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.

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.