Exploring Cold Wax and Oil Painting : A Mini Retreat of Fun and Creative Adventure!

ReMe Presents-Exploring Cold Wax and Oil Workshop

Hello everyone!  This year has been a whirlwind for Jean and Jodi as they have moved studios,  grown their event hosting from 2 to 4 workshops & retreats,  added on a 'home' for the ReMe Sandhills event, and perhaps even bigger news for Jean-she's opened a gallery & studio space right next to the ReMe studio called "ARTworks Vass"  (be sure to like the gallery page on Facebook if you haven't all ready!

The  latest ReMe mini retreat was recently held at ARTworks Vass,  "Exploring Cold Wax and Oil Painting" with  (Jodi Ohl) at the helm as the instructor, and Jean holding down the hospitality end of the mini retreat  throughout the weekend.

And what a weekend it was!  We started off the event with an arty party/show opening,  featuring Jodi's new collection of cold wax paintings entitled "Serendipity".   Tons of visitors stopped into the shop to mingle with fellow art lovers and students, as our ReMe co-owner, Jodi Ohl, discussed her new work and processes.    With students traveling in from around the country to take part in this contemporary process of using cold wax with oil painting, you could almost feel the excitement in the air the night before the  weekend of creative exploration!

After learning the basics of what cold wax painting entails,   the students began working on various substrates that would develop over the 3 days of scraping, scratching, painting, and layering!  We were all amazed that with the same instructions, how different each and every painting turned out!

Eating, drinking, painting, and being merry--what more could anyone want?  To be sure, all the students and instructor walked away with a treasure trove of information to explore even further after we parted ways on Monday.

If you missed out on this mini retreat and are interested in cold wax and oil painting, rumor has it that Jodi will be teaching an introductory course online entitled  "Abstracts in Cold Wax and Oil Painting" at the end of the summer.  She is gathering up student names and emails that have expressed interest and want to potentially join in  the online course. If that person is YOU, be sure to sign up by clicking HERE.  *Students on this list will be first to know about having early early bird specials, plus benefit from some product and or class giveaways*

Our next major retreat for ReMe will be our flagship event in Ocracoke the first week in May.  While it is sold out (our May event is very small and sells out each year BUT in the event someone cancels and you'd like to be on our waiting list, please email us at reme@remeretreats.com

We hope you will continue to visit us and and partake in all that ReMe and ARTworks Vass has to offer both online and in person!   Thank you for your support and patronage!   YOU are why ReMe continues to grow and evolve, and YOU are why we love our jobs more than you will ever know :)

Until next time,

Jean and Jodi
Along with the ReMe Team

A New Home for ReMe - The Sandhills - October 2017

Early registration is now open for
ReMe - The Sandhills - October 2017!  

(Yay!)

And we're happy to annouce

(Insert Drumroll Here!)  

that due to popular demand

(More Drumroll Here!)

We have a new house to call Home for ReMe - The Sandhills - 2017! 

• This house is all that we could have imagined for our perfect home in The Sandhills.  
• It's located in the Historic District in Downtown Pinehurst, North Carolina.
• It's within walking distance of The Village and its shops and restaurants.
• It's within a twenty minute drive of our studio classroom.
• There's an outdoor garden and yard area that's beyond beautiful.
• There's a cozy living room and fireplace for informal gatherings.
• There are several dining areas and other gathering places.
• There's also a pool table, a dart board, a hot tub, and so much more!

The only downside to this property is that there will be room to house just ten guests, plus your ReMe Hosts, Jean Skipper and Jodi Ohl.

We'll be offering two different ReMe Retreat Reservation Options next year as a result.  The first will include lodging in The ReMe House, and the second will be offered for guests who wish to coordinate their own lodging.

Rooms in The House will be filled as reservations for them are received.  If informal communal gatherings are a priority in your ReMe Retreat Experience, we encourage you to reserve early to be sure that space is available.

You'll find photos of the house and more information about it here...

http://www.remeretreats.com/lodging-and-travel1.html

You'll find our reservation page here...

http://www.remeretreats.com/register-now-for-reme---the-sandhills.html

(Please note that both "First Time Guest" and "Alumni" payment buttons are available.)

And you'll find the first draft of our week-at-a-glance-schedule here...

http://www.remeretreats.com/reme-sandhills-schedule-at-a-glance.html 

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In the mean time... we'd love to hear from you.
If you've stayed under the same room with us at a previous ReMe Retreat, 
what were your favorite parts of the experience?  

If you've not stayed under the sane roof with us yet at ReMe,
what would you anticipate most eagerly?

Please provide us with your thoughts below in the comments.

We really mean it!  

In fact, on March 28th at noon, we'll use a random number generator to select a winner for a surprise package from us to you.  What will be in it?  We'll be as surprised by that as you will!  And we promise that it will be good.




More of your thoughts are a good thing. So to keep things interesting, we'll ask you to leave up to one comment per day.  


Sharing our post on any social media site will also get an extra entry too.  Just be sure to leave a separate comment below that contains a link for your share.

Thanks for playing!

A New Year - A New Brick and Mortar Studio for ReMe Retreats in 2017!

2017 is ushering in so many wonderful happenings at ReMe.  And we're looking forward to sharing each and every one of them with you.  The first of these is uber-exciting news for us.  On February 1st, ReMe Retreats we'll be moving into our very own brick and mortar studio location here in Vass, North Carolina!

• This means that ReMe will have a real-grown-up-formal-retreat-company-commercial-style-studio-and office at 127 Main Street, Vass, NC 28394.  (Yay!)
• This means that Jodi Ohl and Jean Skipper will have new studio homes in the location too.  (Yay! Yay!)
• This means that that our space will more than double, and we'll be working year-round on new classes, new collaborative projects, and new ReMe Experiences  for YOU,  (Yay!  Yay!  Yay!)

The new ReMe Retreat's Studios will be located just next door to Creative Studios NC. This will allow us continue to work closely with Jan McClay and her team, and they'll continue to host our larger scale classes and ReMe Experiences here in The Sandhills.  Jan will continue to represent Jodi and Jean's work, and she'll be able to expand her classroom and gallery presence as a result of the move too.   

Indeed it's good news all around for us, and we hope that you're excited about it too.  We'll share more details and photos with you as things progress.

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In the mean time... if you have any handy tips for smoothly and efficiently packing and moving two wildly creative and overstuffed artists' studios... 

or if you have suggestions for the things that we should consider as we're setting up our new digs... please provide us with your best words of advice below in the comments.  

We really mean it!  

In fact, on February 11th at noon, we'll use a random number generator to select a winner for a surprise package from us to you.  What will be in it?  We'll be as surprised by that as you will!  And you can be sure that we'll include a wealth of the abundance that we'll surely discover during our move too.

More of your thoughts are a good thing. So to keep things interesting, we'll ask you to leave up to one comment per day.  


Sharing our post on any social media site will also get an extra entry too.  Just be sure to leave a separate comment below that contains a link for your share.

Thanks for playing!

ReMe-The Sandhills A Tour around Moore County

A couple of weeks ago we announced our newest retreat location for the ReMe as "The Sandhills" of NC.  Where is exactly the Sandhills and what does this area offer you might be asking?   

Officially (according to Wikipedia) the term "Sandhills" comes from the topography of this area dating back approximately 20 million years ago:

The Sandhills is a region in the interior of the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. It is a strip of ancient beach dunes which generally divides the Piedmont from the coastal plain, and is the evidence of a former coastline when the ocean level was higher, or the land lower. The beach deposits were formed principally during the Miocene Epoch, about 20 million years ago. Typical beach fossils are found along the front edges. The coastal plain is terraced from other ocean levels, but none appear to have been so long-lasting, so as to build up dunes of this size.

Moore County is the official 'home' of ReMe. Our area is probably best known for its pristine golf courses  (including the majestic Pinehurst #2 course which has hosted the men's and women's US Open several times),  but you will also find quaint small town life nestled amidst the long leaf pine trees.    The area is rich in the arts, with hundreds of artists, musicians, writers, and crafter's calling The Sandhills home as well.  

You can travel many of the side roads off the beaten path and find stellar homes nestled in between lush landscapes, bringing you back in time when properties had personality and not cut from from the same 'cookie cutter.

Churches dot the community and tie the neighborhoods, families and communities together.

We have several hotels but there are also a variety of Bed and Breakfasts to visit for tea or a cozy weekend stay.

In the heart of downtown Southern Pines you can find a variety of locally owned businesses touting unique goods, handmade items, even olive oils and fine cheese.

Of course there is the iconic Sunrise Theater that is a nostalgic favorite for many.  Grab a glass of wine at the box office concession stand and enjoy a Oscar winner film after grabbing dinner at one of our eclectic dining choices

During ReMe-The Sandhills, we not only immerse you into several days of artistic endeavors, we will treat our guest to evenings around The Sandhills with many extra surprises in store for our guests.

We are hoping you join us for this one of a kind retreat experience this fall,  we are anxiously waiting your arrival down here in the heart of North Carolina! We know you will fall in love with The Sandhills and enjoy every minute of your ReMe Experience.

To find out more about ReMe and ReMe-The Sandhills, visit  our website by clicking HERE.  

***Spaces are about halfway filled up so we encourage you to register soon to claim your space!  If you sign up before July 1st, we can offer up to a 4 payment plan!



*Watercolors of landmarks around Moore County by our very own ReMe host and instructor, Jodi Ohl.  To see more of Jodi's work, please visit her Etsy shop where she has items ranging from notecards, bookmarks, prints, original paintings and online class for sale. 

When Opportunity Knocks - Jewely - ReMe - Ocracoke - May 2016

Here's a glimpse of the class creations from Jean Skipper's 'When Opportunity Knocks' class at our ReMe Retreat on Ocracoke Island in May 2016.  To view each individual work in its full glorious detail, please click here.

So much talent.  One's better than the next!

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Please stay tuned, as we'll be debuting our latest ReMe Retreat on 

Monday, May 23rd.  To be among the first to receive this information, 

please join our mailing list using the link on the left side of this page. 

Grateful Moments ReMe October 2015

If we have been a little quiet over here at ReMe it's because we all are coming down from the retreat high of our latest ReMe adventure in Ocracoke.  As quick as it started, it seemed we were saying teary goodbyes!   As all of us immerse ourselves in the 100's of photos taken during the course of the event, here's a sneak peek at some of the beginning preparations we had going on behind the scenes before this lovely group of women joined us a little over a week ago on Ocracoke.  We will be sure to share even more as the weeks go on so you can be at the retreat in 'creative spirit' with us!

We try to make the retreat as carefree of an adventure as we can, that's why you'll see all of the organizers and instructors schlepp tons of goodies for the 'kids' to play with and or purchase if they choose while we are together.     Lucky for students, we are all hoarders    "collectors" of a bountiful  amount of goods they are able to use  for classes. That in and of itself saves tons of money and stress from having to purchase your own stash for one class!

Yes you see prescription bottles to the left of Penny's display, but there's no pharmacist needed for what's inside--a dose of artsy goodness in a variety of forms (some have labels, ink nibs, watch parts and more).

Jean has a huge collection of stamps and tools to make embossing metal a breeze! Hammers, pliers, and stamps..oh my!

Jodi may have more paint then a Michael's store just sayin :)   Plenty of colors, mediums, and other fun tools to be shared with our guests so they can get their paint on with professional results!

A little peek at our pre-guest arrival the first night. The ReMe 'elves' had a fun little project to get everyone started in the festivities.  That was after our catered opening night dinner from an island favorite eatery. I'm not sure how we created anything after that feast!!!

Can you believe Eduardo brought all this delicious authentic Mexican cuisine over to our house on these beautiful platters?     Be sure to visit Eduardo's Taco stand if you are on the island.  You won't be disappointed!!

Oh lookie...a treasure from our May girls!   A sweet surprise for us to discover as we set up for the event!

Penny brought a personal treasure to decorate and inspire our coffee station.  The island brings forth a sense of peace and grounding for sure, but we all need reminders from time to time to allow it to come into our being.   One of our lovely guests, Audrie,  was nice enough to share breathing and yoga techniques each morning to whomever wanted to participate.  Taking a few minutes each day to breathe deeply to  ground yourself is so important.  Self care is something we all say we need to do, but do we really take the time necessary to do it? It doesn't even have to be a huge amount of time Audrie shared, it can be as little as 15 minutes a day or whenever you have time to spare, and you will start to see a difference in your world.  

This year has been  quite a year for your ReMe organizers, we all have faced our own personal mountains to overcome, yet at the core of it all is our faith in doing what we love and faith that we are on the right path no matter what life twists and turns show up at our door step. Each and every one of us uses words and text in our art.  Here you see one of Jean's pieces that reminds us that One Day At A Time is all we need to focus on in those crazy days of life. Sometimes it's one minute at a time.      This year once again we were blown away by the stories our October girls shared with us. Poignant stories, of triumph, overcoming obstacles,  funny adventures, and amazing accomplishments.    

We are lucky indeed to have had the pleasure of their company for our 4th ReMe retreat.  Thank you all who joined us, you will forever be in our hearts and are now one of our ReMe Sisters for Life.

Stay tuned as we will be sharing more memories and moments from ReMe 2015.  

If you are looking to join us in 2016, please sign up for our newsletter (link is on the left) for updates and announcements!

Artfully and gratefully yours,

Jodi, Jean and Penny

Congratulations to our "Favorite Things - Art Supplies" Giveaway Winners

First off, we would like to thank EVERYone who participated in our latest Blog Series:  "Our Favorite Things - Art Supplies!"  We had great fun sharing our Favorite Things, and enjoyed learning about some of yours.  We loved all of your comments, and appreciate your taking part.  Stay tuned, we have more creative sharing coming your way!

AND *drumroll, please...* we are tickled to offer our congratulations to our latest Winners!  We drew one name from among the entries from current and past ReMe Regisitered Attendees, and one from all other comments/shares.  The Winners are:  Audrie Prince (ReMe Guest, October '15), and Victoria Burgess (whom we hope to have with us at a future event)! Please contact us at:  reme@remeretreats.com with your mailing info., and we'll have your sampling of some our favorite things on its way to you!

Audrie shares:  "I enjoy a good art store; not just a craft store. The art supplies challenge me because we all know about paper and pens but I like to look around, inspect closely, and find something that I know nothing about. A new challenge or toy helps me to expand my knowledge. It's loads of fun."

Victoria notes:  "Haven't tried the Catalyst tools yet but I have used silicon kitchen utensils for mark making. :)  It is very simple, but one of my go-to tools is bubble wrap. You can make marks in wet paint, molding paste or mediums as well as stencil with it. Plus, you can relieve stress by popping it too! LoL"

We're only SIX weeks away from our return to Ocracoke in October!  Make sure that you are subscribed to our Newsletter (link on left side of BLog home page) and have liked our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RemeRetreats) for all the latest news and fun updates from the land of ReMe.

We'll be seeing you here again, soon!

Day 9 - "Our Favorite Things- Art Supplies" Series: Mark Making Tools

                               

"Our  Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  

In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean will take turns sharing a few of

their creative must-haves.

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Hello Friends,  it's Jodi here today.   Welcome Back to Day 9 in our series of "Our Favorite Things"!  We are having a blast doing this, and hope you are enjoying it as well!

 In my first post, I shared with you the paint I love to use most before moving on to some of the mediums that can make your paintings full of texture and interest.  Today I'm going to share with you, some of my favorite tools that are also key components  for me in developing  a wide range of marks in my work. Some may be very familiar to you and others may be a wowza..I need to try that 'Thang' introduction!  

 Let me start by saying that I love texture.  I do not love flat looking paintings.  Let me rephrase that, I don't love for myself to create flat looking paintings.  I want my viewer to dive right into the painting and wonder how I achieved a certain look or to be mesmerized by the layers of depth created.  The bonus is that I get a huge thrill out of making this all happen!

Part of my own artistic process that gets my creative juices flowing, involves devising ways to create juicy touchable texture.  I encourage my students to try new things, too.  You can do this too!  Try combinations of things and not to be afraid to experiment.

Sometimes you stumble on some really cool processes that create looks that make you glow in a basic of discovery.

 You may never be able to replicate these marks again, but that's okay.  You will discover new things and keep yourself fresh.  Life would get boring if every piece you did looked the same anyway (or looked like someone else's), right?

Okay so without further adieu, here are some of the tools I love to use in addition or with the gel mediums and acrylic paints mentioned in my first two posts.

As you can see, all of these are well loved :)   

Palette knives-come in all shapes and styles, plastic, textured, big, small, flat, skinny.  One tip, if you buy a metal one be sure it's stainless steel as others that are less expensive will rust like no tomorrow if left in a water container.  Not that you would ever do that.   I use these to mix paints, to add paint to my canvas,  scrape into areas, and to draw or write sgraffito style into my work.

Foam backed Rubber stamp--this one featured has cool bubble wrap type circles by my friend Nathalie Kalbach. (I love your stamps Nat so much, I'm afraid I've abused them!!!.  I like the foam backed stamps because working on a soft flexible surface such as a canvas, you need a flexible stamp tool to get a nice mark.  

Catalyst Wedges--if you like to play with Gelli plates, you probably are familiar with these tools. They come in several different shapes or cuts as well as range in how flexible the plastic is to work with.   These make great lines and scratches along with patterns within your work.  

Can you see all the delicious marks and layers??  Yum yum and fun fun!!!

Another view  with some additional catalyst wedges and blade to the right.  I use the flat wedge all the time to paint with or scrape off paint with.  

Going back to my love for line work in paintings, the Fine Line applicators are the perfect solution for quick lines and for larger paintings. I normally use sketching dip pens and acrylic or india ink, but these are even easier to use.   Watercolor artists use bottles like these for masking fluids, so it's a similar concept except instead of leaving a white area from the masking fluid, you are adding line work in whatever colors you chose to work in.

**The replacement tips can also fit right on top of your small 1 or 2 oz jars of paint!

While there are always commercial products you can buy to make memorable marks and textures (such as stencils and tools mentioned above), take a moment to look around your home, kitchen, heck even look down as you are walking--you never know what interesting tools you may come across that can be used in your work to give it that unique flavor only you could give with your one of a kind bad 'arse' artsy self!

Let us not forget, the tool that generally is always available and can probably make some of the most interesting marks??  Your hands and fingers! :)

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to the question below, in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 4, 2015.)

Tell us of a favorite mark making tool you've  'collected' in your stash of go to goodies.   What kind of marks do you like to make while painting?

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In less than two months, ReMe Retreats will return to Ocracoke,

and there’s still time to join us!

Please use the link on the left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.

In the words of many of our pasts guests,  "ReMe Retreats, puts the 'treat' back into Retreats!  

Day 5-Our Favorite Art Supplies: Gel Mediums and More!

Welcome to Day 5 of "Our  Favorite Things - Art Supplies!" Series.  In no particular order; Jodi, Penny, and Jean will take turns sharing a few of their creative must-haves.

Jodi here for day 5 of our ReMe favorite supplies countdown.  I think I'm probably cheating because I'm lumping tons of things that I love within my posts and counting them as one thing, but oh well.. :)  Today I'm featuring  what I'll just refer to as "Mediums" for acrylic paints.    Brands can vary but I can see from my collection which is probably just a bit larger than the average bear, that I prefer Liquitex and Golden products for my mediums.   

Again, these are well loved and used quite regularly.  I do love to do special textural tricks with my mediums and have used many in my various classes.  Using some mediums in classes can be tricky as the dry time or curing time can vary from a few hours to a couple of days or weeks.

I get it.  It can be sooooo overwhelming to understand what does what with what. :)  And no, you do not need all of these to create fantastic pieces. However, if you are trying to move from flat to a more textured look,  acrylic mediums are a great option.

Here's one that every acrylic painter should have--Gesso.  There are many brands to choose from. This is a tiny bottle, it's a travel bottle for me. My actual gesso is gallon pail!!!!  Used to prime your surface and create a ground to which to paint on, it's also can be used to paint over mistakes and not waste more expensive paint trying to cover up something.  Veil over collages with a wash of gesso or scrape into thicker layers for a sgraffito look,  you name it, you can probably do it with gesso.

Another must have  in my opinion is glazing medium.  While you can (and I do) add water to acrylic paint, if you add too much it will break down the paint and dull your colors.  Add glazing medium to thin out your paint, and you will keep the brightness of the paint plus create a translucency when you layer over another color.

On many of my larger pieces, I will use a mixture of satin and matte varnish to finish my work.  This part can be tricky, too, if you use a lot of drawing media or water soluble media over top of your work. If you add a varnish without a barrier layer (or 2 or 3), your dry media will smear.  I use a spray varnish or fixative before I varnish with several days of dry time in between (ideally) the spray coat and wet varnish.

Over the years, I've educated myself by diving in and playing with the mediums,  reading the specs on the manufacturers websites  (check out Golden and Liquitex for lots of information), and studying books like Acrylic Revolution by Nancy Reyner or Rethinking Acrylics by Patti Brady.  Definitely buy books like these, take technique based classes (I know...everyone wants a pretty project but sometimes you just have to learn the basics!!!), and or read through the websites mentioned previously so you can make an informed decision on what you will need to create a look you are desiring.  

So what are some things you can do with gel mediums?

*Create stone like surfaces
*Use as adhesives
*Add to paint to create thinner or thicker applications
*Prime and tone surfaces
*Create a porous or non porous surface for your substrate
*Create faux finishes
*Use for image transfers
*Create dimension using stencils or other templates
*Scrape into and create patterns
*Drip tar like strings onto a canvas (think Jackson Pollock)
*Create transparency or on the opposite end, increase opacity
*Layer with one another to create untold amount of fascinating effects!

*Matte medium and Polymer Varnish used to create this image transfer of my niece (plus transfer images of several papers you can see on the left).

Many layers of glazes  and  dimensional texture created from gel mediums  (samples from my projects found on Extreme Portraits)

I used  pouring medium and tar gel for glass like finishes on my abstract textural samplers from my class "Texturize This".  

Here I use a soft body gel medium to create dimension from a stencil and gesso to veil over layers and layers of paint.  

More  effects to create the illusion of depth using glazing medium,  veiling effects using matte medium, and a top coat of self leveling gel to create a glossy/glass like surface.

Really, the sky is the limit!  

I can't live without my acrylic mediums.  

Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic but they do make me excited to see what can come of the various uses of each and every one of them!

So for your question of the day---do you have a favorite medium that you like to use when painting or collaging (or whatever you are doing)?  Or, is there something that you'd like to learn about?  Curious minds want to know~!

For your chance to win our Fabulous ReMe Favorites Prize Package, please post your answer to the question below in the comments section.  You'll also earn an extra entry for each time you share this post on social media.  Just be sure to post a link to your share here for us to count your extra entries.  (All entries must be received by 12:00 Noon, EST, on September 3, 2015.)

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BTW-----We would LOVE for you to be with us for our flagship ReMe retreat on Ocracoke Island this fall!


There’s still time to join us on Ocracoke in October!

Please use the link on the left side of this page to register.

When the link disappears, we’re full to capacity.