wild art summer...oh, yes...

It is finally time...

Summer Summer...  

Can I tell you how excited I am for this new season? Along with a more relaxed bedtime and being able to run barefoot in the tall grass, it is time for a new art adventure!  Yes~

...a quick peek at the first week of class...

All with Christy's sweet blessing of encouragement...I love her!!!  xo

I am finally able to announce (and seriously jump with joy) over this new addition to our Wild Art collection.  

A brand new, sweet and summery, wild art class I am calling...Wildflowers

It is looking to be a great mix of all things summer: colorful, wildly-sweet, and full of surprising inspirations and meaningful memories.  Our projects include art journaling, canvas art, watercolors (in all kinds of mixed-up ways), block art, a bit of photography, hand-lettering, and a summer-wonderful stitching project and MORE!

Sound wild enough for your summer?

Our summer classroom will be a little different than before, it's summer!  First, our live-class time will be spread over six weeks. There will be the same amount of content as our last workshops, but our projects will be spread out a bit more.  Helpful if you have a vacation or two...you have plenty of time to jump in whenever you can.

Secondly, our classroom will also be in a different format than I have taught in before, a fun and playful *summer studio* feel -- a site allowing more space for things that come up spontaneously -- wild inspirations happen to me all the time, you too?

Each week is built around a favorite summer love. There are multiple sketching inspirations (seriously,too many ideas), weekly video projects & new challenges, loads of extra content including a special wildflower study, a baby bird, forget me nots, summer salads, and some of my favorite poetry and prayers.

If you haven't taken a class like this before, this is the perfect time to jump in.  Every project is created with you in mind, and with so many inspirational ideas to choose from you will be excited to see your own art style grow.  I believe in you!  There is also a shared (friend, parent, grandparent) project and multiple projects you can do with your children, grandchildren, too!

I love shared projects~

It is also important for me to tell you about the gift of a creative community.

I have experienced this past year the value of  a healthy group of artists on their individual and collective paths, it is a vulnerable and special place to come together. Our Wild Art group is one of the most treasured art communities I have ever participated in, very selfless, helpful and full of encouragement, a perfect mix of goodness and grace.  You are welcome here.  Community sharing is always available to class members as a private group online and with me by email, too.

Part of the uniqueness of these courses is also the teacher involvement.  I am here for you!  Springtime is always busy with sheep and family, but summertime is meant for sharing art.  I will be available in our online facebook community, by email, and in our online classroom throughout our classroom time.

You are my favorite part of art! 

Because the excitement is contagious...I am quickly preparing to throw open the doors for an early studio-tour!  Would you like to join me for a sneak peek?

Yes~ I hope you will jump in and join me...we have so much to summery goodness to share!

We will have a full six weeks of my most favorite projects (should have been eight!), sketchbooks FULL of inspirations, loads of wild bonus materials and silly little me!  That's weeks of amazing projects to keep your fingers and heart full of creative fun~ 

And, it is all available all summer (and all year) long!

You will receive an email confirmation, welcome letter, and the first two-weeks material list within 24 hours of signing up.  Please make sure to give me your preferred email address when you complete your payment.                 ***I need to have your preferred email address***  

$44.95  

(same price as my 3 week classes)

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Wild Art Summer Studio Class begins:  Saturday, June 22

You will have full access to class all year and our private online community, too.  No worries~  

Please join us,  I can't wait to see you!  
xo
Junelle 

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A special donation for a special friend~ 

For those donating to our Wild Art Community love-share project (on facebook), the donation has been filled and will be shared with our sweet classmate...thank you!  You are the best!  

xo  

In this moment

In the moments when summer is waking up...

I find I am in shock this early summer.  How can it be that all of this life is coming out of the bareness, the drab, the cold scratchiness of winter?  Did I not believe it would happen?  Did I forget last year?  I stood by the kitchen sink this morning, with summer-wonder spinning in my head, asking my son,

"Can you see what just happened?  Can you believe this tree is so leafing so green?"

I suppose I should remember this, logically it is no different than how the sun daily rises and the rain comes every spring, but there is something so radical about how life grows out of warmth, a good watering, and sunshine.  Vibrant and verdant where only weeks ago it was cold, empty, and bleak.

I guess I needed to really feel it.  Hold it, understand and feel the gifts of God's lavish green-goodness and warmed-up-mercy...in my bones, on my skin, in my heart...
(Sometimes winters last too long?)

Yes, I nod...

Open and unfold.  

See with eyes and arms wide.
   
Wake up to the waking up.    

10 

My beloved spoke and said to me,

    “Arise, my darling,

    my beautiful one, come with me.

11 

See! The winter is past;

    the rains are over and gone.

12 

Flowers appear on the earth;

    the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves

    is heard in our land.

13 

The fig tree forms its early fruit;

    the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling;

    my beautiful one, come with me.”

Song of Songs 2:10 NIV

In awe and in love,
in this moment,

jj

little gifts

Little gifts of grace.  

Looking into this hay filled place of new life, I see those bright eyes and pink noses.  I also see that soft and beautiful white wool touched by spring rain, warm sun and fresh hay, the new lambs smell like fresh laundry.  It is that unmistakable smell of spring's birth.   

Brushing up against the wooden lambing stalls, and peeking at me with curiosity, their new knobby knees are strong.  Each mum-ewe is checked for milk and overall health and given a safe place to rest and spend time with her own lamb (or lambs).  It is a lamby nursery and the barnyard sounds are so sweet.  

Luis is hard at work, and a beaming smile shows how the day has been.
Muy Bien~

We work hard to understand each other.  Some things I pick up quickly and some things I can only guess at with hand gestures and my growing collection of español.  I think his english is better than he lets on, but it doesn't matter, we understand each other best when we are smiling and laughing at the silliness of the sheep and lambs.      

We share space as we feed, tend, and love the sheep.  The smells and sounds of this place are those of all barnyards ~ alfalfa and hay, warm wood and wool, muted cries of new lambs and the answering calls of their new mothers, the ding-dings of occasional sheep bells, and the creaking of wooden pens as the sheep move, pushing against their cozy new space.  

The messiness of my daily life (life at home with my work, family, sons) seems to fall away as farm chores are meted out.  It is good to spend time in the dirt.  The real is very real here.  Often necessary needs of the blessed barnyard take over and my head and heart seem to slow down into a peaceful rhythm.  Nothing is done quickly here (unless it is a sheep jumping emergency, which does happen), no, sheep need and thrive on quiet hearts and hands.  So we throw hay, move sheep, bring water and feed lambs (the ones without mothers) with a calm and measured pace.

The quietness it creates inside of me is palpable - perhaps it is form of meditation?  I think it is reminding me of the stillness I know I desperately need.  Could there be such thing as sheep yoga?

In a smiling, sighing breath I know these moments are heaven sent, gifts of wooly hugs and divine peace.       I am so thankful.

As I pull of my gloves to leave the shepherd calls out every day's affirmation,

"Poco a poco...poco a poco..."

Yes, I nod to him and myself in agreement.

"Little by little...Yes, little by little..."


With grace and peace,
jj

happy mess

(a Springtime project for the upcoming workshop)

For weeks it seems the days have run into one another.  I have been hiding in my studio (I can't help it, it is just what I needed!).  It is the time of year I am most prolific, productive, plenteous, effluent...(I do love juicy words).  Projects piled along long counters, bits of paper and paint stuck to my sweaters, bright sketches filling up my sketchbooks, and calendaring out days of deadlines...trying to stop time long enough to finish and breathe.  

It is a colorful and happy mess.  

I know in my heart that winter is pulling away.  Snow and ice still hang on my home, my trees, my muddy boots, but I feel the change in the air and it brings new energy and life to my days.  Can you feel it coming?

The sun streams in the sun room windows.  Birds are busy outside the kitchen window making my poor cat crazy.  Little patches of green are poking through the muddy snow, making my eyes hunt for those bits of neon.

Perhaps it's why my paints exploded in color this spring~ I am so hungry for nature to come alive.    

March is always a month of messiness.  

A year ago, with Christy Tomlinson, I launched a brand new workshop called "The Art of Wild Abandonment", it literally made a mess of my schedule for the entire year~ new creative ideas, collective projects, new friendships, wild new sketches, and so much goodness.  I suppose this workshop is a celebration of that art-sprouting-wonderfulness.  Or simply a celebration of God's goodness and love! Messiness in life and art is to be expected ~ birthing and growing is full of colorful chaos, yes and amen?  

Would you like to join me?  Perhaps you are sprouting this spring as well.

New sketches?
A try at selling art?
Writing 3 pages a day?
Launching a blog, a business, a new idea?
Trying some new tasty recipes?
Opening your heart to life again?
Seeing the world in a new way?
Trying a new artistic medium?

New baby lambs on the way???  (yes!)

I am so excited for you and me ~ May God's passionate joy accompany our paths this spring!  

In His hope-filled hands,
jj

A few basic Supplies for "The Art of Spring":

***Christy and I both feel the importance of letting students see the projects and decide what to use before purchasing all of the supplies, it saves you money, so I am sharing the most basic supplies needed in this list.

The updated list (with all the extras) will be available the first day of class

A favorite sketchbook - mine is 9x12 spiral bound (inexpensive)
Strathmore visual journal mixed media or any watercolor paper you like to use

An Art Journal of your choosing - purchased or homemade

Watercolors - a simple set (neocolor ll crayons work great as a set!)

Titanium heavy body paint (I use Golden, 2 or 4 oz. is fine)

Acrylic Paints - some favorite spring colors 

Gesso 

Decoupage - matte

6x6 packs of springtime papers or any assorted papers

mechanical pencil

Canvases in various sizes of your choosing (if working outside of an art journal)

creatives retreat & my spring workshop

Just a bitty video invite to a spring art retreat...want to come with me?  

 LiveLaughLove Retreat ~ Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood

From Linda's site:  

To celebrate our sisterhood, our retreat will be held at The Abbey Resort of Lake Geneva, WI.  The Abbey Resort offers a beautiful backdrop that will add to sparking your creative adventure.  The Abbey Resort features the luxurious Avani Spa, which is available for private bookings as well. 

Your registration includes:
*Weds. evening dinner
*Thurs. breakfast and lunch
*4 Breakout Creative Sessions
*Friday Breakfast
*Friday Marketplace admission
*Shuttle service to and from the airport
*Hotel discounted rates 
All of this with a fabulous lineup of instructors for
Just $595

All the information and sign ups are here:  Live Laugh Love Retreats 

After talking with Linda and seeing the location of this beautiful retreat I had to be involved.  How can a girl like me (a nun in disguise) not attend an artist event at an Abbey?  I love it!!!  It is also a great time of year to jump into some new creative fun.  Our art hearts seem to come alive when the seasons change, it is always a fresh gift of spring.  The other artists teaching are amazing girls with great offerings, I am excited to learn what they are bringing to the retreat.  It looks to be a great adventure!  

I simply can't wait to see what Spring brings~ 

Are you feeling the excitement for Spring, too?  

And after weeks of Springtime art in my studio I am ready to share the adventures with you!  Yes~

*  *  *  *  *  *

From Christy's post about the line up of Spring Workshops she has created, I am thrilled to have the messiest and silliest one of the pack!  xo

Christy's post:  

The Art of Spring is a 2 week ONLINE workshop featuring Junelle Jacobsen! I will also be participating in this workshop, in the same matter as I have in her past workshops! For those of you that LOVE Junelle.. and have taken her other workshops (over 1500 people so far!!) She is TRULY a magical soul!

  For those of you that are familiar with my workshops, you know last year I offered two unique workshops. Pumpkins & Spice and Winter Whimsy! Both were 2 week workshops that focused on creating art specific for those seasons! Both of those classes were successful and so many people joined us! WELL I decided.. I just couldn't leave spring out.. and then I thought.. who does spring better than Junelle? REALLY? her cute little lambs, bunnies, flower, all things spring! SO the idea of combing her first class for 2013 with the Spring class was perfect! The best of BOTH worlds!

Week one will feature Blooms & Bulbs, Little ones like ducklings, lambs and baby moos. Spring Meadows, Church windows and SO much more!

Junelle as you know is a very passionate and spiritual person.. so she also brings to this class a sense of love, exploring and peace into ones own life.

Finding the joy in spring and new beginnings. This week will include BOTH sketching and getting messy and creating! I will also be sharing with you some of my favorite spring characters as well! 

In week two we move onto Bunnies,

Smalls (spring favorites on little canvases),

Potting tables, Watercolor Veggies, Gardens, Piglets and Chicks!

Of course I will also have projects in this week as well!  (Christy)  And again it includes sketching, watercolor and getting messy with paints! Junelle's classes are always a FULL range of techniques and projects!

This online workshop is  2 week workshop as mentioned above AND you have one full year to access the workshop!  Class starts March 12th!

Class is normally $34.95, but if you sign up BEFORE the class starts.. you get the early bird special of $29.95!

To join Junelle and I in this fun spring workshop! Click on the link below to register!

The Art of Spring!

Yes...it is going to be a fun Spring!  

xo

jj

thinking of you

This is the time of year when the world is frosted in white.  For a girl who loves gesso and lambs, it is quite the gift!  A wash of newness - awash with possibilities. Like a box of  unwrapped canvases or the first crisp pages of new books.  You know that feeling?  A fresh start.

I have been away.  Not a long trip away, but a bitty retreat of my own:  hair pulled up, thick sweat shirts, and a notebook in hand.  I don't know about you but I have to step away sometimes in order to see (Quite literally - And now I learn I really do need glasses!)  It is the time I need to pour out, dig-deep and see anew. Anyone else feel that way?

Amen?  

With the quiet beauty of a white world, I am putting together all kinds of colorful projects.  Some art is simply for me, cathartic, honest and goofy.  A perfect mix!  Many ideas are being sorted into piles of projects I want to do with YOU this year.  A whole pile of new WILD ART.  And some of the fun is being filmed for an upcoming class this spring ~ little spring lambs of course!

It is good to sit with messy hands of paint, a list of ideas, and a calendar of hope-filled days, dreaming big!
Are you doing the same?

Many lovely opportunities are coming up soon.  I have been on the phone and emailing with several people that want to come HERE for a summertime/autumn workshop.  What?  Really?  Here?

There are special plans to be made to meet friends in NYC (Yes Joan, let's just do it! xo).  

A fabulous retreat is planned for the Spring just outside of Chicago.  I will be teaching and meeting new art friends ~ my favorite! I have been planning my workshop for this event and it just gets more playful and fun each day.  I have boxes of sweet and silly to bring and share.  It is at the Abbey Resort on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  You should come with me!  I am giving up a week of lambing for this artsy event -- so you know it is special!!!

Info HERE

And in a couple of weeks, a bitty trip to the coast. Oh, I need it!
Have you taken an artist date lately?  

Well, I have one planned for us.  I would love to have a *Wild Artist Date* with any girls that can meet up.  Valerie Hebert, and I are choosing a day trip to the coast (Laguna Beach most likely). It is the perfect mid-winter treat!  We will plan on Tuesday, February 5 for an relaxing day of art, food and silliness.  It is an open invitation!  I will post the details later this week ~

Why not give yourself the gift of a fresh page today?

Flip open that calendar and choose to see a new adventure. Artist dates away from your studio, your schedule, and your life are important to your creative heart. We all need fresh eyes to see!

Perhaps it will be a new class?  I always keep a list of classes I want to take. Christy T. just posted her gorgeous she-art offerings.  Beautiful!  I can't think of anything more fun than a calendar of classes.  
Maybe you want to adopt a puppy?  I know where you can find a cute litter!
Or this may just be the year you pick up guitar, a camera, or a job at a local farm (lambing?)  
The possibilities are endless~

This is the perfect time of year for dreaming and doing...I can't wait to see what you will choose!

Thinking of you~

xo
jj

Artsy Ornaments time!

Yes...it is already getting to be that time of year (can you believe it?)

I do love the holidays and I do love to make fun and unique things for my home, family and friends.  It really brings out that *wildly creative thing* doesn't it?

I have a whole list of new ideas I am working on, how about you?

I wanted to share with you.  I was a first time teacher last year in this Artsy Ornaments class, it was a riot!   I also took it as a student and loved every single project that was offered.  It was that good!  So, when Christy asked me to participate again, how could I say no?

Oh, yes...yes...yes!!!

So...if you are on the fence about this years ideas, I am giving you the push today.  With the variety of projects and being open/available all year?  This is really going to be a special class.  One filled with awesome teachers and me (the wild nun!).

Alisa Burke, Mindy Lacefield, Juliette Crane, Emily Falconbridge, Jamie Soucy, Jeanne Oliver, Chrissy Gardner, Junelle Jacobsen, Shea Fragoso, Debbie Miller, Margie Romney-Alsette and Christy Tomlinson

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And from Christy:  

"First off.. what is the 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas...

well don't let the name fool you.. NO it is not just ornaments. This workshop is dedicated to decorating your homes and trees for the holidays. So it includes both Ornaments, Home decor and even some Christmas cards. Each teacher does their own project and everyone kinda picks what is in their heart. SO you get a good mix of everything you need to create a festive fun Holiday.

It is filled with 12 artists collaborating together in mini class, 5 day workshop.. where each day, for five days.. you get 3 new projects/ornaments/home decor.. by 3 different artist and teachers!

This workshop starts December 4th! JUST in time for the holiday! "

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Come on...Join me!!!  

xo

jj



My projects for the class last year...