Our Catch the Spirit of Appalachia scholarship dinner was successful this evening. We raised enough money for several scholarships for local mountain youth to help with their schooling in Appalachian studies, Art and music. Local artists donated original art for a silent art auction and several talented musical groups played ole timey mountain music. Our Board members whipped up a tastey family style dinner with desserts to remember.  Lots of work, but worth it!

Today, April 14,  Amy & I had a great performance at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. My new painting of Cumberland Gap was displayed and it sold right away, along with lots of art prints (see above). What a wonderful day in Cumberland Gap!

On April 14 at 1:00 pm my sister Amy Ammons and I will be performing mountain storytelling and spontaneous art at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park in Kentucky. My new art piece "The Story of Cumberland Gap" will be unveiled after our "Heritage Alive!" storytelling performance. Amy will be signing her new book "Said the Leaf" and I'll be signing my new artprints. Everyone is invited!

To take a look at more artwork, click here:   http://yurtstudio.com/myartblog/blog5.php

Dillsboro's ColorFest 2012 art blog is coming soon... check out last year's ColorFest artists by clicking the ColorFest 2011 art link above!

The Hidden Artist

Back in these coves and perched on mountain sides, there are artists in the Appalachians. Drawn in by the love of nature and the absolute beauty here, artists hide away and paint to their heart’s content. How do I know? I’m one of them.

In large American cities like New York and in European cities, like Paris France and Florence Italy, artists are creating sometimes "way-out" art, trying for attention, fame and fortune. A worthy cause, for true art does bring enjoyment to everyone, while here in the Appalachian Mountains the artists hide out. Why do you think this would be?

The hidden artist delves into art for the pure joy of creating. Their art is a way to express themselves, their feelings and the state of the world they live in. There’s no formula for stardom, only a spontaneous story about being alive. And these mountains are alive with peace for inner discovery and overflowing with ‘little bits of life’ called flowers, birds, insects and roaming mammals. A refreshing breath of air that is a healing for what ails you.

The fountain of youth lives in a painter’s brush, for as you create you live in a ‘no-time’ zone. What I call a "shift to the right side of the brain." When it feels like I’ve painted 5 minutes and it’s been 5 hours.

There’s a hidden artist in us all. A place of joy. The way we let it surface is to "just do it," without pause for thought. Paint without any concern for good or bad, right or wrong, just let your spirit sing!

In my art workshop, "Finding the Hidden Artist," we explore ways to let our hidden artist out.

Also, with a quest to flush out the "Hidden Artists," Catch the Spirit of Appalachia’s ColorFest is moving ahead with plans for a unique fine arts festival in Dillsboro, Jackson County, NC in 2012. One goal is to find those brilliant artists who are hidden back in the coves of the Appalachian Mountains and have them set-up and show their techniques at ColorFest on October 6, 2012.
To find out more about my art workshop, "Finding the Hidden Artist," go to doreylart.yurtstudio.com and click on ‘contact Doreyl.’ 2012 is the year to set your hidden artist free!  Doreyl

See a few pieces of my art at: http://yurtstudio.com/myartblog/blog5.php

About Doreyl Ammons Cain

Running the Blue Ridge Mountains as a child, examining bugs, sliding down rough rocks tumbling with water and delighting in the colors of nature all transformed me into an artist. As early as 4 years old I drew birds with a stick in the sandy road in front of our cabin. The backwoods became my laboratory and the mountains my inspiration.

Fascinated with nature, I grew up to become a Biological-Medical Illustrator, working my way into a Master of Arts degree from California State University at Long Beach. Returning home in 1990 after 30 years in California, I've loved the past 22 years of creating spontaneous artwork along side my sister, Amy Ammons Garza-storyteller. We co-founded Catch the Spirit of Appalachia (CSA), a non-profit group planting the seeds of heritage through the arts in the Southeastern United States and beyond. Online at spiritofappalachia.org

Today my husband Jerry and I live on a nature preserve which we pioneered throughout the past 12 years, creating a sustainable life-style for leaving a small footprint on the earth. We've found peace here in the solitude, protected by rows of mountains. It's the perfect spot for creating art for children's books and for my own line of limited edition fine art prints & note cards. The first Saturday of every month artists gather on the preserve to take part in my painting workshop called "Finding the Hidden Artist" and they too find their place in nature here.

As a speaker I am co-host of CSA's "Stories of Mountain Folk" radio show and as an author I write a column called "Art in the Woods" & have written three creativity art books (the latest called "Learning to Fly") and co-authored "Catch the Spirit of Creativity." As an artist I am also a passionate muralist honoring the mountain folk and the beauties of nature.

Please click on the numbers below or catagories to the right to find out much more! Also click on the art Print blog: http://yurtstudio.com/artblog/blog5.php to view a few pieces of my art.

You can find my artprints gallery at www.yurtstudio.com

Listen to "Stories of Mountain Folk" at storiesofmountainfolk.com and purchase a book at csabooks.com

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT at the end of each article,  it's secure and I'd love to have your feedback!

An Opportunity for Appalachian Artists: ColorFest, Art & Taste of Appalachia, a Feast for the Eyes, Ears and Taste Buds
With a quest to flush out the "Hidden Artists," Catch the Spirit of Appalachia's ColorFest is moving ahead with plans for a unique fine arts festival in Dillsboro, Jackson County, NC in 2012. The goal is to find those brillant artists who are hidden back in the coves of the Appalachian Mountains and have them set-up and show their techniques at ColorFest on October 6, 2012. ColorFest, Art & Taste of Appalachia plans to change the unique historical town of Dillsboro (in Jackson County) into a Paris-like setting with fine artists painting at easels under colorful umbrellas along the main streets. Visitors and locals swarm in to watch as images come alive with splashes of color on each artist’s canvas. Happening this year on October 6 from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm, ColorFest is a feast for the eyes, ears and taste buds. Along with artists of painting, sculpture, glass art, clay, fiber art, canning, fine art jewelry, wearable art, outdoor art, fine pottery, ceramics and wood working all demonstrating their creation techniques, music is played by local musicians to compliment the scene. North Carolina produced food and wine tastings are available for sampling, while restaurants and small shops are open to serve the festival crowd throughout the day.

Even before this exciting fine art day, the chosen fine artists have their artwork on display in the windows of shops in Dillsboro beginning September 6 after a ColorFest artists reception. This store display intensifies the interest in the artists before the festival day and their artwork is available for sale throughout the month of September until October 6. Other ColoFest events will include the "Young Artists of ColorFest" creative and mural painting workshops and other artists demonstrations. The Young Artists of ColorFest workshops will encourage youth ages 6- 18 years to participate.

ColorFest is open to both professional and emerging artists, so if you’re a fine artist and would like to join in the fun of ColorFest, use the comment form to ask me for an application form. We are limiting the accepted artists to 40.

This festival does simmer with the spirit of art and love of the mountains. It’s one not to miss!

New tote bags with the 2012 ColorFest artwork is available to those donating to Catch the Spirit of Appalachia’s children’s workshop and scholarship fund.

Happy 2012! May it be a year of Wisdom and Wonder...

Thanks for all the great comments and especially for passing the blog address on to your friends!

For about eight years now I travel up to Asheville, from my small town of Tuckasegee, to tape about ten shows a year on WLOS TV. The segment is called Craft Corner where I demonstrate my techniques of painting in acrylics and pastels. It's always fun and most of the time I just set aside my artwork samples and don't finish them. Recently some time came up so I could finish off these tiny nature paintings.  They're posted on my art print blog:   http://yurtstudio.com/artblog/blog5.php

Breaking Bones Brings a Silver Lining
My sister, brother and I grew up in a gap surrounded by tall mountains. Our playground was the woods, where we shimmied up trees and slid down waterfalls. Sister Amy and brother David had their share of broken bones, yet I stayed unbroken. The two of them challenged me to join them in skinning knees, ‘walking the plank’ and other dangerous adventures. Usually I’d rather smell the flowers, examine a bug or draw pictures in the dirt with a stick. One day they ‘ganged up on me’ and I joined them jumping off the front porch, running around the cabin and jumping again. The next day I couldn’t walk. Daddy and Mother carried me to the logging truck, drove me a long distance to the doctor’s office, both sure I’d come down with a dreaded disease of some kind. The doctor was gravely concerned when he saw me unable to walk. After hours of probing me he announced with a relieved voice, “She’s dislocated her pelvis bones.” It took hours of heat treatments and painful adjustments to get me back in alignment. Daddy and Mother never found out why this happened because I’d never snitch on my sister and brother.
During our ‘growing up’ years my brother David broke his nose. A neighborhood boy threw a broom up in the air to knock a ball from the limbs of a tree and the metal end of the broom landed square on his nose. At six years old, my sister broke her arm learning to ride a tricycle. My bones still remained intact. On into adulthood the same remained true. Mind you, I grew up to be adventuresome. Hiking the High Sierra’s, flying through the air on zip lines, climbing the sheer rocks at Glacier National Park, tent camping in a blizzard in Canada, kayaking through the Everglades and eyeing down alligators, hiking most all the trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains and hot air ballooning over the San Fernando Valley in California, just to name a few adventures.
It was three years ago I broke my first bone. While moving a mural panel outside my yurt studio I took a plunge off the deck, five feet to hit a rock on the ground. I broke my left wrist. My first thought was, “Thank God it’s not my right wrist, I couldn’t draw and paint.” After surgery, where a metal plate was put in my wrist, and six months of hand therapy, my wrist was healed.
Right after the big storm that blew through the mountains in June, I went down to stake blown-over corn stalks in my garden. After an hour of hard work I stepped over the electric fence and turned to go home. A loud cracking sound made me turn and look back at the garden. A Locust tree was falling towards the corn. Without thinking I started jumping over the electric fence. My boot lugs caught on the fence and I fell directly on my right wrist. I thought, “This can’t be happening....” But it was happening—my right wrist was broken. Running a quarter mile back up the mountain holding my wrist I called out to my husband Jerry. He was further up the mountain just taking a break from moving fallen trees with his tractor. We made it to the hospital, where surgery was performed on my right wrist and a metal plate stabilized the shattered bones of my right wrist.
Then the miracle happened! The next day after my wrist surgery, my art and I were at an art festival I had committed to do. While sitting in my booth I started doodling with my left hand. Much to my delight, my left hand could draw just as good as my right hand. The left-handed drawing sold by the end of the day.
Never would I have believed this could happen. The following months my left hand painted a brilliant acrylic on canvas, and finished illustrating two books- a total of 34 pastel paintings. It has become clear to me that sometimes a seeming tragedy, like broken bones, has an important discovery in it...a silver lining as bright as the sun.

Click on My Art Print Blog to see my first left handed painting:

http://yurtstudio.com/myartblog/blog5.php

Two Books, "Scribbles" & "Said the Leaf"

In the middle of organizing ColorFest, Art of the Blue Ridge, I was illustrating two books- "Scribbles" by Ray Carpenter (an autobiography) and "Said the Leaf" by Amy Ammons (a children's book).  Both books have poetry in them, which is my favorite writing to illustrate. The books andColorFest, Art of the Blue Ridge all came at one time (with lots of juggling and deadlines) yet I made it through. Two samples of the book art are in My Art Print Blog!

Click on My Art Print Blog to see more new art:

http://yurtstudio.com/myartblog/blog5.ph

Ever Flying Free

Twenty three years ago two sisters began living their dream. They held in their hearts memories of a childhood rich in creativity born from the haze of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Their vision pictured brilliant red cardinals flying free, swirling up from deep hollows and green mountains. The sisters realized the cardinals represented the mountain children, rising, using their talents to honor their heritage and their people. Thus began Catch the Spirit of Appalachia (CSA), founded by two sisters, Amy Ammons Garza, writer and myself, Doreyl Ammons Cain, artist. The red cardinal still flies as CSA’s logo and all endeavors accomplished still engage creativity as the core movement toward it’s vision.

Born to a mother who painted abstractly and wrote poetry and a father who wrote songs and sang, we saw these talents come naturally, even though our parents never had the opportunity to finish high school. We witnessed our parents shift from sadness to bright happiness when they made something new. As “poor mountain kids” our family’s ‘towsack of creativity” made us rich. From this childhood the conviction that creative arts represent the soul of people arose and filters throughout all of Catch the Spirit of Appalachia’s accomplishments.

With our “towsack of creativity on our back, Amy and I have traveled the South with our performance, “Heritage Alive,” telling our mountain stories combined with music, poetry, spontaneous art and dance. Millions of children have witnessed our performance and understood the message- “you can do this too.” Called “Word Pictures and Picture Words” our art residencies show children and adults that we are all creative and capable of greatness.

Other CSA creative endeavors, with the help of a working Board of Directors, expanded into the mountain communities, “Greening up the Mountains festival,” “Patchwork Folk and Fabric festival,” “ColorFest, Art of the Blue Ridge” and “Heritage Alive Mountain Youth Talent Contests.” Two major works include “Stories of Mountain Folk” radio show showcasing local people and their stories & talents and CSA Publishing which brings many local writers’ works to print as top quality books. The CSA Scholarship Awards program for mountain youth has now developed to honor some mountain legends and community elders, Mary Jane Queen for Mountain Music, Annie Lee Bryson for Arts & Crafts and Irene & Elmer Hooper for Community Service.

Twenty three years ago I painted the cardinals rising from the mountains to represent this ‘spirit of creativity.’ Today a new painting has risen from my palette of colors. The art is entitled “Taking Flight” and speaks of the promise of a whole new generation of mountaineers, ever flying free.

The Healing Power of Art

A deep mystery occurs during my process of creating art. I enter a “no time “zone where normal aches and pains dissapear as each stroke of color touches the painting surface. Taking a closer look at what is actually happening during the creative process has given me more reason to paint everyday. Art is a wonderful source of healing to make it through troubling times.
The healing power of art and music has been known throughout history. In fact the first healing was music and dance in hunter gatherer cultures freeing what the Kalahari Bushman called ‘healing energy.’ Each night people of the tribe would dance, believing that the dance itself freed the person’s own healing energy. Eventually music and dance were combined with costumes, storytelling and paintings and became what we now call theater or performance art. But in ancient times this ritual was sacred and it was part of the culture.

Christian and Buddhist art also works on the principle that meditating on images or listening to certain sounds puts a person in a sacred state and heals. In Navaho sandpainting the patient was put on the ground and the sandpainting was made by a medicine man around them. The sandpainting told a traditional Navaho healing story and the healer told the story of the painting to the tribe as it was made. It is believed that the story, and the shapes and colors directly effect the spirits and heal the patient. Researchers find that Navahos using sandpainting are healed from some conditions that medicine cannot cure.

In traditional cultures it was believed that art healed the world, not just the individual. It was believed that art and music changed the hunt, fertility, the crops, the weather, the life of the tribe and the earth. Today many artists also believe that their art helps heal the earth. They are making environmental or eco-art to heal neighborhoods, rivers or to create world peace. Mural art is being created to honor local heritage.

How does art heal? Scientific studies tell us that art heals by changing a person's physiology and attitude. The body's physiology changes from one of stress to one of deep relaxation, from one of fear to one of creativity and inspiration. Art and music put a person in a different brain wave pattern, art and music affect a person's autonomic nervous system, their hormonal balance and their brain neurotransmitters.

Art and music affect every cell in the body instantly to create a healing physiology that changes the immune system and blood flow to all the organs. Creativity also immediately changes a person's perceptions of their world. They change attitude, emotional state, and pain perception. Art and music transform a person's outlook and way of being in the world.

In fact it is now known by neurophysiologists that art, prayer, and healing all come from the same source in the body, they all are associated with similar brain wave patterns, mind body changes and they all are deeply connected in feeling and meaning. Creating art spontaneously opens the doors to better health and a more hopeful attitude. You enter a no-time zone during the art process where all your mind chatter (worry) simply disappears. Focus of your entire body and mind zooms into the art piece inside this creative space, leaving no room for' distruct' for 'construct' lives here.

This is not 'down time,' it's "up time.' Take an art class or just pick up a paint brush and experiment. Now is the perfect time to try!


Healing Information source: Michael Samuels, MD

One Stroke at a Time

Every day thousands of more strokes of color are applied to the four art panels for the new Jackson County Library.The muscles in my arms are growing; it's like a workout that lasts all day!

I have posted below the Cakewalk panel, a close up on the flowers and a full view with all the cakes.

Quite an Experience at the Llama Storytelling Event

My sister Amy and I spent Saturday at Forest Hills Resort in Georgia facilitating a storytelling workshop and myself performing spontaneous art to Amy's storytelling for the evening dinner. The highly energetic and friendly folks who attended were members of the Southern States Ilama Association. Amy and I truely enjoyed the people and the event!

Coming up next is a local storytelling event in Cullowhee WNC at Full Spectrum Farms, The Growers Fair.  Again, we'll be performing our storytelling and I'll have my spring art prints there for sale. Hope to see you at The Growers Fair!

Back From Art Residency! Thanks for all your great comments...

My sister, Amy the storyteller, and I just returned from a great experience working with the fourth graders at Montclair School in Fayetteville North Carolina. These young people were all eyes and ears and appreciated our message about creativity and how to use it! We've been traveling to visit this school for over 11 years now and each time their writing tests go up after our 'Word Pictures & Picture Words' workshop.

On April 2, my 2011 schedule of art workshops "Art Encounters with Nature"  begins. The first Saturday of every month from 2 pm till 5 pm a different art experience 'of a fourth kind' happens. I'll be updating and writing about each workshop before it comes up. The schedule is as follows:

"Art Encounters with Nature" an art experiece of a fourth kind

April 2- Creativity, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" features a fun exercise that I always love facilitating. Each student picks out a reproduction of a painting and turns the picture upside down. They then proceed to paint the shapes they see in the picture, trying not to turn the page right side up. This  fools the left side of the brain (which does not know how to draw or paint yet thinks it does know) so that the right side of the brain can happily paint the picture with little effort. This exercise also helps the student who gets discouraged about their art abilities,  for it stops the left side from saying it's automatic response, "I can't do this."

Every student I've worked with is astonished after this exercise. Their painting is remarkably simular to the picture, yet their own personality is a part of the painting.

This is a great beginning class for everyone, total beginners and experienced artists alike. A tried & true method for treating "creative block." The media used is pastels and bristol paper, which is furnished as part of the basic workshop fee of  $36.

This particular workshop helps open doors to creativity in all who come to the workshop!

A new Art Blog for the celebration of these workshops is underway.  ColorFest, Art of the Blue Ridge Blogl features the artists, one of their art pieces and a short biography!

Posted 3/3/2011

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Intuitive Gardening

Grandma Retter plowed her garden in early spring, intuitively planted her vegetables in mid-spring and started harvesting foods from her garden by early summer. I remember how delicious the foods were: potatoes fresh from the earth, green beans picked and cooked the same day, honey robbed from Grandpa Tom’s bee hives, milk still warm from Old Betsy and churned butter kept creamy fresh in the spring lying deep within the cool banks under gnarled roots.

An unstated respect for the earth and the food that came from it represented everyday life in Grandma’s time. This clear understanding of our reciprocal connection to the cycles of nature rarely exists in today’s modern world. With life-styles tied to technology and a fast pace, our nature connections may wither and finally decay. Many children forget, or never learn about where their food actually comes from- some would believe restaurants or local food markets are the source.

In today’s economy starting your own garden or joining a local community garden group may become a necessity. Some of the resources needed can be found at your local Cooperative Extension Office to connect with assistance in gardening, health and nutrition, community development, food preparation and preservation and more.

A community garden is any piece of land gardened by a group of people. Community gardens are as varied as the neighborhoods in which they are located. They can be found at schools, parks, housing projects, places of worship, vacant lots, private properties or anywhere there is open land and lots of sunlight. Each is developed to meet the needs of the people who come together to grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and other plants on common ground. A community garden can be any size or shape, ranging from just a few raised beds to two or three acres.

Community gardens bring people together. They provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the gardeners or the produce may be donated to the hungry. Some focus on education, or on nutrition and exercise, while others may sell what they grow for income. Some simply provide a place to share the love of being out-of-doors and gardening. A good book for starting a Community Garden is "Eat Smart Move More North Carolina: Growing Communities through Gardens" This is a planning and resource guide for anyone who is thinking about starting a community garden.

If your interested in starting your own home garden there are many ways to get started. First of all an idea about what you want the garden to be is a must. There are many types of gardening techniques, The Raised Bed, Succession Planting, Vertical Gardening and Interplanting, but that’s another story. I am partial to my Grandma Retter and Grandpa Tom’s intuitive planting.

The truth is we are relentlessly tied to the earth’s cycles and knowledge of this is essential to a healthy life-style. From the beginning my husband Jerry and I have taken on stewardship of our land at Nature’s Home Preserve here in Western North Carolina.. This is an extremely creative life-style. Working with Permaculture principles and recycling, we are doing our best as a couple. Yet all of this is not quite what Grandma Retter and Grandpa Tom would do. They worked long hours tilling the soil and growing all the food they needed. The Appalachian heritage of this region has a creative spirit that can be honored but never reproduced. We can only keep it alive with our stories, memories and building our own style of connections to the cycles of life on this earth.

Winter Mural Painting

Its been cold and wet here in the mountains for months now, yet I’m not blue. One of the reasons is my passion for painting murals. Every day of this winter’s cold daze, I’ve been painting a commissioned mural, in panels, for the new library in Sylva, North Carolina. The mural is called “Cakewalk” and it tells the story of the way the mountain people here in the Blue Ridge Mountains helped out their neighbors. When one of their neighbors needed help, the whole community gathered for a Cakewalk to collect money for the one in need. The women baked cakes you could only dream about, the men set up in a large barn or community place and numbered spots for people to walk around. Local musicians came to play their music and the walk for winning one of those cakes ‘to die for’ began.
Each panel of my “Cakewalk” mural has special characters, like ‘the fiery fiddler,’ the courting boy, the moon eyed guitar picker, the young mother lovingly holding her child, the boy child with his pockets full of frogs and many more folks of the mountains during the early 1900’s.
One of the ways I stay happy, no matter what’s happening in the world, is to take a trip to my creative side while painting. This is where my young, fun side still lives. After a few minutes of drawing or painting and I get up to stretch my legs and glance in the mirror; I’ve lost ten years of wrinkles! That’s an inexpensive spa treatment and what a simple way to feel young again.

If you’re a person that says “I don’t have a creative bone in my body,” think again. You do. One of the ways you can discover your art abilities is by taking a beginner’s art class. In particular, my beginning art class, “Opening Doors to Creativity,” which is located here at Nature’s Home Preserve in Jackson County in Western North Carolina. The workshop takes place inside my Yurt Studio. A wood stove fire will keep you warm while you experiment with color, drawing and new ideas. It’s great fun and you’ll walk away with a finished piece of art and a few less wrinkles!

Click on Photoblog:     http://yurtstudio.com/myblog/blog4.php   to see pictures of the first three mural art panels, not yet finished but in-progress and look to the right for more to read about!

Life is truly an adventure. While we’re living it, life may seem like a stream of everyday affairs, but when we look back, it is a grand experience. Like the feelings of excitement I had when my hand scribbled on a piece of paper and an image appeared. Since then art remains an adventure into the unknown for me. Each painting has a life of it’s own and sparkles with newness.

Telling stories with art leads to creating much more than a piece of “decorative art,” the art becomes “larger than life.” When art becomes large, it becomes a mural and  it tells a story about people, their environment, their lives, customs and heritage. Larger both in size, concept & content, the mural then is placed in a public place so everyone can experience the story.  The perfect example that draws millions of people to see it every year is the Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512.

Here in the Blue Ridge Mountains stories of the every day person reflect their rich heritage. My sister, Amy Ammons Garza, storyteller, always say “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Many a good mountain story tells of events “larger than life.” The artist painting a storytelling mural creates art that honors the every day person, event and/or nature. It educates the public about their heritage, community and the world, while enhancing the quality of life. In order to accomplish this a mural must be placed in a public arena for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

This public art can “show history in the making.” and customs of today. Our mountain heritage can be honored through murals. Western North Carolina Craft History, Decoration Day, Cakewalks, Mountain Music, Covered Dish, Planting by the Signs, all are stories of creativity born of necessity. Today these customs hold a place in our hearts and a call out for a challenge to credit these treasures.

In order to tell a story that grabs attention, a mural must have excellent composition, brilliant color and “Surrealism.” This gets back to “larger than life.” Surrealism speaks of life as an adventure, adding to the reality of the moment a special spark and character.

These storytelling pictures of life are created to last many decades both outside or inside. When I paint a mural it’s done with the use of the finest archival acrylic paint with an over-coating of clear protectant that guarantees rich color for hundreds of years. These mural art mediums require only a soap and water cleaning once a year to maintain the clarity and beauty of the artwork. Weather treated wood is the most suitable surface for these ‘state of the art’ acrylics.

A mural only happens after research into the history of the event, idea to be painted- century, styles, customs and each phase of the artwork starts with rough art sketches before starting the actual painting.  Approved roughs are then graphed for easier sizing to the larger size. Once sized the painting begins. The finished painting will take on a life of it’s own and varies from the idea roughs. When the painting is finished 3 coats of clear protectant is applied. The color becomes richer with each application.

The next stage in the life of a mural becomes placing it in the proper public place. Murals can fit outside in a natural environment, on heritage trails, city parks and inside or outside public buildings. A mural can be painted directly on walls, ceilings, building sides or painted on panels that are placed within structures or walls. They can be a part of a 3 dimensional sculpture or actually be the sculpture itself.

Mural art can record history and place value on the event, people or community it is placed in. These pictures of life can draw many people to view the glory of it’s grand adventure. Here in the mountains one such mural will be placed in the new Jackson County Library. This art tells the story of Cakewalks of the early 1900’s and honors this tradition that still continues throughout the mountains in the present day. I am pleased to be the person that creates this painting that has a life of it’s own and sparkles with newness.
Click on Photoblog:  http://yurtstudio.com/myblog/blog4.php - pre-mural rough drawing “Cakewalk”  by Doreyl and look to the right for more thoughts & feelings!

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Images from my years past mostly show up as food or art. Since most of us remember only what we liked best, I guess it makes sense that I’d see Moon Pies and a carton of milk mixed with a Van Gough painting. When I reached fourteen my Dad decided to move us away from the southern Appalachian Mountains down into the Piedmont Belt of Greenville, South Carolina. Times were hard then and the only money I ever saw was my lunch money for school. The Scotch in me didn’t want to waste this hand full of change on a hot lunch, so I bought a Moon Pie and a carton of milk and saved my left over money. I sat on a curb outside the cafeteria and looked at beautiful paintings in my art history book as I relished my meager lunch. The memory of dark chocolate coating over marshmallow squeezed between two layers of crunchy yellow cake and an iced cold carton of fresh, creamy milk is as vivid now as it was then. A full course fine dinner would not have tasted better. Maybe it was the art that made the Moon Pie such a delicious memory.

In this spring of 2011 food and art are still creating unforgettable images for me. Living in the woods at Nature’s Home Preserve gives me a chance to grow my own fresh food in a garden and paint large art in my yurt studio. Tilling the earth, placing tiny seeds in the freshly turned soil and jumping for joy when the fragile vegetable leaves push their way up to reach the sun are all making new image memories, yet the most rewarding is the taste of the new vegetables. Spring also fills my artist’s eye with myriads of vibrant color. Wildflowers cover the ground where there once lay brown leaves and trees become burdened with blossoms. The air swarms with fragrant scents, birds and insects, while the ground moves with newly awakened worms, rodents, lizards, frogs and ground squirrels. Even our koi fish swim on top of the pond water, awakened from their winter hibernation... such rich images.

Overflowing with so many delicious pictures, I make my way to my yurt studio to paint them, so they’ll last forever. Using pastel sticks I quickly transfer the colors and feelings of my experiences to roughly finished paper. Pastel dust settles into the grain of the paper and my fingers move the colors around until an image comes forth and balance is achieved. This process could take minutes, hours or days. If the image grabs me, it might make it’s way to being painted with acrylics on a much larger scale, even a mural. This gives me as much pleasure as the bite of a Moon Pie did in my fourteen year.Throughout the year 2011, I’ll be painting my murals at festivals around performances around the Southeast. A full array of my fine art prints and notecards will be available for purchase as well.  Stop by and we can share  memories. Also you can visit Nature’s Home Preserve and attend one of my “Pastel Painting in the Woods” art workshops. It’s the first Saturday of each month from 2pm till 5pm. Call 828-293-2239 or go to doreyart.yurtstudio.com for more information.

To see some of my art click on Photoblog:    http://yurtstudio.com/myblog/blog4.php

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A Scarlet Tanager flew across my pathway as I walked the old logging road at Nature’s Home. Stopping to watch this brillant red and black bird, I marveled at the nunbers of new birds finding shelter here. Each year different types of animals and birds decide to make Nature’s Home Preserve their home. This year our lower greywater pond has become a refuge for hundreds of strange new frogs. Each frog has a unique croak and range from the size of a pea that is mostly all mouth to a giant soft baseball sized lumpy toad. The pond, though small, holds an uncountable array of life forms and has become quite beautiful. A dark green lilypad mostly fills the pond, so the insects and frogs have a great landing pad. The pond is totally alive with color, shades and movement. This same kind of creative energy goes into creating a work of visual art, so these woods, Nature’s Home Preserve, has stimulated the artist in me and has become my studio.

Creating artwork brings you into a world beyond day to day chores, a saving grace when faced with troubles and worry. The sheer joy of creating something new strengthens and renews my spirits. With this in mind I’ve begun planning my annual Spring Pastel Painting Workshop here at Nature’s Home. Figuring to share my fourty years of experience with pastel painting along with the stimulating aliveness of the woods, I put aside the first Saturday of every month during the warm season for the workshop.

Discovery of something previously unknown or unseen gives a keen feeling of accomplishment and delight. When hiking our nature trails searching for an inspiring scene to paint, discovery is constant. During spring weather washes of clear color lightens the landscape with wildflowers like Fireweed, Bleeding Hearts, Pink Lady’s Slipper and the Kelly green of tender new leaves. Wild birds, so intent on feeding and building their nests, stay in position so you can sketch them. Even squirrels stop their nosey chatter and sit still on tree limbs to study the growing forest. Students of pastel painting become students of nature in these workshops.

To view nature undisturbed gives the most profound esthetic experience. No wonder people still attempt to capture this natural beauty on paper & canvas and have since recorded human history. So far in this series of workshops, art students surprise themselves at the creativity that bubbles up with each encounter with a wildflower or distant mountain scene.

At four years of age I took my first artistic stroke. I broke off a stick and drew birds in the sandy dirt road that wound it’s way up to our mountain cabin. For hours at a time I studied the wings of butterflies, crawdads in the creek, the fireflies’s flickering lights and every wildflower within my short grasp. These Smoky Mountains filled my young heart. Now, as a much more experienced biological artist and avid hiker, I still wander the mountains and study the splendor of the millions of living species around me.
This series of Wildflower Pastel Painting Workshops is a way to welcome others to this unexplainable special experience in the woods. You don’t have to be an artist to come,  just realize that everyone is creative and you are too!

To see some pictures of my art click here:      http://yurtstudio.com/myblog/blog4.php

The workshops are the first Saturday of every month from 2:00 till 5:00 PM. To make a reservation call 828-293-2239 or go to www.doreylart.yurtstudio.com and email me from my website.

As I look out the triangular window of my yurt studio, the light dims and the surrounding mountains begin turning a royal blue. The Blue Ridge Mountains covering the horizon change to splashes of color, adding inspiration to my evening of creating art.

Turning to look around,  my gaze follows a sea of art covering the soft walls of my yurt studio. My thoughts turn to when my husband Jerry and I built the yurt deck and settled into this cove in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Having a great desire to live simply, become sustainable and to give to, not take from, the earth- the yurt totally fit my need for a creative art studio. First of all, there is no reason to rip up the earth to setup a yurt. The Mongolians, over 2,000 years ago, in Central Asia knew this when they developed their portable homes called “gers.” Our Americanization of the word “ger” has changed the name to yurt. The Mongolians built their ger homes to withstand the high winds of the Turban Desert, the snow of the Tian Shan Mountains with the versatility of design for constant movement to more fertile grounds. The Mongolians believe that the spirit of the house is contained in the door threshold and it is a great offense to step directly on it. The interior walls are decorated with Persian rugs, wall hangings with colorful scenes and soft flat pillows for beds. All of the Mongolian’s wealth is displayed in their ger, making their homes strikingly beautiful.
Architectural Digest magazine calls the yurt an “architectural wonder,” for the yurt is remarkably strong (without a central post in a circular structure), yet lightweight and portable. The yurt is considered one of the strongest and most resource efficient structures ever designed.

Americans have brought to the simple round beauty of the yurt design even more refinement... an opening skylight, tall walls, large windows and high quality weather resistant cotton canvas walls. It stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer and the structure can collapse down into a size small enough to fit easily into the back of my pickup truck. Yurts (gers) were built 2,000 years ago for a simple life-style that embraces nature. Today many Mongolians still live the same way, as do my husband Jerry and I.

Back here at Nature’s Home Preserve in the Appalachian Mountains, my yurt studio fits into the hillside on stilts which hold up the pine deck. The yurt nestles into the lush forests with little disturbance to the natural environment. During the day light filters through the walls and windows creating an uplifting space to be in. The soft, white walls and ceiling gives the feeling of a giant, comfortable pillow. Painting art in here is a natural experience. Peace within this structure allows my art to come to the art board spontaneously.

These backwoods have changed the way my art has expanded. Once an illustrator of finely detailed biological and medical drawings, I now am open to the freedom of large paintings that tell a story of the people and culture of these mountains. Inspiration swirls around me, throughout the yurt space and lands right on the surface of my paintings. I have now become the folk artist, honoring my heritage, thanks to a Mongolian structure gone Appalachian!

To see pictures of some of my art click on Photoblog:  http://yurtstudio.com/myblog/blog4.php