More from Art and Soul, 2016

I was so impressed by the beautiful art that my students created at the Portland Art and Soul Retreat. I shared some fun, easy watercolor exercises and then gorgeous watercolor paintings started happening!  Painting soothes the soul and make our hearts happy.  Here are more photos of the paintings we did:

Art and Soul 2016

Art and Soul, Portland, 2016 was a huge success!  My students had so much fun creating color-filled watercolor paintings.  They all learned some new techniques along the way too.  I always love reconnecting with students that have taken my classes before and return for more.  Making new friends in art is a treat.  Here are some photos of our week together in Portland, Oregon.  Look at how beautiful their paintings are!

Our Colorful Whites Class

Darcy and Amy showing off their artistic aprons

Messy palettes = happy students!

Check Out the New Issue of Cloth Paper Scissors

Just out is the March/April issue of the the Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine.   My article, Making Your Own Map, is featured in the Jump-start section.  Check it out!  This is a technique that we will use in my upcoming watercolor journaling trip to Orvieto, Italy, with Adventures in Italy.  There is still time to sign up for this fabulous trip!

Coloring Books Meet Mixed Media

The new Cloth, Paper Scissor's Coloring Book,  Coloring Book Sketchbook, offers more than other coloring books.  Not only does it offer various mixed media art techniques, but it is a collection of sketches from many different artists, including one of my sketches of an old Italian door.  In her blog post, Jeannine Stein, shows how she uses mixed media to color my sketch of the door.
It was an honor to be asked to contribute sketches for the book and an honor to have Jeannine use mine sketch as a demo!

Here photos of how Jeannine Stein colored my door sketch:

Demonstration on How to Paint a Field of Sunflowers, Watercolor

Here is a free demonstration on how I painted a colorful field of sunflowers in my watercolor journal.  It has as a little cabin in the back of the field.  Watch closely how I negative paint around the sunflowers to make them pop!  The video is in fast motion, set to some fun music. so it only takes three and a half minutes to watch the whole thing.  I hope you enjoy watching. If you want to join me in ITALY, painting on location, I would love to have you join my trip with Adventures in Italy, May 2016!

Painting a Field of Sunflowers in Italy

Creating an Art Journal

Teaching in my studio in Bend, Oregon - I have been sharing one of my favorite things to do with my art journals - take them apart and reconfigure them to be more creative, artistic, and tactile!  We have been getting messy mixing acrylic products with watercolors.  We have been using ordinary office supplies and manipulating them into extraordinary journaling enhancements!  Would you like to join me in Orvieto, Italy for my Colors of Umbria: Keeping a Watercolor Journal Workshop?  We will be doing similar artistic creations in our journals as we slow down, observe and savor our time in Italy together!

Driving Around the French Countryside

We spent a day driving through the Southwest part of France coming across some very beautiful towns and sites.  This area of France is known for pâté de foie gras.  We saw geese throughout the countryside.  We even saw statues devoted to geese in the town of Sarlat.

A page from my watercolor journal

A page from Helen's watercolor journal

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!

More Fun with Fun!

Next on our journey, Helen, our friend, Agnes and I went to Spain for happy hour.  Agnes drove us to the tiny French border town, Hendaye, deep in Basque country.  Here we caught a ferry for 5 euros that took us on a very short ride into Spain.  We arrived in time to walk around the charming town of Fonterrabia, complete with cobble stone streets and a beautiful church at the top of a hill.  As the sun set, we drank sangria in the old town square, painting in our journals.  I loved all the different colored doors in the old town square.  I also loved that we could buy a drink of sangria and the bar didn't mind that we took it out into the square where we were sitting, drinking and painting and enjoying the church bells ringing as the setting sunlight glowed in the town square.

Mixing Fun with Fun

Helen and I traveled to France, Spain and Portugal to paint and do a bike tour.  We took our watercolor art journals along with us and found fun places to relax and paint.  One of our first stops was Saint Jean-du-Luz, a cute fishing village in the southwestern part of France.  This area is known for it's Basque influence, sea food and beautiful, sandy beaches.  We painted postcards to send home to family and friends.

Postcards from Saint Jean-du-Luz

Helen's postcard of boats in the port.

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