retreat I went to was in October 2012 - when superstorm Sandy put a quick end to our fun.  This year a lot of the attendees were women I had met at the first retreat.  

I mentioned in my last post how over the summer/after my move I had fallen into a rabbit hole of depression and despair.  Well, spending time with these talented, fabulous women was just what I needed to pick me up out of the depths.

There is so much magic in the air when people come together for a common purpose and I think that magic relit the magic in me.

It had everything I needed.  Peace, quiet and open air; to be surrounded by nature.  Woods and fields to walk. A chance to explore not just art, but myself as well.  There was fantastic, healthy, delicious food.  An opportunity for a wonderful massage, which I took advantage of, and so much laughter and sharing with friends.

  Beautiful skies...

Fairie cups on trees...
 
 A chance to learn new techniques and to spend hours creating in a safe, encouraging environment

 We made several books and learning how easy it is to make the different styles was so fabulous.  One project was on found word poetry.  We were given old books to search through and told to cut out the words that spoke to us and make them into poems.  I was a bit intimidated but was pleased with my poems.

 Above, three of the books we made and the box that we painted and TAP'd "Grace Notes" onto.  *Grace Notes was the theme of the course this year at RTR.  If you haven't done TAP (transfer artist paper) before, I highly recommend it.  It is quite fun!

 I crossed the Potomac twice and drove beside the Shenandoah, I think, as well.

 

 I visited with this sweet little girl for a bit as her brothers and sisters headed for the woods and weren't up for saying hello.

 The view from the road was quite lovely.  I spent half my time holding my camera up and just snapping pictures.  If I stopped on the side of the road every time I saw something that I wanted to capture in photos, I'd never get anywhere!  (above is the road coming home - below is the road headed to the retreat)

 

If you are looking for an adventure, one where you can create things, make friends, enjoy gorgeous views and fantastic food...head to the Red Thread Retreat.  

Hope you are having a wonderful start to your week.  I'm heading down the road a ways tomorrow to the farmer's market and an antique shop.  I'll see if I can't find some photos to share.

blessings
~*~