So tonight there is a local fundraiser gala event for the Gabriola Arts Council and in honour of this group’s 20th year, the theme is all about CHINA!

Of course, when the call to artists went out inviting us to create something along this theme, I had to join in!  I love painting tea cups and using fancy china to drink my tea.  Any old day can be a tea party if you take a moment to pull out the good stuff.

I started playing with ideas and really settled on this idea of using the good stuff any time, like taking it to the beach for picnics (something I love to do with my girls)! Using photos from a recent picnic with my youngest at Drumbeg, I started playing with some new photo transfer techniques and I love how well this technique works on a wood surface!  You should really try it with your favourite photos!  Here is the one that worked out the best, I love the feeling that comes through.  ”Making Memories” is a mixed media photography piece on a 10×10 cradled panel and it will be for sale at tonight’s fundraiser event!

A couple weekends ago, the amazing woman who runs ArtziStuff (the gallery in downtown Nanaimo that carries my art and cards) hosted an art party with her mom (thank you Tanya and Diane Streeter)!  I was so lucky to be invited to this gathering of incredible creative women and had so much fun sharing food and stories and art supplies and techniques! I worked (played) alongside Janice Hofman who makes amazing stencils – you can find Janice’s stuff on etsy and at Iron Oxide (an amazing art supply shop in downtown Nanaimo).  She showed me some fun new stencil techniques and we had a giggle over the fact that we packed the exact same paint colours to bring for the afternoon of creating! Her stencils helped me jazz up this other painting I did for tonight’s art auction….

I loved working on this sweet piece while surrounded by all my new art pals.  I painted tea cups all afternoon while drinking tea (first black, then mint) and later prosecco in a fancy pink and gold tea cup.  The delicious biscotti made by one of the artists at the party was just so perfectly paired with my mood (as were the stories she shared of her time in Italy). Thank you Mirella Trozzo, I must come find you again at Biscotti Di Notte in Qualicum!

I had so much fun brewing up a collection of tea cup paintings at this little art party (and since then in my home studio).  There truly has been a Tempest of Teacups in my life the last couple of weeks….with my art and with all the tea we have been drinking as my family has taken turns with the flu.  Now we are all still fighting the lingering effects of the cold that came with this nasty bug and drinking more tea!  I am hoping to join everyone at the Tempest in a Teacup event tonight, but I will have to see how I feel… luckily I still have all afternoon to drink healing cups of tea.

Cheers to all of you who also enjoy a good cup of tea (or prosecco)!

Tea parties really are perfect any time — at the beach with your kids, while creating with friends or home alone to help you heal from a cold!

art party photo credits go to Mirella Trozzon and Janice Hofman – thanks for capturing the magic!