The Isle Muse Studio Newsletter
Note: name change - formerly Manzanita Muse Studio
 Date: December 10, 2006
by Jodi Forster & Dianne Bersea
Newsletter Archives: Did you miss our last newsletters? See them here: March 05..., May 0 5..., July 05..., September 05,..., January 06..., May 06...,
September 06
NOW LISTED
Workshops for 2007
including

Gibsons Art School & Firesign Art & Design
COPPER, COPPER, COPPER!
Jodi Forster two-piece copper mask R & D
Art Calendar now available!
Dianne's light-hearted Squirrel Cove Whimsy (detail above) is a winner in the Nanaimo Rotary Calendar competition! Along with the work of 12 other accomplished west coast artists, Squirrel Cove Whimsy appear in the Calendar. To buy a copy visit http://www.rotarycalendar.org.
Squirrel Cove Whimsy detail
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Are you enjoying our newsletters? Is there something you'd like us to talk about? More images of work in progress? More about our process? Let us know. We'd like to hear from you.

How to contact us.
jodi@islemuse.com
dianne@islemuse.com

Note: Our studio name is changing to reflect our web domain name. Slowly we will become Isle Muse Studio at islemuse.com.

Hello friends and art fans. This is a quick update newsletter, so not a lot of commentary this time around. Winter brings serious studio time and time for rejuvenation. Dark, stormy days are ideal for painting in the studio, or doing some research and development in the mask-making department.

COPPER, COPPER, COPPER! We're also developing ideas for jewelry. We purchased a rock polisher and have been polishing stones collected from the beach at Smelt Bay - five minute walk from the studio. We're quite amazed at the magnificence of the stones, see photo below for some of our results.

beach stones from Smelt Bay
Jewelry in process
Copper sheet and wire is being wound into shapes to contain the stones. We'll update the newsletter with the finished product as it evolves.
polished beach stones
Jodi Forster hide, copper & ceramic masks
Jodi is experimenting with ways to mold Copper sheet into mask forms. In the photo to left, Jodi has created hide and a prototype copper mask from a ceramic mask she fired some time ago.
Dianne Bersea Chesterman wind tree acrylic
This painting has been a "long time coming!" Dianne's been working on variations on this theme since 1999 from a library of sketches and photos of a Tofino & Chesterman Beach trip.
Dianne Bersea snow tree acrylic
Dianne's Painting Report:

I've been painting so much lately, see paintings to left, that I'm hardly coming up for air. Really working hard to get a dozen or so paintings ready for AFCA jury in February, a group show in March and a gallery proposal. I'm mostly working in acrylic at the moment. I thought that would be faster than watercolour, but now I'm not so sure. I find myself second guessing a lot. But acrylic does support a little more experimentation, because I can always re-paint. Painting to left is from a sketch I did from my window during the last snow storm. Sketch is above the acrylic in process.