Back from Vacation, Back to the Real World

Hibiscus Study

watercolor on paper

 I just recently returned from a Mexican vacation in Mazatlan. In the past I have brought my acrylics with me and plein air painted, but for the last couple of years I have brought my watercolors and travel sketchbook. It is small and light and easily fits into my carry-on or small backpack. I've sketched sights around the city, and our resort has beautifully landscaped grounds and interesting architecture so there is never a shortage of scenes for painting. This year on the flight down, I met another artist, Sharon D. from St. Paul, MN, and we were able to get together and paint at the resort. We had a great time, and I now have a new artist friend! Thanks Sharon! 

Travel journal setup

Included in my travel setup is a compact set of Winsor Newton watercolors, a Hand•Book artist journal sketchbook in the 5-1/2" x 8-1/4" landscape size (available from Dick Blick), a Niji brush (also from Blick), a retractable pencil, part of a kneaded earaser and a paper towel square. Everything except the sketchbook fits into a soft pencil case I picked up for $1 at Walgreens.

Edible color mixing

A couple days after I returned from my trip, I taught at the Center for the Visual Arts Expressions Art Day for children. My afternoon class was all about color theory and was geared for students in kindergarten through third grade. After we made color wheels and talked about color theory the kids were able to put to practice color mixing with frosting and food dye in the primary colors. I had a delightful group and they really got into it. I think more frosting went on the fingers and in the mouth than on the cookies! A big THANK YOU goes out to Val Berkely of the CVA for coordinating this event and to all of the students, parents and volunteers for making it an awesome day filled with a lot of excitement, art and creativity!