Arts and Crafts Weekend - Photos

I had intended to make this post much sooner, but the days got away from me. 
So, now a week later, here are some photos from the Arts & Crafts weekend:

 We arrived Friday afternoon at The Salvation Army - Northern Division's camp in Finlayson Minnesota.  The ground was covered in a slurry of melting snow and mud.  And, as the days are getting longer, the sun was still shining. 

As they arrived, the women began working on various projects - scrapbooks, cards, crocheting, knitting, etc... and a few brave souls wandered over to the area of the room where I had set up my sprawling work center.

Cherrie was one of the first.  She claimed no previous painting experience and even said that she nearly failed chalk art class at seminary.  She didn't fail because she dropped the class.  I wouldn't have guessed that from the painting she produced in the few hours with me.

Donna also claimed to have no prior experience - though I think she was shamming.  Her work turned out great.  Donna taught the photography group on Saturday, so she jumped right in Friday evening (and then wandered back and forth between the two groups all day Sat.)

She painted an arrangement of various flowers that she had photographed in Colorado.   You can see that she had a good time with this.

Rhoda (seen not painting in the picture to the right) painted a very nice picture of a cardinal.  I didn't get a photo of her completed work, but it was great.  She, like Donna and Cherrie, claimed to have never painted before.

And get this:  There wasn't a single 'Bob-Ross-Happy-Tree' the whole weekend.

Crystal started painting late into Saturday.  She was frantically trying to put something together as most everyone else was packing up.  She had some good ideas - even if she was more than a little bit scattershot about them.   I didn't worry about Crystal's painting.  I know she's been painting for some time.

 I also didn't get a picture of Donna's completed painting, but you can see here that it was turning out very nice. 

And, just in case you were wondering what I worked on during the weekend, I have this one last photo to show you.  Though you should be aware of the fact that the painting has changed quite a bit since this picutre was taken.