TreeSpiritedWoman

January 12, 2017

The TreeSpiritedWoman adventure begins.


I have never been to the Mayslake Peabody Estates in Oakbrook where our class was to be held. As it turned out is an amazing mansion and has such a rich history. It was built in 1919 by Francis Stuyvesant Peabody who was the largest coal producer at the time, heavily into politics, and avid sportsman. He hired a noted Chicago architect to design his retirement home. Unfortunately he only enjoyed this place for less than two years as he died of a heart attack in 1922. Nonetheless, the grandeur of this place was appealing to Kathy and I as we headed to our TreeSpiritedWoman class site.

Walking into the class site, the first thing we noticed was that there was so many art supplies all around--overwhelming sort of. In a panic, I asked the lady next to me if we had to be artists to be in this. She said no and not to worry and that the teacher was great.

The teacher then greeted us and said go put your coats on the chairs around the table in the back. So Kathy Creely and I go back there and here is the set up....





We looked at each other and said, Is this our kind of class or what? At that moment I wished that there were so many people here that would enjoy this...Barb, Allegra, Dan--we'd have an amazing time.

So the class began with the deep breathing, a reading of the following Native American prayer, and introductions.

All that we have is a gift.
May we be thankful.
May we celebrate.
May we share.
We are grateful for this time together
to renew our spirit, to share our trials and
our lives, to find new strength and peace..
Introductions always lead to interesting knowledge about individuals--a base to build relationships as class continues. We then read the prologue of the book and discussed it.

Finally, the teacher overwhelmed us with an explanation of materials and demonstrations. I learned new terms like mixed media, gesso, polymer coating, tack iron...the list will be endless, I can tell already. Then, we went and played with art. I tried things I have never done, and we were supposed to end up with an ugly piece of art. I accomplished that without a problem.. lol

As class we will begin to build the layers of our art pages....can't wait to see where this goes. Honestly, I am still not sure what I am doing, but I am happy to be doing it. I was so energized after this, and it has to be good for the brain synapses, I am sure.  Gotta love the arts!