Rosalie and Cecile at the Beach, Encaustic on panel by Veroniquelatimer

http://veroniquelatimer.etsy.com

Announcements:

Hope everyone’s holidays have been going great!

Mark your calendars. We have an all-team meeting coming up on Jan 12 at 7:30 pm. More info to be posted soon, but for now – enjoy celebrating the start of the New Year! 2009 is going to be a great year for the BEE team!

Some of the BEE team took up the challenge to create a mini masterpiece and send it off to a ’surprise’ person.  The catch: if you’re willing to give one, you’re also suited to receive one!  Below are some pictures and stories of the exchange.  This was a fun project and I’m sure we’ll do this again.  :) Happy holidays BEEs!

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I received my wonderful parcel from Beth Billups several days ago.   Beautiful, Inspiring, and Amazing!  This 6 inch cradle board is framed with black painted wood.  The back of the piece is covered with brown paper for a very neat presentation. 

“creativity, inspiration, community” are the three words collaged onto the incised jar images.  Beth incised the lines and colored them black with oil stick.  The lower half of the piece is an image of honeybees! (my favorite!). I am truly honored to have an image of Beth’s.  She is a very detail oriented artist who knows about great presentation.  Beth’s website is super.  We found out we have similar taste in music and we are both (originally) from Michigan!  Yes, that is snow to the right of me in the vertical picture—we have about 30 inches on the ground as of today and the temp was about 15 degrees today. 

The gift exchange was a super idea.  I hope the person I sent work to doesn’t feel shafted (sorry Pam if my work is strange!).  All in all, this group started by Shannon has been a wonderful new community of artists that I am very thankful to be a part of.  Happy New Year Everyone!

 - Melissa Hronkin

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I could hardly wait to get my surprise package in the mail.  I wasn’t even sure who all was participating in the exchange, so I really had no clue who’s work to expect in the mail.  I was overjoyed when I saw it was from Jamie.  Jamie has a lot of really similar interests as me: likes to create her own home made wax, works in unique shades of reds, and yellows, does image transfers some, and is opening a bed and breakfast retreat place for artists (a dream of mine to start as well!)  So it was a lot of fun to open my package up and realize the painting was perfectly suited for me: two trees sharing roots.  A lot of my own artwork has been about the themes of community lately and I’ve slightly obsessed with trees and plant imagery.  ;)  Thanks Jamie for the wonderful work.  It couldn’t have been any more perfect for me!  

- Shannon Newby

sitting at my doorstep.  I haveadmired her work for years and knew I was sure to love the piece inside.  The piece she sent is from a series entitled “seeking shelter” which deals with dreams of tornadoes.  I love the color, depth and living quality of this piece and it is sure to serve as an inspiration for many years to come.  Thank you Deanna!

  I was so happy to open the box to see such a  personal painting inside!  Sue Simpson  of earthtonestudios.etsy.com made such a  wonderful painting of a house and below it says  ”Welcome Friends.”  This is perfect to hang at  Sweetland Artist Retreat and B&B to welcome our  guests!! My heart was so warmed to know that  she made this especially for me.       

 I love the collaged elements- the house is made  from a page from a book, tree bark, fabric trim,  burlap, and a nail (as the doorknob– how a

I waited with such anticipation for my holiday exchange piece to arrive in the mail. I was squealing with glee as I opened it. I was so happy to find that it was this beautiful piece from Pam (studio0706). I love the theme of birds in artwork, and the colors are so soothing. Even the frame is gorgeous. I also feel like I got a good deal out of this exchange, as the piece is 8″ x 8″! Lucky me!   

I appreciated the piece even more when Pam shared with me why it was special to her. She spent quality time with her father while making it and “shared” together as this piece came to life. So, not only did this exchange allow the members of our team to connect through artwork, but it created sharing between family members as well. Thanks, Pam, for this wonderful piece, and to everyone else for participating!

- Kathryn Dart

 
I was so excited when I received my “special package”. Mine came from Kathryn (Kbean). Along with her painting she sent a letter explaining her piece and her thoughts behind making the piece. Her theme was sharing. Sharing in the way we do in our group. Artist coming together. The piece has twine, which is one of my favorite mixed media elements. The colors are also colors I use in my home. I have hung the piece in my studio. As an artist who spends a lot of time alone in my studio, this will remind me of the community of beeswaxteam and the generosity of Kathryn and her beautiful work. 
 
Merry Christmas,
 - Sue Simpson

How To…. 12 x 12 x .5″ Encaustic on panel    Erin492

Hi BEEs,

A few quick announcements:
1) Our Holiday Team Newsletter was just sent out via email. If you did not receive a copy, please email me asap at writeshans [@!] gmail.com with your email address.

2) Holiday Gift Exchange participants – please send me and/ or Pam (pamm4 [!@] comcast.net your write ups and pictures. These will be posted on here soon!

3) Mark your calendars for an all-team meeting Jan 12th at 7:30 pm. This meeting will be to discuss our goals and plans for the year 2009. All input is needed to make this team great! (more details to come – stay tuned).

Merry Christmas!
- Shannon