Last Weekend I met the most amazing woman....I knew I would love Wouterina de Raad's workshop for making cement sculptures.  But I was totally surprised by her warmth, her love for her art and how willing she was to share her experience and inspire each and every student.  But WOW...I was not prepared for her beautiful "artistic" gardens and how her art is integrated into those gardens.  They are amazing, and everywhere you look is a path leading you to yet another hidden place with yet another artistic view of the surrounding landscape.  Her farm sits on a plateau so you can look off into the distance and see the beautiful Wisconsin farm land, surrounded by quaint red barns and green fields.
So the workshop begain, and the formalities fell away as we got to know each other and Wouterina, our teacher soon became Rianna our friend.  Each of the 10 students created something very different.  I had no idea what I wanted to make, I just knew I wanted to refine my craft.  I wanted to learn the detail of making faces.  I also had a million other questions which were were all patiently answered.  So I began to make a face and as my piece evolved it started to take on its own personality.  My face evolved into something I could hang on the wall.  Then it seemed to call for glass eyes and Rianna's idea to add a light inside so the light shows through the eyes and up through the top.  (I loved that idea!!)  So after 12 hours of the class, you can see my wire lathe form is built and ready for cement.  I am still not sure what it will look like in the end, but I think that is the beauty of these type of projects, they lead you in the right path.  Stay tuned for updates on my progress. 
But my immediate passion is to make some of the changes to my gardens that have been inspired by Rianna's gardens.  That is why yesterday, with the sun shinning, I spent 12 hours revamping some of the front gardens and if it stops raining today, I will continue!  If you love artistic gardening, I urge you to visit Rianna and definitely take her class!  You will be truly inspired!  Check out her website.     http://www.concretemosaicsculpture.com/