Arrowmont: ArtCamp/ArtSpa.

I spent all of last week in this nice big classroom at an Encaustic Workshop at Arrowmont.  What a week!  I learned some stuff, so much that my brain is now full.
Isn't this a nice environment for painting and learning.  I snapped these pictures at lunchtime so the room is empty.  All the people are over enjoying a delicious dining experience.  More on the food at this place later...

There were a lot of plugs and extension cords happening all at once in here.  Heat guns, irons, light boxes, griddles, fans galore, you name it and it was plugged in. The technicians planned for this and did their wiring accordingly so when a breaker blows its not the entire room.  That didn't seem to be a problem not even once.

As the week progressed, the stations got messier and messier.  And messier.  It was pure bliss.

We spent the first day or two making backgrounds, learning new techniques and reviewing some of the basics.

We were then turned loose.  Art in progress:

I felt like I was at Art Camp with a little bit of Art Spa thrown in for good measure.  This is the path down to the studios.

Everyone's favorite place, the dining hall.

Food always tastes better when someone else fixes it, a phenomenon I've often pondered.  I could talk a lot about the food at Arrowmont.  Although its not "gourmet", it is real food prepared with care and love.  There are enough choices for everyone, mostly fresh and healthy-although a homemade cookie is almost always locatable.  Smiles were abundant in the dining hall.

I passed this room on my way to the studio so I snapped a picture (through the screen) sort of like a peeping tom might do.  The room was filled with giant life-like clay heads.  Yup.

This gallery/hall was so much fun to walk through on the way to and from.  I swear, every single time I went through here I saw something new as if for the first time.  It goes on and on way back in there and there's a lot of art to see.  A lot.

Art is everywhere at Arrowmont.

And the funny thing is, it is right in downtown Gatlinburg, TN, right on the strip. The hustle and bustle of the vacationers somehow gets lost through all the trees. You don't even know they're there.  On the way out I snapped this picture of Hillbilly Golf out the car window.  Hillbilly Golf, a vacationing-child's dream.  I could not drive past it without proper documentation.

The strip went on and on, but I didn't photograph any of it because my mind was on the wax.  Inspiration is oozing out my pores.  I can't wait to get back in my artroom and get crackin'.  But this, this sweet little tiny carousel on the side of the road was just way too fabulous to ignore.  Here's a nice blurry photo of it taken as we zoomed on by.

Upon my return I found that the bachelors had turned.  They went rancid and starved to death and, and, and, this has now moved into my house.  I was obviously away one day too many.

that's her suitcase right behind so she must be staying...