Last weekend I once again had the pleasure of teaching a two-day workshop at Katherine England’s studio in Fullerton, Ca. Katherine is a world-wind of creative energy and a lot of that energy has been passed on to her many devoted students who joined me in class to create Jeweled Tin Boxes.

Katherine in her garage/studio

Right off the bat, inspiration abounds with the many mosaics that adorn the walls of her garage. Most are her own pieces but there is also student work that is amazing and a few other pieces she has collected from various artists.

Katherine’s latest mosaic after taking Mireille Swinnen’s smalti portraiture class.

Myra’s cool dog mosaic which sold over the weekend to a lucky new owner!

Another new cool mosaic by Katherine! The eyeball moves!

Katherine with an incredible bear/deer made by students…love this piece…it is all beaded!

Here you can see a close-up of the beading that covers this giant head! Katherine will be joining us this year at our Tesoro del Corazon art retreat in San Miguel de Allende as our guest artist and she will be teaching this beaded technique. It will be wonderful to have her join us!

Katherine’s house is covered with fabulous artwork and she is well known in Fullerton and Anaheim for the many public art installations she has done or helped facilitate. Here is one huge mural that was sitting on her front porch waiting to be installed!

After an hour or so of setting up and admiring all the artwork, students began arriving. It was a terrific group of gals and they did some beautiful tin boxes.

Each day I was treated to a very yummy lunch! The first day students brought an amazing array of food and we had a perfect potluck that helped refuel us for the second half of the day!

Here is the class and a few samples of their beautiful jeweled boxes!

After class we headed to downtown Fullerton. First stop as usual was to my favorite store  called Gilding the Lily. Nancy Jamar was nice enough to stay open late on Sunday so we could swing by! The shop is jammed packed with beautiful findings, jewelry, notions and ephemera……and beautifully displayed as well.

After a little shopping, we walked over to see a few of the gorgeous hearts that are part of a fundraising event for local schools that Katherine organizes. The hearts that line the main street are huge and the efforts by all who donated their time to create them is beyond admirable! Congrats!

Katherine’s sister, Jennifer’s heart…talent runs in the family!

Student’s work! Wow! Each student made an eye! Love it….

This was a small one that was in a shop…and it was wonderful as well!

It was a super fun weekend in the OC! Many thanks to Katherine for hosting me and special thanks to the super nice group that took my workshop! Hope to see y’all again soon!