After coming home from a trip, I always have grand plans for all the pages I'm going to do based on the great photos and wonderful memories I have. Sound familiar?

And then life, work and daily living gets in the way. Sound even more familiar?

Those pages still exist, but they're only in my imagination and they fade with each passing day.

Each trip, I do a little better by getting more done in my sketchbook while on location. However, there will always be more pages to be done when I return. Both our Acadia trip from last fall and the Winter Interrupted workshop from this winter await the finishing touches.

Luckily for me, I had a little help from one of the gals that helped me Interrupt Winter, Claire McFeely. Actually, it was more than a little help—she's been a powerhouse of inspiration because she recently finished all 48 pages of her trip and she's been sharing them on a private trip blog we have.

The other "help" I have is that my brand new Apple computer, the Big Mac Daddy, is back at the big house for yet more diagnostics and repairs. I am so over this situation and I knew I need some serious distracting from the situation, so I pulled out all my saved materials and photos and went to work. BTW, distraction is a marvelous tool to get going on a stalled project!

Final Day and a Page of Thanks Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook Watercolor and Ink

On the NOLA trip, we lost a stool on the very last night. On the last evening of Winter Interrupted, one of the ladies' hats decided to separate from its brim in a rather dramatic fashion. After a wonderful walk on the beach, we had dinner at a little grill where we sat outside to enjoy the wonderful breeze and listened to the waves crashing into shore.

That single-serving bottle of bubbly Moscato wine was ridiculously expensive, but just too cute to pass up and the wine was good. The ink on this page reads as black but is actually a grayed blue. It worked well with the restaurant's logo colors.

Happy reminders of a wonderful trip Stillman & Birn Watercolor and Ink

During our adventure to John's Pass, the bag above was spotted. Since it had eight flip-flops on it and there were eight "Beach Sisters," the Sisters decided to gift the bag to me as a happy reminder of the trip and to show their appreciation. After they gave it to me, I had each of them sign their names to a flip-flop…I still need one more signature that I'm determined to get one of these days, soon!

Feet and Books from Winter Interrupted

Wow, what can I say?! What fun we had at the beach!

Eight of us spent five glorious days sketching all up and down St. Pete Beach and into Clearwater at Winter Interrupted: An Artist's Beach Sketching Holiday. We sketched everything from giraffes to old gardens to ocean critters to fish shacks!

We spent the day sketching, eating and shopping at John's Pass

It was fun hearing everyone report the weather conditions "back home" each morning as we gathered for the days outing. There was only one day it was warmer in another location pass the Mason Dixon line than it was where we were at the beach even though some of our day's started out kind of chilly!

Imaginary Trips Made Real is the natural extension of the ImaginaryTrips.com online classes. We  put the skills we've learned online into action at fabulous live locations like the beach. But I gotta tell you, the location is secondary.

An afternoon spent in another beach town sketching, shopping, laughing and talking

It is the camaraderie that comes alive on these trips and weaves itself in and around a group of like-minded artists to creates magic: colors are more colorful; the air is a little brighter; the fun a little funner and makes the moment all the sweeter that is most important.

It is positive-uplifting-battery-charging magic that's even better than therapy! Imagine spending a week with people who understand when you come to a dead stop in your conversation as well as the street to take a photo of some adirondack chairs with parrots painted on the back or when you pull out your sketchbook at lunch instead of eating your meal. No explanations were necessary.

We saw adirondack chairs with parrots, flip-flops and ice-cream cones for the back boards!

We shared about ourselves, our lives, our families, and the challenges that we face in that other life we left at home. We laughed until our cheeks hurt and we talked late into the evening more often than not.

Three of the intrepid sketchers braving the chilly winds come in off the Gulf of Mexico

We ogled each others supplies and kits and made notes on where to get those special pens or fabulous palettes.

Yummy, messy, juicy color!

Art and Imaginary Trips Made Real is not just about the pages we fill or the places we visit or the things we learn. It is about the entire experience and maybe most important, about the connections we make to others and I can hardly wait to do it again!

Wave Demo Page

In fact, I'm already looking into the next adventure—I hope you can join us!!

Where would you like to go on a sketching holiday?

Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook Watercolor and Ink 5.5 x 8.5 inches

We are 13 days out from Winter Interrupted: An Artist's Beach Holiday being held at St. Pete Beach…don't you want to come and play!?!

There's still two spots left!

We'll be going to all kinds of fun locations to sketch including old Florida gardens, an marine aquarium and of course, the beach! When we're not out sketching, we'll be lounging in our big blue cabanas at the TradeWinds' Island Grand Resort.

I started my sketchbook page, seen at the left, way back in June and you can see the beginnings of the page here. I used torn tape to create the deckled edges and then created the starfish and title block on other papers to add interest to the page.

These are some of the fun things we'll be learning during the workshop. Interested?

Our temps are forecasted to be in the 70's tomorrow. Later in the week, we're forecast to go down into the 40's—for one day.

I know you gotta be sick of snow, freezing temperatures and gray skies by now, so come on down!

Go here for more information and if you have any questions, just let me know.

I hope to see you there!

Acorns Watercolor, watercolor pencil, ink and charcoal

The other morning I found myself in a parking lot full of acorns and you know I just had to pick some up!

And this time I had a good reason…I did a class last week at Keeton's Office and Art Supplies on Autumn's Garden and the bounty to be found there. We painted some of the acorns.

But I gotta tell you, I probably would have picked them up anyway as they were huge! I think they were from a red oak(?) and I fell in love with them.

Looking at an acorn, you usually see a hint of green, umber, ochres, yellows, a few golds and maybe some gray. Not so exciting when I look at all the fun colors I have in my palette.

So I decided a fantasy acorn was just what I needed to dispel the icky weather we've been having lately.

Above is the result of playing with all kinds of color as well as media. There's a little bit of everything in there.

I can't say I'm wild about the end result as it looks nothing like I had in my head, but I can say it was fun and it scratched the itch of painting an acorn.

Back in the parking lot, as I looked up into the tree I was standing under, I could see gobs and gobs of acorns still on the tree…a very bountiful crop this year…and I thought about Mother Nature's approach to the future.

She didn't put all her hope into one acorn, but into thousands and that was from just ONE tree!

She knew that some acorns would feed the woodland creatures and some would fall onto concrete for crazy humans like me to pick up.

Some would fall to the mower's blades and others would fall in an inhospitable environment, so she made sure there were enough that maybe, just maybe, a few of those acorns would grow into themselves to become big, strong oak trees.

I often find myself too focused on the one acorn rather than a more bountiful approach of several acorns. Perhaps you can relate?

However, I've been quite fortunate and blessed to find that my acorn has taken root and continues to grow daily (ImaginaryTrips.com). Another acorn, Imaginary Trips Made Real, is thriving with a trip to the beach coming up in January—if you want to interrupt winter, there's still time! Click on the box at the top of the page for more info.

My friends and family are also blessings though some are more like squirrels than acorns. As we *supposably* slow down for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, I am taking stock of all of my acorns and how much they've grown this year.

Thanks to all of you who've come to be part of my world via classes, the blog, the internet and FB groups. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I wish you the very best of blessings for the season.

May you find your acorns have grown as well.

WIP - Beach Visit Watercolor in Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook

Ah, yes, summertime is upon us here with a vengeance. It's hot. It's humid. It's like walking through a furnace whenever you go outside. 

Torn tape to make the faux deckled edges

Creating Faux Deckled Edges*

Florida Stone Crab Claw Watercolor and Gouache 3.5 x 2 inches

Chris and I recently went over to a friend's house to pick a roll-top desk she had left for him when she passed away. While we were there, her son asked if we'd be interested in going through her art supplies as she had been a lifelong art teacher.