Registration is now open for Painted Travels: LVC Workshop with EARLY BIRD PRICING still in effect until Thursday, February 28, 2019!

Come and join me for a truly magical 10-day art journaling workshop in Frayssinet, France, September 19 - 29, 2019! We’ll be staying at Le Vieux Couvent, a refurbished 17th-century convent-turned-art retreat. Located in the small village of Frayssinet, it is centrally located to many awesome sketching destinations in the Lot and Dordogne Regions of southwest France. 

Two quick reminders for this week!



An Imaginary Visit To A Tulip Festival will begin this Thursday! We'll be working with all kinds of bright color both close up and at a distance over a field. We'll also play around with all kinds of greens and how to make them interesting. If this sounds like fun to you, come and join me! Please click here or on the class title to sign up!

P.S. As ImaginaryTrips.com will be celebrating six years of creative fun and learning, I am offering this class at a special celebratory price. Check out the link above to find out more!






Next up, if you're anywhere nearby, plan on joining me for a class at Keeton's Office And Art Supply in Bradenton this Saturday, June 25th! We'll be capturing the jeweled wings of the Monarch Butterfly in our sketchbooks! It seems kind of appropriate since today marks the Summer Solstice!

To sign up for this class, please contact Keeton's directly by following the link above!



Hope to see you there or in the Imaginary Realm!

From the Imaginary Visit To Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks class*

Have you ever found yourself desperately wanting to distract yourself from something ongoing in your life and at the same time you're too distracted to do anything for long? 

From the Imaginary Visit To Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks class*

I don't know about you, but every once in a while, life gets obnoxiously tedious with lots of little "events" that I could do without. Things that cause small amounts of stress and worry. By themselves, they're no big deal.

Unfinished Daffs from 2009

But together, it's like being ganged up on and pecked by a bunch of ducks until I'm a bundle of raw nerves. Together, all those events feel huge. Overwhelming.

And that's when I turn to art as an escape.

Back in 2007, when my job was outsourced to another country, I spent 18 months trying to find another. Unfortunately, the economy was in a nosedive and there wasn't much out there. During those months, art became my way of maintaining my sanity.

From 2008

I started sharing my work on this blog and people stopped by to say hello. I found myself with a new community of friends and before I knew it, I was launching Imaginary Trips!

Before I started the trips, I would frequently "run away" to the garden or the kitchen or a coffee shop so I could escape into my sketchbook and away from the worry of trying to find a job in a lousy economy.

What I realized early on, was that I really liked traveling via my imagination! Who knew it would be so much fun. I could go where I wanted, when I wanted and I didn't have to pack a thing!

Imaginary Trips, from the very beginning has been about escape. Sure, the classes are about growing our skills and preparing for a big trip. It's also about going to places we've not been before or are not likely to get to any time soon.

Sometimes, we're not physically able to travel or we can't break from from our obligations and other times, it's not financially feasible.  There are a host of reasons why it makes sense to travel via our imagination rather than in reality.

By going on an imaginary trip, it's possible to control the weather, how long it takes to get somewhere, the circumstances upon which we travel and where we go. We can travel solo or with friends and we don't have to worry about anyone standing around tapping their toe wishing we'd hurry up. There's no rush to get home and we get to sleep in our own beds each night! We don't have to wait for the seasons to change—you can see them all if you want to—on the same trip.

It's also a fabulous way to keep our skills sharp or to continue to grow our skills when we "go on a trip." Especially if I'm preparing for a real trip I have coming up in the future. I find it so much easier to be creative all along rather than to try to get creative right before or during a big trip.

But for me, I think the most important thing about going on an imaginary adventure is that while it lifts me out of my current circumstances, it also allows me control over those circumstances. It allows me to forget about the struggles and worries for those few precious moments I'm in the zone and creating a memory on my sketchbook pages. Stress goes away. Worry melts. Joy comes and infuses the minutes and a sense of balance is restored.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

If you'd like to join in on an imaginary adventure, please join me for "An Imaginary Visit to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park" starting on May 12th. We'll explore the rugged mountains, hot springs, abundant wildlife and delicate wildflowers without having to camp or sleep on the ground! Click the class title for more info.

If you're not able to join in an interactive class, take a look over at The Imaginary Realm for independent learning classes. They're the same as the interactive classes without the time constraints. You work at your own pace and you have access to the materials for a year. Click on the link for more information.

Detail shot of the front cover

If classes are not for you, strike out on your own. Pick a location and decide when you're going to go, how you'll travel and who will be traveling with you. Look for information on the internet about where you'd like to go along with photos in the public domain to paint from and build an adventure in your sketchbook.

In my "spare" time, I've started a journal to chronicle a trip to the Lavender Festivals. I've only just started it and I work on it in starts and stops, but the time I spend playing in that journal are so very important to my wellbeing. It's a relief to "be away" from the daily grind.


Your imagination is the limit!

Leave behind the bitter cold and snow of January.
Soak up the warmth of the sun on white, sugar-sand beaches.
Sketch and paint dolphins and seabirds, beach cottages and turquoise waters…sound good?!

Get ready to join the fun!

After you spend the morning sketching and painting the beach and attractions with me, Laure Ferlita, you have afternoons to do your own exploring.

We'll be staying at a resort at St. Pete Beach with plenty to do within walking distance—assuming you can pry yourself out of that royal-blue cabana!!

I will be providing all the juicy, glorious details just as soon as the ink is dry on the contracts.

My NOLA Live! Journal has been moved, shuffled, and piled, ignored, dropped, lost misplaced and then found rediscovered, but it still laid unfinished until this weekend.
I don't even want to tell you how many times I moved the darn thing rather than just going ahead and finishing!

It probably took that long because of the need to find the mat cutter, cut the board down, come up with an idea, paint it, unearth my binding machine in the very back, bottom corner under a stack of heavy boxes and finally do the binding and finish up the final touches on the cover.
Am I thrilled to have this done!?! YES! But talk about going from to Orlando from Tampa via Omaha?! Good grief! Since this is a Stillman & Birn sketchbook, I could have just as easily used with the original covers and glued a piece of watercolor paper onto the front and been done—months ago.
Still, I'm thrilled to have it done. The photos don't begin to do it justice as there are a lot of subtle color changes and details that are not visible. I deliberately left the title dateless as I've decided to put the second NOLA trip (November 2013) in the second half of this journal.

I still need to create a title page and a list of all the wonderful artists who joined me. Then, I think I'm done. Until November!

The cover was created using watercolor, acrylic ink a stamp, and a stencil. The title block is a separate piece of watercolor with hand lettering that's been glued down to the cover for added dimension.

Watercolor and Ink 5.5 x 7.5 inches From "An Imaginary Visit To Autumn" Online Class

Are you out and about taking advantage of the glorious show that Mother Nature is putting on right now!?! Whenever I go to an area that is just brimming with over-saturated reds, golds and rusts, I do my level best to try and capture all those shades, hues and tints of color on my page.

There is no better time than Autumn to really play in all those glorious colors we have in our paintbox. What happens when we mix red and green, red and gold or red and teal? Do you know? If not, or if you're not sure, get out some scrap paper similar to what you sketch on and create some color charts:

Just a few color swatches to see what I could create with the color combos on my palette

Play, have fun, explore...this is the perfect time of year for it! What you learn in Autumn will come in handy when you go to paint the reds of the holiday season, the buds of Spring, and the blooms of summer!

There is no such thing as too much knowledge when it comes to watercolors and the occasional refresher color chart will make you glad you decide to play a little!

So, what are you painting for Autumn? Please share!

To view the Web page, please click here.

They're here, they're here, they're finally here!! The new Imaginary Trips' Basic Watercolor Kit and the Imaginary Trips' Complete Kit are now available through Daniel Smith! You can learn more about them by clicking on their names or by following the link under the graphic.

This has been a long while coming and I want to thank all of the wonderful "travelers" that made this happen. All of you who have joined me in adventures big and small, trip and visits, foundations and explorations, thanks for making this a reality!

For those of you who already have a kit, you can still shop at Daniel Smith and save! Enter the following two codes at checkout to save up to 15%! Please enter WSCHOOL2 and TRP00362 at checkout. Please note the discount will not apply to the kits as they've already been discount MORE than 15%!

Your purchases will accrue points and when the points add up, Daniel Smith will be issuing gift certificates that I will be giving away on the blog and on the live trips with Imaginary Trips Made Real!

Again, thanks to all who have helped get Imaginary Trips and Daniel Smith together!

Just wanted to let you know that I've received word that Daniel Smith is ending their Affiliates Program. That means that sweet 20% off that you get when you click on the Daniel Smith ad over on the right side bar is going away!!

If you've been thinking about doing an order, now is the time. Click on the ad in the right side bar to go to the Daniel Smith web site and use code WSALE20 in the coupon/promo box when you check out and enjoy the savings while you still can!



Hi, my name is Laure, I'm an enabler. I'm an art supply junky....

I go to to Art Supply Hoarders Anonymous regularly.....

...by joining me in An Imaginary Visit To A Japanese Garden!
Stroll along the statues and koi pond.
Feel the gentle breezes sweeping cares and concerns away.

The first Imaginary Trip to Greece is scheduled to begin on April 26th and registration is now open! I hope you'll come and enjoy this beautiful country with me. Rich in color and culture, Greece is a treasure trove of history, diversity and beauty.

Ancient ruins, azure seas, wineries and olive groves are just a few of the things we'll see as we wander through this sun-kissed land.

I do hope you'll join me! Please click here for more information.

Yes! Christmas in July! Why? Because if you're like me, you have dreams of creating your own designs at Christmas time every year. You realize on the 18th of December that it's probably NOT going to happen. Again.

So this year, I decided to do a MINI Christmas In July class! You can find more information here. It's a 4 week class with a creative prompt each week as well as a video demo covering some aspect of making the artwork card-ready for the holidays.

Come and join the fun! Class starts tomorrow.