Anahata Katkin

JOURNALFEST IS LIVE!

As promised I thought I'd let you know that the JOURNALFEST website is now live and registrations can roll in on first come first serve basis.  Teesha & Tracy Moore are responsible for this lovely brainchild and are the same fabulous hosts who are now in their 10th year of ARTFEST.  JOURNALFEST will be 200 (vs the 600 of Artfest!) people over a sprawl of three days of classes (spread among dozens of teachers)  and evening events as well as sign in and check out days.  The retreat is in October 2009.  I'll be offering two days of classes regarding my collage style.  But between me and you I'm kinda bumbed I'm not just taking classes at this event.  It's going to be a creative permission buffet!  The pictures above are just a small taste of workshop offerings.  I would encourage people of any talent and those who have yet to discover theirs to attend.  It's the right venue for any "level" as they say.  It's sure to be well organized, the food will be good and the company just right!!  If you are interested it is possible this event could fill within a matter of two weeks or less so don't hesitate.  I'll see you there!

Bali Bash

There's so much to share from the Bali Retreat now that I am home.  I must admit that getting it all uploaded feels like a mountain since there are so many morsels of color, texture and sights.  I love every bit of Bali (ok except for the smell of Durians everywhere).  This is a small taste of what we saw and steeped ourselves in.  Bali is everything I expected and yet felt different than I thought it would.  The people are incredibly warm and sharing.  The villages and towns are gorgeous.  I thought next time I visit Bali it would be almost better to walk through it.  Everything is situated tightly against the roadside and every minute you want to slam the drivers breaks for more tidbits of visual delights.  I found the overall feeling there to be goooood.  Like an all pervasive sense of wellbeing.  certainly there was aspects of the third world.  But zooming babies on motorbikes and mums with offerings and lace shirts floating along the edges of the roads...cows looking plump and big eyed, school kids hugging, fathers piled high with their children, they themselves dressed in vivid fabrics and a cigarette and harley side vibe.  Punk Bali teenagers loitering in the best kind of way around the mechanic shops at each village.  Prayer, and juxtapose everywhere.  I enjoyed it immensely. They seem to be living a good life.  From my outsider perspective I felt the Balinese seemed cool and collected.  They have mastered the art of hanging out.  The spiritual aspect was of course everywhere but I was enchanted by their sense of chilling about.  Less yoga style, more rasta.  An art us Americans seem to be fairly incapable of at least while inside our own borders.  Well...I'll keep the photo's rolling out and share some artwork fromt he retreat son as well. xoxoxox...going swimmin now...