Mixed Up Media

Les Jardins d'Helene Front Entrance

This painting was painted with watercolor paint. Somehow the red color of the front door bothered me. I repainted and repainted it several times yesterday afternoon. Anyone who says you can't fix mistakes in watercolor painting is mistaken. I lifted off and rubbed out the bright red door several times.  

I paced, I snacked and I had a glass of wine but no solutions came to me about how to finish this painting to some level of satisfaction. I took a book off my shelf by one of my favorite painters who is known for her translucent watercolor glazes. I read that she sometimes uses gouache(opaque water based paint) in the final stages of her paintings. Why, I have a whole drawer filled with tubes of gouache paint. I rushed to the drawer and grabbed the gouache, I mixed, I squirted paint and I tried concocting all kinds of pastels colors of gouache + watercolor.  Pictured here are the results of my endeavor.  Since this painting contains more then one art medium I believe it can be called a "mixed up media" piece. 

Dreaming of Lunch in Tuscany

I am not complaining about our recent warm summer weather in San Diego. My hair does not have a halo of frizz around it in the summer in San Diego like it did when I lived in the mid-west. However, my thoughts have drifted to Fall in Tuscany.  I see myself seated on a shady terrace looking out at the rolling hills, cypress trees and  all the greens of the countryside. In my dream I am about to eat lunch, (I am always hungry, dream state or normal state).  

Lunch will start with toasted bread drizzled with fresh olive oil, that has just been pressed from the Fall olive harvest.......wait! This isn't a delusional dream, this is a reality dream.  On Oct. 10 I will be in Tuscany teaching a watercolor workshop and I will be eating daily. It will be olive harvest season in Tuscany and I will be able to taste the freshly pressed olive oils.  

I would love to have you join me for lunch and 2 weeks of painting and touring in Tuscany and Umbria, I have only 2 spots open on my trip. Please email me today if you are interested at anywhereart4u@gmail.com

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Monet and I Have A Lot in Common

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I painted one of the windows in Monets house and he painted his house too!

I am reading yet another book about Claude Monet.  This book says that Monet sometimes felt depressed about a painting he had completed and when he was depressed he got angry.  In fact he got so angry that he went and stayed in a hotel near his house in Giverny. I wonder if he stayed, where I stay when I visit Monet's Garden with my students?  Les Jardins d"Helene? I wonder if he stayed in the blue room? No he probably stayed in the room with the very nice bathtub and big bathroom.  Anyway, I read that when his depression pasted (in a day or two), he came home and everything was fine again for his family. 

Now I am not saying that I move to a hotel when I don't that one of my paintings.  That would be silly. However,  sometimes when I finish a painting I don't like it all that much.  It happens to all of us.  Sometimes it happens because you are trying something new and the results are not perfected yet, and sometimes your eyes get tired of looking at your painting and it looks better the next day. 

Here are some other things I have in common with Monet: I like to paint/he liked to paint, I like lavender walls/he painted the walls in his house light lavender, I would like to have a Japanese bridge over a water lily pond in my backyard and he had a a bridge and a water lily pond. He liked living in France/I really like visiting France, ooh the things we have in common are endless...

Painted Fire Station

Here is my painting that I painted during the class I taught while sitting on the curb in Auburn with my students in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

Painting, Perspective and Placer County

I used to live and teach in a suburb of Sacramento. The town of Auburn 30 minutes up the hill was my favorite place to teach and visit. There is something to sketch on every corner of the old town. I found a good match for my teaching skills when I signed on to teach for Placer Adult school. All the students were eager to learn and full of enthusiasm. It was such a treat to return to Auburn this week to teach watercolor sketching to my wonderful students. 

Painting on the streets of Old Town Auburn

We drew the old fire house. 

What I Have Been Painting Lately

I have been in a painting frenzy lately. Even though my brushes haen't touched a canvas or piece of watercolor paper, I have been feeling happy as a kindergartner with her first box of crayons while I was coloring all my furniture inside and out.

Annie Sloan chalk paint is my favorite paint for my furniture. If you come to visit me, don't sit still for too long or you might get a fresh coat of paint. If you see me out somewhere, I bet if you look closely, you will see chalk paint on my clothing, in my hair or somewhere on my purse or phone. 

Repainted furniture  

Backwards Beach Painting

This weekend when I went to the beach in the morning to walk while my husband surfed, I did everything backwards. 

I walked in the opposite direction then I usually walk. I looked in the opposit direction from the ocean, at the homes perched on the cliffs. I painted at the beginning of my walk instead of after my walk like I usually do. Here is the result.

How to Make Friends in an Art Class

So exactly how do you make a friend in an art class?  My answer is to ask open ended questions.  Questions that cannot be answered with just a yes or no answer, but require more of an explanation, so you might learn more about the person. 

Here is a list:

To ask at the beginning of the class or while waiting for the teacher to begin.                          How did you find this art class?  What other kinds of art do you do? Are you from this area?  What other art classes have you taken? Where did you get that brush?  

To ask while doing the project.  How did you get that technique?  With an exclamation first, Wow, I love the color you used for the sky, where did you find that color?  Amazing! How did you learn to draw like that?  Awesome! Have you been painting for a long time?

At break time. If you are stumped for questions to ask, just look around and ask questions about the environment.  Do you know where the coffee machine is?  Did you think the man across the table is wearing a wig? Why do you think the teacher dresses like that?  Or if all else fails, give a small compliment and then ask a question. I love you shoes, where did you find those? 

Nearing the end of class you could ask things like, What do you think about taking another class from this teacher?  Are you going to be able to continue this drawing/journaling/painting or whatever process on your own at home?  Then you could throw in, maybe we could form a group to continue painting?

It's very scary to try to make new friends at any age, once you leave kindergarten.  I think its because no one likes to be rejected. However, we can't take rejection personally.  Compare it to something else like fishing.  You bait the hook and you drop it in the water and wait for a bite. Then if you get a bite you have to pull the fish out of the water and see if you want to take it home. Maybe this isn't the best analogy, because you are not going to eat your new friend for dinner. But, I can't think of a better analogy right now. So just be open to trying to make new friends in art classes.  Let me know how it goes.

Happy Acrylic Painting Class

Yesterday the students graduated from my 4 session acrylic painting class. They all learned a lot and got straight A's on all their paintings. 

I love acrylic painting for 2 reasons: 1. You get to paint with white. 2. You get to paint on canvas. 

Today, I am beginning to paint a "car" portrait. I will keep you posted on how it progresses. 

Finding the Right Outdoor Watercolor Painting Set Up

In yesterday's post I mentioned the challenges of painting out of doors.  It is important to have just the right technical set up. This morning when I went to the beach to paint I was testing out some new outdoor painting supplies. 

There was a fatal flaw with my new paperweight that I used to hold my Moleskine journal page open during painting. 

Next time I will try using a binder clip instead of a banana. 

Travel Painting Post Trip

When you are painting out of doors while on vacation the conditions are never perfect. Sometimes there are no places to sit in front of your subject or if you brought a stool small enough to fit in your 22" suitcase, it might collapse or tilt. Also your paint colors may be limited since you have to use a smaller palette then usual. Never mind the weather conditions that can effect your painting. Everything considered,  I love travel painting in my journal. I love plopping down in front of something beautiful, studying it and trying to paint my rendition of it. The feeling might be similar to how a jazz musician feels but that's only a guess since I am tone deaf.

My second favorite thing to do besides travel painting, is paint the final touches on my journal paintings after I return home in the comfort of my studio. I have a lot more control over the painting conditions at home then I do in the field. Also I have all the time I need to add the finishing touches and change them if I don't like them.  This is what I am doing this morning. 

Paintings from Monet's Garden that I am working on today. 

Packing Tips for Artists

 I must share with you how I pack to return home from a painting trip. I have to let you know that mid trip, I did ship some things home from the post office in Provence.  Otherwise I never would have made it home with one 22" suitcase and a carry on bag. 

First, I spread everything out I need to pack and look at it with a feeling of horror. Then I get to work sorting everything into to categories and piles.  When I got to this point, I decided I needed expert help, so I called in my assistant and world traveler,  Eileen Condon.

The picture below shows Eileen's reaction to my packing situation. It wasn't good. I begged for a tidbit of advice. Finally, Eileen came up with some very good ideas I hadn't thought about.  She suggested I take one of my Eagle Creek packing bags that you roll the air out of, and use if for my dirty clothing.  That was a big help.  She also gave me permission to donate some of my heavier scarves etc. to the charity bag in order to make room in my suitcase.  

We put together a bag for charity of all of our clothing and Sandrine, the wonderful owner of Les Jardins D'Helene said she would get it to a charity shop.

So, this packing story has a happy ending. I was able to fit everything in my suitcases and everything made it home in one piece. 

Last Stop Paris

The last day of our journey was spent in Paris. We planned ahead to see the Pierre Bonnard exhibit at the Musee D'Orsey.  

The front of the Musee D'Orsey

The exhibit was unbelievable. I've been a fan of his paintings since I majored in art and painting at UCLA one hundred years ago. There were room after room filled with his paintings. The main focus of his subject matter was intimate scenes of his home and his friends and family plus a dog in almost every painting, so I could really relate to his work.

Bonnard's paintings have incredible color combinations. 

Painting in Monet's Garden

We painted in Monet's garden Monday night. 

We all spread out in different directions to paint.  There were so many glorious things to paint it was hard to choose where to sit and paint.  

Here's my first sketch. I will post the finished painting tomorrow. 

New Home in France

So we took a poll and no one wanted to return home from our painting trip to Giverny. The only solution is to buy this house and stay on in Giverny. 

This home is down the road from Monet's home. 

The problem with our plan is that none of us is rich enough right now to pay for our new home.  We have gone back to the "drawing board", so to speak to come up with another plan. 

Gates, Shutters and Flowers, Oh Boy!

There are wonderful things to paint everywhere in Giverny,  I love how the climbing flowers are the right color to compliment the gate and shutters. If I were an artist I would paint this, well maybe I will. 

In Which We Leave Provence

This morning we left our B & B and to catch a train to Normandy.  We spent a relaxing week In Provence painting, touring, and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Sous L'Olivier B & B, our home for the week. 

I look forward to painting from some of the photos I took in Provence. 

I will miss dessert at the B & B

I will miss rose buildings with blue green shutters. 

I will miss digestifs served after a meal to aid your digestion. 

It was a productive workshop and I was really pleased with how well everyone painted and how much fun we had. Our plan is to return for another week workshop in Fall 2016.  

May 8th in Europe

Today is Liberation Day in Europe. In fact it's the 70th anniversary of the end of WW II in Europe.

We happened on the cemetery in Giverny today where we saw this memorial to 6 British soldiers that died nearby when their plane was shot down near the end of WW II

Positive Results From Provence

Alice Schilla did this wonderful painting of the Abbaye. 

Debbie Reid is hard at work. 

Linda Loftis is very happy with her work. 

Watercolor Workshop in Provence

Here we are all working very hard at our painting. We are staying at a wonderful B & B in the Luberon region of France. It is called Sous L'Olivier which means under the olive trees. 

Talk about shuttered windows, this is an amazing location for them. We are all snapping pictures right and left of wonderful windows, delightful doors and beautiful bicycles. 

The weather has been fine, the guide has been brilliant and the painting has been exceptional. A good time is being had by all.