I am in Hood River, Oregon with nine fabulous women. We are having fun painting all day, laughing all night and sharing the stories of our lives. Here is a photo of the lavender field where we painted. The sight, smells and harmonious buzzing of the bees was heavenly!
Kayaking in Maine, Mount Desert Island: I love kayaking in the early morning right off the dock in an area called Squid Cove. I took my camera and took a photo my view. The sparkle of the light was what I was trying to capture in my journal entry.
We did a lovely hike up a bubble-type hill called The Beehive. The views were spectacular looking east and north over the Atlantic Ocean. I would love to sit up here and paint the pink granite, yellow and green lichen overlooking the ocean but my knees were shaking too much from the climb. I have started a few paintings in my journal that I will share soon.
I am on my family vacation and of course I can’t go without exploring the local art supply stores. One of my favorite is an Art store near Portland: Artist Craftsman I can always count on them for having exotic hand made papers from Indian and a wonderful selection of colors in any medium. Here are my new toys for this trip: handmade papers, dip pen with inks, sea sponges, oil pastel (didn’t have this beautiful poppy orange color yet). I did get the rub on letters at Art Mart in downtown Portland but would recommend the Artist Craftsman store if you only have time for one stop as I often do.
I am in the beautiful country side of southern Washington (state), visiting mom, my brother and sister-in-law. Wow! I just want to stop and paint awhile. Here is a painting entitled “In the Wine Country” that shows the vibrant, green rolling hills of this charming area.
My daughter, home from college, is teaching me some fantastic things about computers and the internet. Today’s lesson is about staying in contact with fellow artists. She showed me how to create a form so that people, like you, can sign up for my email/newsletters. Sign up to get my newsletter. Let me know it works!
A birthday present arrives – wrapped with this sweet red polka dot ribbon. I could not throw it out because it was so cute, so I wrapped it around my favorite blue vase. The tulips are begging to be painted and it all came together in this bright and cheerful painting, Blue Vase with Polka Dots!
Our trip to France was a huge success! Everyone painted such beautiful and creative paintings in their journals. We learned some new techniques and practiced painting on location in such wonderful places: St. Remy, Uzes, Daudet’s Windmill, the cute friendly town of Eygalieres, the beautiful and peaceful St. Paul de Mausole. Here is a photos of our group at the Hotel du Soleil in Saint Remy de Provence.
It has been a long time since I blogged but I got very discourage because there were never any comments left and I was not sure people were finding me. This is what I have been doing:
Writing a book
Donating a painting to the Deschutes Childrens Foundation
Teaching my The Good, the Bad, the Beauty of Color
Teaching my Watercolor Journey’s Class
Teaching the Elements of Design Class
Getting ready to take a group of watercolorists to Provence, France, September 2009
Finalizing my article for the July – August Issue of Cloth Paper Scissors
So see not much but………
Sandy’s box became a beautiful white sandy island surrounded by turquoise blue seas. We all had so much fun with this one and the theme was set and easy to think tropical.