Phantom Lake Art Camp 2011

This was our 2nd annual Phantom Lake Art Camp... once again hosted by Rita. She is so generous to open her home to us. We spent Thursday afternoon creating the beautiful canvas creations you are about to see. We break for food and wine that all participants bring to the gathering and then we work on another craft project. This year I brought one card for the group to create. I assumed we'd be 'brain dead' from our first project, and maybe a little too relaxed from the wine!!
Here are 4 canvases that Rita created prior to our Art Camp. They were great examples for us to see as we began our creative journey.
Rita is holding one of several canvases she had created prior to our art camp. Rita is an amazingly talented and creative person. We found out that she used to teach art classes... we hadn't known that about her.
Carol's canvas will be displayed in her newly remodeled bathroom. The colors match the gorgeous tiles in that room. The bird on her canvas is actually 3 dimensional and made of wire.

Sandi brought a pillow from her home along to match colors on her canvas. The end result was a perfect match.
Jan chose a music theme using some letter stickers to spell 'music' and 'bach'.
Joanne did a fantastic job of drawing and then painting a floral image onto her canvas.
You just never know how talented you are until you challenge yourself with projects like this!!

Mary H came with an idea and has the 'perfect' place to display her canvas in her home. Mary W chose and oriental theme... of course! Kathy chose one of the wild animal themes and used tissue paper on her canvas instead of painting the animal prints.
All the canvases were beautiful.. and all so unique. It was fun to see how every one's canvas was different from one another and how amazing the end result was.

And here are the final 3. Carol is holding Joan's canvas since Joan had to leave to attend her grandson's baseball game. Joan chose a mexican theme to match some items in her house. Charlene chose the wild animal theme much like one that Rita had created for her home. Jeanne chose a theme of grapes using some stencils to paint the leaves. She plans to display hers outside in a sheltered area of her home in Pewaukee.
All the canvases are wonderful and everyone was pleased with the results. But then, having a terrific instructor like Rita makes all the difference in the world.

Here is the canvas I created. Luckily I had a picture of this in my head before I attended the art camp. My plan is to give this to my niece Paige. Her birthday is in August. I think she'll like it. I may have to mail it to her since she may be moving to MN soon.

The Art Camp didn't end after our day of creating. Some of us stayed overnight at Rita's. The next day after having a light breakfast, which is provided by some of the participants, we took a little road trip to Delavan for some shopping and lunch. We finish our 2 day Art Camp with a fish fry at a local golf course.
During our shopping trip we spotted something that just might be our art project for the 2012 Art Camp!!!