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CREATE Mixed Media Retreat!

CREATE Mixed Media Retreat!

The poster outside my classroom

I have been in Lisle on the outskirts of Chicago for several days “doing art” at CREATE, 2011!  My favorite part was making new friends and sharing creative ideas!   I am already looking forward to the CREATE retreat in Irvine, California. 
I thought I would come home and clean up and organize my studio, but instead, I was so jazzed about the new things I learned and the encouragement I got about my journals, that before my suitcase was even empty my studio became messier than ever!  I think that I now have about 4-5 projects going – all in the different stages of completeness.  Watercolor, watercolor journaling, book pages, and even painting on fabric!  Yes, you CREATE fabric folks made an impression on me!
Is this how you like to create?  Or are you more of an organized, neat, finish one project before starting the next type of artist?

More photos from my Flip, Flaps & Fold-out Class at CREATE:

I love traveling through the San Francisco Airport.  They always have an interesting artistic display.  This month it was a look at old TV shows and board games.  Do you remember the Twilight Zone Game?  Lost in Space?

Painting the Plants of Greece: Monkshood

Painting the Plants of Greece: Monkshood

Monkshood
Part of what I love about watercolor journaling is that it engages all my senses.  In order to paint a flower, like the Monkshood, I use my sight to tell me colors, shapes and value, but I am also experiencing the sounds and feeling the warm breeze along  the hillside. I also love that it takes me to new, as well as familiar, places.  I look for different ways to represent my life journey.  It a wonderful way to slow down and savor the moment.  I look forward to sharing this experience with you in Greece!  There are lots of techniques that I can show you that even a beginner to watercolor painting will return home an artist.  If you would like more information on how to join me on a Watercolor Journaling in Greece, please contact the American College of Healthcare Sciences.  The class is May 27 – June 2, 2011.

Surprises along the way

Surprises along the way

Enjoying the view with a cup of Cortadito

We are traveling from Oregon to St. Thomas for a wedding and after 16 hours and 3 plane rides later, we were hoping for a good cup of coffee as we waited for our last flight out of the Miami airport.  Our layover was 3 hours.  I approached a perky looking petite woman holding an very official clipboard, dressed in a red skirted American Airlines suit and seemed open for questions.  “Is there a Starbucks nearby?”  “Just 10 minutes by the sky train,” she said.  She had a beautiful Italian accent and we struck up a friendly conversation when she offered that her favorite coffee is Cuban coffee and available just around the corner!  I was up to try something new and so was David.  “You have to go past the sit-down area and go to the coffee stand-up bar and ask for Cortadito“.  Which we did and absolutely loved our tiny cup of cortadito that we ended up having 2!  We also enjoyed Cuban pastries, savory and sweet.

Ladies at the coffee bar making Cortaditos