New Institute for Higher Learning in the Arts Opening Soon

It’s almost official. A logo has been designed and the board has approved it. We have elected our klass president. I am polishing my pencils, and waxing my watercolors for the first day of school. It will be here before you know it. We decided to call our art institute BARK University or BARK U. based on the response from the 3 blog readers who gave me feedback when I asked for an opinion on a name for my new school.

Since I made myself Dean of WaterCOLOR, I got to choose my 2 favorite complementary colors for our school colors, Permanent Rose and Leaf Green. We don’t have any problems finding a mascot either, Pace volunteered. Our campus will have several locations. The main campus will be in my home studio in San Marcos, other campus’ may include a local farm, a bullet train in Kyoto, a barge in Central Germany, the beach in Encinitas and of course there will be a location in Italy. I may have to take a field trip to Italy soon to find the perfect location.

I hope you like our logo

Top Secret Map for the Germany BargeWatercolor Trip

This morning I drew this map for you so you could see where you are going after the bus picks you up in Frankfurt and drives you to Bamburg, where you’ll board the barge for your 7 night watercolor travel adventure.

No one else has seen this map yet, you are the first. This will be Anywhere Art’s 38th tour and our 1st trip to Germany! That’s why the map is top secret! We’ve never seen the beautiful scenery of central Germany. However, now that we have this map, we are going exploring and will probably discover new watercolor locations to sketch that have never been captured by enquiring, curious anywhere artists, ever! Plus we will find treasure along this route in the form of new experiences, new tastes, new beers, new sights, new shoes and more.

Email me today if you’d like more information.

This map shows the route we will sail along and the towns we will visit in Central Germany.

Land and Sea

After spening a morning in the town of Bergen we set sail for the island of Trexel. It was an exhilarating sail on the high seas of the Atlantic to cross to the island. For a land lubbing artist like myself, the crossing was a big adventure! The wine bottles rode across on the floor to avoid falling when the waves rocked the boat.

The town of Trexel is filled with sea faring images I am busy photographing for future classes to paint. I am going to branch out from laundry and lavender fields to boats and sea gear, maybe.

Free Spring Watercolor Lesson

Here is a Spring themed step by step watercolor lesson for you. 

1. Here’s the photo, I am using as reference. I took this photo in the South of France. It’s a display set up on the steps of a flower shop. 

2. I drew a quick sketch where I rearranged the objects in the photo, moved around items and left out some of the items I thought were distracting. 

I added shading with light medium and dark lines to give the drawing dimension. 

3. I started by painting the background area first, then painted the pots and watering can by dropping paint into areas already wet with clean water.

Tune in Tomorrow or Friday to Finish Your Painting? 

Workshop Students

I am so proud of the students who painted in Tuscany with me. Their enthusiasm for painting was high and they painted all the time. The pages they filled with images from Tuscany were inspiring and everyone shared their knowledge of painting with everyone else.

Learning to Make Cantucci

Sorry I can’t show you our painting right now. We are very busy learning to make Italian cookies from Ilaria, the cook at Villa Marsili. 

Ilaria is a very good teacher, showing us all the steps we need to learn in order to create cantucci at home. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Italian cookies, cantucci are small size biscotti. Ilaria taught us many variations of things you can add to your cantucci dough; chocolate pieces and orange peel are going to be my choice for my homemade cantucci. 

Its important to slice the cookies after the first 10 minutes of cooking while they are still warm and NOT slicing with a sawing motion but with one firm slice with a sharp non serrated knife. Then you bake the cookies for 2nd time for 2-3 minutes. 

Anywhere Artists Visit Oxford, England

Monday, the Anywhere Artists boarded the bus for one last day of exploring.  Our destination was Oxford and it did not disappoint. 

Our bus fit all 12 of us comfortably and was small enough to navigate narrow English country roads.

We were guided around Oxford by a wonderfully knowledgeable guide named Bella. She walked us around to Trinity College and we were fortunate enough to be able to go inside  to see the inner workings.  We were familiar with some of the scenery from Harry Potter movies and the Inspector Morse BBC tv series.

Debbie Allen shows her painting of Oxford in the bottom row.

We parted at 2pm with some of the group returning home, some (including me) staying on and 2 of the members going off to Paris.

Parting is always bittersweet since we enjoyed each others company for 10 days, shared meals, conversations  and art making. Friendships are formed because of our like mindedness and shared interests. This trip, Katherine named us the Traveling Baggallini Sisters because almost all of us were carrying versions of Baggallini travel purses. 

The very good news is, we did not get enough of England and Wales and have decided to plan another Anywhere Art trip to see more of South Wales, the Lake district and the Cotswolds next year! 

Thoughtful Travelers

Recently at a board meeting of Anywhere Art LLC (which consisted of Rick and I, Becky and the beagles, the other members live out of town and Max was working), we decided the word that best describes who we are when we travel is “thoughtful”.  We strive to be thoughtful about the the country we are visiting.  We want to learn about new places first hand.  Otherwise, we would stay home and not have to pack and unpack. 

We try to understand and speak with as many of the local people as we can.

Yesterday, we followed Lindsey, a certified walking guide around Bath.  Lindsay explained a lot about the past and present and helped us appreciate and be knowledgeable about what we were seeing. 

As we stood in front of the Bath Abbey, Lindsay explained that the sculpture angels climbing the ladders up to the top of the church and beyond were designed by the architect to make the bulding appear taller by directing your eye upward. 

One of the thoughtful members of our Anywhere Art group was listening and thing about the climbing angel.   She asked, “Why do the angels need a ladder if they have wings?”

Isn’t that a “thoughtful question?” 

Look just above the blue flag to see the ladder, then upward to see the climbing angels.

Italian Vacation in Your Plans?

I’ve been all over the map lately planning the itinerary for the Fall Anywhere Art Tour to Italy. It will be our 31st tour! 

We will be visiting a variety of locations around North Western, Central and Southern Tuscany with a touch of the Lazio province thrown in because we must visit the UNESCO World heritage site of Tarquinia and learn more about the Etruscans, their customs, and their fabulous murals. We’ll also taste wine in the Chianti region, visit the Festival of the Thrush (which promises dancing in the streets), dip our toes in a thermal spa, ride bikes or stroll in the wall park in Lucca, visit a shoe factory, see the Cinque Terre and spend a Sunday at an Antiques Faire in the heart of Lucca.

In fact, I am so excited about the Fall Italian adventure that I got the vapors and our rescue Aussie had to revive me.