Painting in France, May 2019

Join me on an artistic journey of creative expression! 

I am teaching a watercolor painting and art journaling workshop in Provence, France, May 10 – 17, 2019.  

Registration is now open.  If you book now you will receive an early-bird discount. Experience the magic of Provence:  cypresses and olive groves, scents of wild thyme and lavender, medieval villages perched on hilltops, and a countryside rich with bright, crimson-red poppies – all a feast for your senses.  

Painting in a field of red poppies

Quaint medieval villages

Young olive trees

The Fun Continues

Helen and I continue our journey to Sarlat, beautifully well preserved medieval town in the southwest of France.  It is an area rich with history and delicious food.  Think fois gras! (more about this in my next blog post) Since it started to rain, we found a comfortable cafe and painted in our journals and made some postcards to send to family and friends back home.  Here is the view from our cozy cafe:

Here is the postcard I painted while enjoying a warm cup of French coffee:

If you would like to join me on a painting holiday, please check out my upcoming trip to Orvieto, Italy!

Keeping a Watercolor Travel Journal

 Part of the joy of traveling to new places is to take some time to paint in my watercolor art journal.  This is my first time visiting Lisbon, Portugal.  I am enjoying walking around this colorful city  Here is a page in my journal of the cute trolley car.  This is what I love to do - paint plein air!

Fun Ideas for your Watercolor ART Journal, Part 3

I am always looking for fun, unique ways to add to my watercolor art journals.  While I travel, I always pick up brochures, free maps, coasters, wine labels...  Then I add them to my journal pages.  I also paint little paintings of what I see along my journey.  These all create a lasting memory more precious than any photo album.

Try these ideas!

· Doodle or create Zentangles.

· Connect your writing and glued items with lines, dots and squiggles.

· Collect and add business cards, tickets, postages stamps, cut out words and photos from brochures, wine labels, paper money and postcards from your travels.

Italian Memories - A Peak Inside Our Journals

Snow is falling softly outside.  I am at home in Oregon and I am finally getting around to share with you some of our beautiful, fun watercolor journals from our week with Adventures in Italy, September 2014.  We painted, played, lifted, cut and pasted, stamped, and just generally created wonderful artistic memories! 
Here are some photos from our fabulous watercolor / mixed-media journals:

Italian Memories

Sifting through my many photos, I am feeling nostalgic for the lovely Orvieto, Italy.  I miss the warm glow of the sunsets, the bouncing light of shadows on the walls, the rolling hillside, the arches and the brightly painted ceramic pottery.  

I miss the angel statues and the cobbled stone streets.

 I miss finding hearts in unexpected places....

 The fun times we had together:

Orvieto - Thank you!

Painting and Mixed Media in Orvieto, Italy

It is very scenic here in Orvieto. Every view could be a painting. We have been enjoying some mixed media art too.  It is a fun treasure hunt to look for and collect wine bottle labels, restaurant cards, napkins and other creative things to add to our journals.

Using Black as Color

The second article that I wrote for the 2014 summer issue of Pages is about starting out with black on your journal page.  We will be preparing some of our journal pages using this technique in my upcoming watercolor workshop, the Colors of Umbria, Keeping a Watercolor Journal,  in Orvieto, Italy.  There are just a few spots left if you want to join us!