A Week of Thanksgiving and Specials from Jodi Ohl

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

I hope life is treating you well and you are healthy, happy and surrounded by those you love!

It's been a whirlwind few months as you can probably tell by my blogging absence (something I vow to do better with in the New Year).  Tons of travel, several classes and the biggest news of all, I have a new Granbaby-Elena, who was born on October 30th.  I was blessed my son and daughter in law allowed me to be in for the whole birth, what a miracle!

Shortly there after, I shot a short video for a new project coming up in the new year-more details on that later, did a weekend of painting demonstrations at Art of the Carolinas last week, and now I'm rolling into working on holiday events, small art, new collections, a big article for the spring and many other special new things that are all to revealed in the next few weeks!

I know time is precious so I will just leave you today with a few highlights of what is to come. As my valued readers, I want you to be among the first to know when I have specials and new products so here is what's on the agenda!

11/20-11/24  20% off Zen Paintings and Zen Houses online Workshop

11/20- 11/27  Free shipping!  Signed copies of my book, Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink along with a commemorative postcard.

11/25-11/27  15% off my entire shop!

PS-some new art and gifts  will be added this week!!

Ohh...BTW-, while I'm finished traveling for the year,  my next away workshop will be in New Mexico, hosted by Annie Hooten.  Two classes spanning 3 days. 

Flowing Features-Evening workshop

2 Day Zen Houses class

For more information, please contact Annie by clicking 

HERE

Rest assured-I have more great events coming, lots of NEW art to be loaded in my shop,  special deals and new project that expands on my year long stint as a guest columnist at Cloth Paper Scissors.  Those details and more will be unveiled over the next few weeks so be sure to stay tuned!

In the mean time, thank you so much for following my art, learning creative techniques with me and for your overall friendship as support. 

I'm blessed beyond measure for it all.

Fondly,

Jodi Ohl

Journal Questions to Discover, Uncover, and Recover

Questions to journal about, to question yourself with. Be honest and open with the answers.  

It's the only way to discover, uncover and recover-let alone move forward:





Are you interested or are you committed?

Are you passionate or are you purposeful?

Are you surviving or are you thriving?

Are you serving up crap or are you serving up value?

Are you questioning or are you hungry for knowledge?

Do you charge by the hour or do you charge what you are worth?

Are you apathetic or are you engaged?

Do you make excuses or do you take ownership and do the work?

Are you fearful or are you fear-LESS?

Are you helping yourself or are  you hoping others will help you?

Are you part of the problem or are you the answer?


Are you cutting edges or cutting corners?

Are you willing to take a risk or are you choosing only that which comforts you?

Are entrapped or are you empowered?

What have you done today to move forward?

Have you done the work or did you skip the lesson?


Why you? Why not?  Who else? What did you learn? What's next? How do we get there? 

What do you want? What do you need?


What keeps you up in at night? What are you searching for and why?

....Musings of the day. 

Until next time,

Jodi

Zen Houses Opening Soon-Painting Giveaway!

2 More Sleeps!

Yippee Skippy!   

I couldn't be more excited to announce my newest online workshop, Zen Houses,  is ready to launch and will be opening on September 6th!   This class merges two of my most favorite styles/themes of painting: My Funky Little Houses and Zen Painting into a fun filled (and robust workshop--over 6 hours of content!), 

You'll learn everything from shading, pen and pencil work, sketching,  using a specialty surface along with extremely fluid paint,  to create a water color'ish, sketcherly, work of art.  (I make up a few words here and there...heehee).    

I jammed packed this  course with several projects, warm ups, and many discussions where I share insights, tips,  and tricks of the trade.  

Here's a few more pics to  inspire you,  so you can get a general idea of what you'll be doing during Zen Houses :

From the Cottage House Chapter

From the Challenge House Chapter

From the Beach House ChapterPLUS MORE!!!!!

One of the many exciting parts of this whole process is watching my students go from a sketch to a fully illustrated painting.  I mean, can you imagine going from this:

To This??? 

 Well you can with my assistance!  I promise I will lead you from start to finish and then some!  My goal is for you not just to recreate my projects, but to grow and flourish as an artist beyond the class room!!!

The sale price for this fun filled workshop ends on the launch date (September 6th), but of course you can jump in at anytime as this is a self paced course.

BONUS--I will do 2 live chats & painting exercises during the first 8 weeks of the course PLUS offer a bonus video midstream of our first few weeks together.

In addition to our intensive warm ups, you will complete 2 mini paintings and 3full size paintings, and if you so chose, I give one final assignment for the truly ambitious.   That's a ton of content for this low  price, honestly you will get your money's worth out of this course!!!

I hope you will join me and over 100 students from around the world for Zen Houses!

For more info and or to register, check out my class page by clicking HERE.

Even if you can't join us, please help spread the word!  I am giving away, yes giving away one of my sample pieces  featured in this course titled, "Home is Where you Are", a 10x10 on gessobord.    The giveaway is open to everyone, but shipping expenses would have to be charged if one of my international friends happens to win.

How to put your name in the hat?  

Simply comment on this post and tell me where your home is and why do you consider it your sanctuary...after all, we are all searching for peace and a sense of calm, hopefully our homes are where we find that first and foremost.

If you are so inclined to share this post so that more people can hear about my class, please link to it and come back and comment again for a second entry!!

Drawing will be held on September 6th, 2017  PS...please leave your email in the comments so I can reach you if you win.

Good luck, and thank you so much for all your support and encouragement!!

xoxo

Jodi Ohl

PS....one more  announcement: some of my creative and friends and I are having an auction this weekend online to raise money for Hurricane Harvey victims.  10 of us are all donating a piece of art for the auction and would love for you to support the cause by placing a bid.  The auction starts 7pm on Saturday, the 9th through 11 pm.  Highest bidder at the end of the auction wins. EZ peezy.  You do need to join the event to participate which you can do so by clicking HERE.

This is the piece I am contributing, "Beach Road", which is a 10x10 original painting that I used for a sample during this workshop.

Thank you so much for your support! We need to pull together as a country now more than ever!

Friends Helping Friends Event

Coming Soon!! Zen Houses

I hope you will join me for my upcoming workshop, Zen Houses which begins September 6th!

More details coming!   Over 6 hours of content, PLUS  a few surprises!

Check out the registration page by clicking HERE. 

Start Where You Are

"Be the silence that listens."   Tara Brach

What a whirlwind weekend and a hot one at that!  I don't know about you but here in North Carolina, it's like an oven when you open the doors and step outside.  I'm permanently wearing my hair up with a head band to control the sweat dripping down my forehead.  Appetizing visualization, isn't it? Sorry about that!  I have to laugh because the above picture was taken outside--what was I thinking trying to work in 95 with a feels like 110 heat out there??

(PS..the winning entry for my class giveaway is announced on this post....read on to see if it was you!)

awww much better...I may never do my hair again now that I fallen in love with  big old head bands!

As I was trying not to melt over the weekend, I spent a lot of time working on my upcoming classes at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point  this weekend along with working on projects for my newest online classes set to be released in about 6 weeks and a few other misc projects.   After all, if it's too hot to play outside, then we might as well art it up this summer, right?  Here's a peek at a couple of things I've done recently in case you want to see:

I'm obsessed over patterns and rocks as you might have guessed based on some of my latest  paintings!   I really think I'm going through a 'grounding' and foundation stage of my life and art. It seems to keep coming back to me in a variety of ways no matter what my original intention was.

The first rock painting above was a sampler for the larger painting right here.  Many times I like to test out ideas on small surfaces before I go big.  Not always, but sometimes. It's a great way to work out ideas or to practice techniques before becoming overwhelmed with a large painting.

I took a little side trip with a friend of mine in search of inspirational houses for my paintings along with texture and patterns.   When seeking ideas,  sometimes it's best to get beyond your 4 walls and  see what's happening out in the world.  I can play with this picture in photo shop or some other editing program and really get some interesting colors and  texture to inspire me for some future paintings. I also like the faded lettering peeking out on either side.  Be observant!

My friend and I also took a rode trip back to our home town in NY together for the holiday.  Knowing that I was looking for houses, barns, and landscapes that were interesting...we made a few stops to take in the sites and gather up inspiration.   The trip took extra long but who cares, right? Stop and find the barns ;)  It's all good.

I still need to finish packing all my supplies for the classes this weekend--that's an overwhelming task to me when I fly.  Oh my goodness, I've been procrastinating doing it because I'm afraid I will either forget something so I want to be doubly triply sure that I have all I need, and also because I am still using some of the supplies I need for the class in my work this week.  I have to draw the line in the sand and I think today is it kids. It gets packed and I need to move on to something else.

Have you ever obsessed about something so much it put you in a state of inaction?  I've collected everything, It's all staged, but I have yet to pack it despite it needing to get done like yesterday!  Something crazy is going on in my mind is all I can say! lol   Anywhoosers, this is what I've been up to in part over the weekend and in the past few weeks.

Now for my other announcement today, I ran a little contest over the weekend which I am giving away a spot in my upcoming workshop,  Zen Houses and boy oh boy, did the comments come in with some GREAT tools you all are loving!  I could go broke just reading what you favorite new supplies are on your table!  If you missed it, go back and check it out! The drawing is closed however and the winner is....tadahhhhh:

Lori Bradford said...

Tough choice, picking a favorite, but I'm going to go with my Gelli Plate. It's so fun to lay down paint and stencils and just let things happen.

Im going to share your post on my facebook page Lori Bradford's Art and my Instagram. I enjoy your classes a lot and hope that others will too.

www.loribradfordsart.com

10:26 AM 

Congratulations Lori, I'll try to contact you but if our paths cross, email me at jodiohl@hotmail.com to claim your prize!

Now, for the other announcement,  I did a bit of soul searching and made the decision to shift the launch date for my new class to September 6th.   Some unexpected things have come up personally and professionally (some good, some not so good) that are going to compete for my time over the next couple of weeks and I just knew in my heart of hearts that I would not be able to finish all the post production parts on time and deliver the quality product I aim too.   I've already sent messages out to the students that have registered so far, so hopefully you saw the email from me yesterday evening. That is in part why I didn't get the blog post up yesterday with my winning announcement, I wanted to get the class and student information out to those people first as soon as I made my decision.    Thank you all who have reached out to me, you all rock!  Such kind and understanding hearts.  I swear.   I'm so grateful to all of you!

I also decided to extend the pre-sale for a few more days at the $90 price until August 1st, it'll go up to $99 after that so if you want in at the pre-sale price, be sure to register soon!   

I'll leave you with something I wrote in my journal to remind myself,  things don't happen over night and they don't get fixed over night.   

"Start Where You Are.  Just Begin Again". 

  We need to be kind to ourselves when we are struggling.

Until next time, 

Jodi Ohl

Better Late Than Never! The Winner Is....

You know what they say, "Better Late Than Never"!!  So sorry this is soooooo delayed, no excuses other than I've been knee deep in paint as I get ready for some big upcoming events and haven't really turned on my computer so I can stay focused.  Anyone want to be a virtual assistant??? I think it's about time I start thinking about hiring someone!!!!  They could have posted for me and I wouldn't have felt like such a slacker! lol

Thank you all for all the kind words of support over  my new DVD's just released, your shares, and for the great ideas about new classes!!!  I soooo appreciate it!

For those of you who would like to order one or more of the videos, here are some quick links to the North Light store:

My 4 New DVDs:

1.       http://bit.ly/2maKlSh   Graffiti Grunge Art: Abstract Painting on Yupo

2.       http://bit.ly/2mQWpp5  Texture Techniques for Abstract Art

3.       http://bit.ly/2mQnVmb  Art Journal Jam

4.       http://bit.ly/2nAkSyL  Zen Painting Workshop

And now, without further adieu....The winner of my four DVD set is...drum roll please!

 Elisa Ablett said...

I would love to win this amazing prize!! Definitely would love to learn more about cold wax and also painting on yupo. Thankyou for the opportunity

5:23 PM

 

 Elisa Ablett said...

Shared on facebook- my email is 2craftymums@gmail.com

5:25 PM


Congratulations Elisa!   I am so happy you won!!! Enjoy the set!

 

For my next online class, I will be doing a new version of Zen Painting entitled, "Zen Houses", in essence, I'll be meshing up some of the techniques from Zen Painting and Funky Little Houses for a ultra fun and sooooo whimsical groupings of some of the best houses on the block!  Just like all of my classes, you can expect to learn in depth techniques through well thought out exercises and practice sessions before we move through a variety of projects that increases in difficulty/or size before we work on a final project.

I expect the class to go live in August so if you want to be on the early bird sign up,  I have created a special interest newsletter list that will inform you when the class will launch and the special sale price for all early birds.   To get on that list, please sign up HERE.  *Early-Early birds will get the absolute lowest price offered until the class is about 6 months old just an FYI :)

Here's some more sampler pieces I've worked on recently so you can get an idea of what Zen Houses will be like. SOOO MUCH FUN! I hope you can join in with me!

That's all she wrote for today, again thank you all for playing along and I apologize for the delay in my posting!     Happy Thursday to you and yours!