Another Weekend Seminar

This past weekend we (Pampered Palette) along with Bev's Ceramics sponsored a Sandy Scales seminar at Bev's studio. We spent the weekend painting several of Maureen McNaughton's patterns pictured above (excuse the flash). Some of the individuals attending the seminar painted on ceramic bisque surfaces while others painted on wood surfaces. We even had some attendees that had never attempted stroke work previously. In all it was a good two days of painting. We are planning the next Sandy Scales seminar for December 4 & 5, 2010. For that seminar we will be painting two pieces, a Cabbage Rose & Holly pattern and a Summer Sweet Pea pattern. We are looking forward to that seminar.

Now next on our list of seminars is a weekend with David Jansen where we will be learning Rosemaling. That should be interesting and hopefully we will be able get through the pieces with our usual excitement and of course patience. We will see. Have to run out. Just wanted to share the pieces we completed this past weekend with everyone. Until next time, Happy Painting.

New Website and Online Store Coming Soon!

We are really busy trying to get our new website and online store constructed and rolled out. We do not know how long this will take but are hoping to get everything done this month. We are combining a lot of our websites into one very user friendly site. The new site will have a newsletter, a forum, the Pampered Palette website, the Pampered Palette Educational Network and our online store all in one place. Now how cool is that? Now some may ask why we are redoing our website/store? Well, we are trying to bring up a site that is a lot more flexible for us, more user friendly for end user, and more visually pleasing to the customer. We have been busy configuring and pulling data into the new system. Currently, all the products and prices have been included in the system. We now are trying to bring up the website information, forum and newsletter along with TESTING, TESTING, and more TESTING. It seems like we do not have enough hands to get everything done and find the time to paint as well. We expect that once the site is launched then everything will calm down a bit (we hope).

We are rolling out several seminars using one of our local ceramic studios space for the classes. Soon we will have our own class area completed. We have the room almost finished, painted and the flat screens mounted. We are currently waiting for some gadgets we need to pull everything together so that we can display different pictures on the three different screens or all the same picture. We have added a brand new camcorder where we can zoom into to see a flea on a fly's butt..........lol. We are really excited about the classes and the new space.

Do not forget about HOOT. We will be there with two booth spaces, 413-415, so if you are planning a trip to Ohio to attend HOOT, be sure and stop by our booths and say hello. We also would like to remind everyone about the Washington DC area Mini-Conference/Exposition scheduled for November 20/21 with our Special Guest, David Jansen painting an Armoire. What an exciting year we have planned. So, stay tuned for more news. Until next time, HAPPY PAINTING!

Well the SDP conference is over for this year. I think it was a lot of hard work for our tiny little booth but we had a great time. We met a lot of our friends from England, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Bolivia and the US that all stopped by to browse because they know us from Facebook. I thought that was really great. We sold all of the Heritage colorsets that we had stocked to sell and some of the new 19 colorsets. The Garden Parula DVD and Pattern Packet was a big hit as well with over 20 of those items sold............We also moved a lot of other DVDs, lots of mediums (sold out of some of them) and other goodies that we had. Now the show itself was a little small attendance wise but we still were very pleased with the overall results. We made a lot of new friends and hopefully now have a lot of new customers.......yeah!!!!!!

So, now we are home, what do we do next? Well we will be getting ready for HOOT. We have two booths at HOOT (will have two booths at SDP next year as well) so I need to get busy deciding what the booth will look like, what products will be in the booth, and the most important, what we will wear (I have an idea).

I have included some pictures of the event (our booth) above so that you can take a look. All went well. Until the next post, Happy Painting.

New Booth Backdrop For the SDP Conference

As always, times have been a little rough around here lately. We are getting ready for the SDP and HOOT Conferences so that means we need to determine what we are taking to the show. We have a booth at both shows so I decided last week that I would have a professional backdrop made for the booth. Above is a picture of the backdrop which we received yesterday via FEDEX. So it looks like we will be using the booth backdrop at the SDP show. YAHOOOOOO!!!! The backdrop is actually 8 feet by 8 feet so it should fill the booth very well. Now all we have to do is get ourselves and everything else to Wichita.

I am trying to get some painting done however with everything going on right now, it has been a little difficult to get into my painting area. We are having the classroom constructed which is taking a little longer than I expected. Well we now have walls and they are painted........now that is a start. This past weekend we had 18 cans (lights) installed in the ceiling for lighting and two 42" flat screen TVs. The TVs will assist the student during class to see brushstrokes, blending, or whatever as they are hooked to the camcorder. We are getting there.

For those that do not know, we two seminars scheduled already for June. I will be the instructor for the Fusion Blending seminar and we are bringing Sandy Scales for a two day seminar. Sandy will be providing instruction for two of Maureen McNaughton's patterns. So as you can see, we are a little busy and excited at the same time.

Along with all this excitement, we had our first decorative painted piece on ceramic bisque published in the Ceramic Artist Guild's e-magazine (Cerakanvas) which is read by over 66,000 individuals worldwide. The magazine is very professional and is packed full of fun ideas and projects. Check it out at www.ceramicartistguild.com . About a month ago, I was made the Ceramic Artist Guild's Special Ambassador for Decorative Painting. Well this month, I became a SDP Ambassador as well so now I promote both decorative painting and ceramics to both organizations. What an exciting time but very busy. Which reminds me. I have got to run so I can get some things completed. Who knows, maybe I will be able to paint some today......one can only hope. Until the next post, Happy Painting!

November Event Plans Moving Right Along - Everyone is Invited

We are planning a great event this November with Special Guest David Jansen. Above is our current advertisement with all the information. Individuals can also check out our website for new information. Go to http://www.pamperedpalette.com and look under the Tab "Washington Mini-Convention. We hope to see everyone there. Do not miss this event. When is the last time David Jansen visited the Washington DC area not to mention we have very talented artists like Georgia Dawbon, Arlene Newman, Bev Scarborough that you do not want to miss. See you there!

SDP Wichita Conference - May 2010

This will be just a short post to invite everyone to stop by our booth (317) at the SDP Conference, in Wichita this May. Above is a picture of our advertisement that will run in the SDP Conference Program. Only one month to go!!!!!!! See ya there.

Until the next post, Happy Painting.

Washington DC Mini-Convention - A World of Color

I just wanted to let everyone know about the event that we are planning. Details are not totally finalized but this is what I have confirmed thus far. Now put this on your calendars............

Washington DC Mini-Convention - "A World Of Color"
Westin Tysons Corner (Rt 495 & Rt 7)
November 20 & 21, 2010 (10 am to 5 pm, both days)
Open to the Public, Admission is FREE

With Special Guest David Jansen

There will be make it and take its, demonstrations, new products, a decorative art gallery, wood and more.

Studio that I can announce right now that will be there are:

Jansen Art Studio
Pampered Palette
Dawbon Art Studio
Arlene Newman Designs
Dave's Cuts
Bev's Ceramics

Other studios and guest will be announced soon.

This is a Pampered Palette Sponsored Event - "Bringing Decorative Arts and Ceramics Back to the Mainstream"

Visit http://dacartists.ning.com/ for the latest information.