A year ago, before the pandemic became real, I was invited by the Tampa Regional Artists to do both a demo and a workshop for artists in their group as well as anyone visiting the Tampa area. 

Along came a virus and this all went up in a puff of disbelief. 

Fast forward a year, and we are moving forward with both the demo and workshop, but it will all be online and the best part? 

You are invited to join the fun! 

The class demo will be held on Thursday evening, May 13th, during the monthly meeting online (non-members are welcome!) and the class will be held the following Saturday, May 15th.

Because we are not actually getting together on location, the class will be based on photos from the area around the TRA art center as if we were. The area is a mashup of beautiful old houses (many on the historical register), some of which have been converted to businesses, old oak trees, gardens and if you walk several blocks, Tampa Bay. 

The class will focus on working quickly as if you were really on location, the benefits of working quickly, embracing our quirky styles and handling those pesky mistakes that are bound to happen!

Sound like your kind of visit?

Click here to learn more about TRA.

Click here to learn more about the demo. Non-members are welcome!

Click here to learn more the class and to get registered!

I stumbled across this Free illustration course over on Facebook. The course is offered by edx.org and features two experts from the University of Newcastle in Australia.

It looks like it will be both fun and beneficial to anyone seeking to improve observation and or rendering skills!
The images show a host of different subjects as well as mediums (with different approaches).
I'm not affiliated in anyway with this course of edx.com nor the University of Newcastle...I just think it looks like a super fun class! I've already signed...come and join me!

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re staying cool in this lovely August heat we’re having. I wanted to send out a quick update to let you know there will be TWO (Live) Art Journaling Classes this week! (More reason to be inside and enjoying the air conditioning!)
First up, I’ll be at the Indian Rocks Beach Art Center on Thursday, from 1 to 4 pm, to create this long-legged critter in the Beach Treasures series. We’ll work on colorful black and whites as well as water ripples. Don’t miss out!
Black Neck Stilt @ Beach Art Center, Thursday, August 9th, 1 - 4:00 PM

You can find more info here.


Our next class will be on Saturday, August 25th at 9:30 am! Make sure to mark it on your calendar!

Actually, I think it's time for two BRAND NEW Imaginary Trips To Paris!


As most of you know, I'll be getting on a plane to Paris in a little over two months...squeeee! I am so excited and I want to share my excitement with all of you as well. (There's still time and a few spaces if you want to come to Paris, too! Click here to get the details.)

To make the trip last longer and so you can come and play too, I've put together two trips—one before I go and the other after I return!

In the first Imaginary Trip To Paris!, we'll be visiting some of the city's famous iconic sites. We'll delve into the rich lives of Parisians along with how they travel in style as well as the cuisine. This class starts on Thursday, August 23rd! To learn more and sign up for special savings, please click here. 

There is something about capturing moving water on our pages that makes us feel like we're 10-feet tall and bullet-proof! I think in part because we fear the subject...but I'm going to work to demystify the process to capturing water in your sketchbook, easily and accurately.

Sound like something you want to learn? Come and join me at Indian Rocks Beach Art Center on Thursday, July 26th at 1:00 pm.

To register, please click here.

Two upcoming classes this week are just chocked full of fun tips, techniques and tricks to get you journaling in no time!

Beach Art Center
The first one is going to be at the Beach Art Center over on Indian Rocks Beach this Thursday, 7/12, from 1 to 4 p.m.

We're going to be painting staghorn coral, learning to incorporate values to create depth, adding in a quote and suggesting texture. Sound like your idea of great way to spend your Thursday afternoon? Come join us! For more info and to register, please go here. Class info is on the right side of the page, midway down!

Keeton's Office & Art Supply
This coming Saturday, July 14th, we're gonna be doing a little (sea) horsin' around! Summer is made for bright, happy colors and this project has them in spades!
The white design over the top along with the bubbles floating in the background really push this over the top and make it lots of fun to create.

We'll be working with making washes interesting by mingling color on the paper as well as how to quickly create the white design with the seahorse's body.

Last, we'll add some lettering to finish the page.

To come and learn how to create your very own seahorse, please click here. Please call Keeton's at 941.747.2995 to register!

Hope to see you there and if not, I hope you're keeping your brushes wet and the pages, full!

A visit to the Provence region is a delight to the senses, the sun-drenched patina of the old architecture, the vibrant market fare, and the glittering coastline...but that's not all! Breathe deep and smell the scent of fresh bread, listen to the cries of the gulls and feel the warmth radiating from the cobbled stones of the street. History saturates the area and there are plenty of markets and cafes to explore and enjoy.

This new adventure begins on Thursday, May 3rd! Click here to register.

Video demos are provided for all of the assignments. All techniques are shown so that you can “see” when and where they’re used. You have total flexibility as to when you watch the videos once they are posted. The demos are available for the duration of the class and you can watch them as many times as you like.

Things that show the passage of time like an old tin watering can is one of my very favorite subjects to capture in paint! If it shows a few bangs and dent from daily use, all the better. I've often wondered what tales we'd hear if old tools could talk.

I will be teaching how to capture these lovely beauties this Saturday, April 14th at Keeton's in Bradenton.

These cans might seem like a difficult subject, but they're really not. The patina is quite forgiving and you get to use all the colors in the paint box. If you're worried about the drawing aspect, don't be! You draw only one can and then you move it around and trace on the page two more times.

I hope to see you at Keeton's on Saturday! Please click here for information on how to register!

Maybe I was feeling a bit nostalgic when I created this image or maybe I just wanted to depart from "reality" for a bit, but regardless of the reason, this image looks NOTHING like the photo reference. The photo I used was taken in a large craft store and it featured 3 pastel watering cans on a white wire shelf with big sale tags everywhere.

It takes time to build up experience and courage to create something that doesn't exist. I think it also help to throw in a dash of crazy, as in being crazy enough to not be so invested in the end result that you're not willing to take chances.

I have always found that taking risks with my artwork is what keeps it fresh and exciting. When I get too invested in the final results, I almost always squash my willingness to take chances...and then I wonder, "If I would have done X, would the art be better/strong/more exciting?"

I will be teaching how to draw and paint "Crusty and Rusty Waterin' Cans" at Keeton's on Saturday, April 14th at 9 AM.  Come and join in the fun! 

Creating patinas and rust really isn't a hard thing to do and it allows for all kinds of palette play! You can use just about any color on the palette, but especially in the earth pigments and granulating pigments.

Please click here and scroll down to April 14th for all the info on this class.

Sunnies? Check. Beach chair? Check. Sunscreen? Double check! Sketchbook and paint? Yep!

I'm packed and ready—how about you?

The Imaginary Visit To The Beach class starts this Thursday, February 15th. To learn more and register, please click HERE.

I have to admit I was a bit surprised by these sea creatures when I started researching them for the class—they're kinda fun!

Did you know:

• The name "urchin" is an old word that means hedgehog?
• That there are more than 950 species of sea urchins?
• Did you have any idea an urchin could live up to 200 years in the wild?!
• Sea urchins can grow up to as large as 14 inches or be as small as 1.2 inches?
• That their outer shell is called a "test?"
• They they have lots of predators including sea otters, eels, triggerfish and starfish, but their biggest predator is man due to ocean pollution and over harvesting?
• That sea urchins can live in tidal pools as well as up to 16,000 feet below the ocean's surface?

Me either! These sweet little hedgehogs are far more than just pretty shells or sweet meat and they're a delight to create in an art journal.

Come and join me at Keeton's in Bradenton, FL, this Saturday for a super fun class on adding dimensionality to the page.  To learn more, please click here.

Hope to see you there!

Already sick of the cold? Me too. Let's head to the beach!

Click here the class title the details for "An Imaginary Visit To The Beach!"

Class starts on February 15th—hope to see you there!

While drawing round ornaments is very fun and satisfying, especially when we add in all the gorgeous details with a little bit of gold and glitter, after a while it can be great fun to explore other shapes and sizes. Using a little creativity and imagination, we can expand on the basic circle to make more exotic shapes!

To do this tutorial, you'll need:

• a circle template OR assorted bottle caps and jar lids in a variety of sizes
• pencil
• tracing paper
• permanent black pen
• watercolors
• eraser

Optional:

• gold gel pen
• white gel pen
• Other metallic or pearlescent pens and markers

Steps:
Draw a straight line on your tracing paper. This is your base line.
Choose a circle on the template or bottle cap. Resting the bottom of the circle on the straight line, draw a circle.
Then move either to the left or right and draw a second circle the same size. See example.
The further apart the circles, the more of an "oval shape" you'll get. Experiment with the width of the combined circles to see what you like best. Add a small rectangle and a circle for the top and you have your first ornament.

In the next example, choose a large circle or lid and again, using a straight line as your base, draw one half of the circle. The circle will be divided in half vertically.
Now move the template or cap and draw the other half so that it overlaps the first half as seen in the image below. Another way to do this is to draw one large circle on the tracing paper and then cut it in half. Overlay the edges until you are pleased with the shape. Tape the edges of the paper to hold the shape.


Make sure to use the straight line as your base to keep the sides even in length.  Add a rectangle, circle and string at the top and you have your second ornament!

One variation on this is to deliberately offset the second half so the "circle" is wider at the top than on the bottom. Play around by moving the template or cap around to get different shapes and lengths.







Moving to a more complex image, let's try stacking the circles to make a longer ornament:
After starting with the double circles like we did in the first example, I added a second row of three circles (second image). I then added a long spike. The second row of circles and spike are the same height as the large circle. This helps to keep things in balance, but it would be easy enough to go much longer with the spiked shape if you wanted to play.

In the last example, I used a row of three circles to get an extra wide ornament. I then added a second row of circles and the long spike shape. Last, I added another circle as a "dome" over the first row of large circles.

There are any number of combinations of shapes you can come up with with a little experimentation!

Let's Add A Little Paint

Since the ornaments are all drawn on tracing paper, turn the paper over and trace the outline of your ornaments onto the watercolor paper. Experiment with different arrangements by drawing thumbnails to quickly see what you like. Avoid drawing all the ornaments the same size and at the same level on the paper. I opted to split my ornaments into two groups to balance my page. Overlap the ornaments for more interest:
Next, paint around the ornaments with clear water and drop in some green watercolor paint. Keep an eye on the edges to keep them soft, as if they're fading away. While the paper is still wet, drop in other colors if you like.

Study a real bulb for ideas on where the shadows fall and where the highlights and lowlights are:

Notice how the lights are different on the frosted red ornament and harder on the shiny bobbles but they all have soft and hard lights in the shapes.

Playing around with color is half the reason I like painting ornaments so I dropped in red orange and pink. I used a granulating violet in the shadowed areas and left white skips for my highlights.

The way the image looks at the moment, it looks like the long ornament is in front of the smaller one. It takes a few tricks to move it to the front of the red ornament!

On the right side, I used cobalt teal blue and violet to paint in the ornament. I left the strip and smaller circles bare until the painted dried and then went back and added orange. I again used violet as my shadow color.

To make the two ornaments on the left look like they were overlapping, I painted the smaller ornament over the large one as if it were not there. After it dried, I added in the details in white pen on the larger ornament with a permanent ink. Once the ink dried, I washed over it with same watercolors we can see in the small ornament.


Technically speaking, there should be swirls on the backside of the smaller ornament, but I found out the hard way the ink in the metallic gel pen was not permanent and there was no way to add the swirls without lifting paint so I opted to leave them out.

If you've enjoyed this tutorial, I invite you to check out the free tutorial, "How To Sketch and Paint The Eiffel Tower," as well as "'Tis The Season Holiday Class" (just click the class title for more info!). We'll be creating awesome holiday art all year long and you can do as little or as much as you want based on the class option you choose.

And once again, I'd like to take this moment to send my wishes for the season's best to you. I hope your holidays are fun, happy, healthy and full of those you love!

January is right around the corner and what better way to start the year off right than in our sketchbooks with some sweet, orangey fun?!

Clementines seem to hold a special place in many folks' hearts as I've already had several memories and traditions shared with me since announcing this class. In part, I think it has to do with the smell of these sweet jewels that evoke strong memories and thoughts from childhood.

Capturing these on the page require not one, but two, different white gel pens! One is opaque and non-permenant and the there is semi-opaque and very permanent. The combination makes it easy to capture the look of the clementine sections on the paper.

I hope you'll come and join me at Keeton's in Bradenton, Florida, on Saturday, January 13th! Just scroll down to the appropriate date to view all of the details.

It's entirely possible, maybe even probable, that I have all things Paris on the brain these days since I'll be going to teach a Travel and Art Workshop there in October 2018! And what could be more Parisian than the Eiffel Tower?

Along with having Paris on the brain, it seems I have the holidays on my mind as well and what could be more fun than rendering the tower as a gingerbread cookie?!

French tradition calls for placing special treats into a shoe or shoes left by the fireplace. However, I couldn't make up my mind on what kind of shoe to have, so I went back to the traditional stocking instead. Once I chose the stocking, it seemed only fitting to fill it with delectable treats, art supplies and useful things for a trip to Paris (maps, passport and boarding passes)!

Then I decided you all needed to share in the fun and joy with me. So I created a FREE TUTORIAL over at The Imaginary Realm!


The Tutorial also serves as a free preview of the holiday class, 'Tis The Season, where we'll be exploring a holiday theme each month through 2018. If this sounds like fun, you can find more info HERE.

I hope you will come and join the fun, both in Paris and the holiday class!

Do you like to make your own sketchbooks?! I love to make my own as I get to personalize it to the size I want, the paper I like as well as adding special touches like different closing methods. But there are times when I don't have time to drag out all the paraphernalia you need to make a book, the glue,  the clamps and weights, cutting down the chipboard, waiting for things to dry, adding book cloth and so on. It's easy to become too intimidated by the idea of attempting to make a book and possible ruining a perfectly good sheet of (expensive!) watercolor paper?

I've been in both places actually, but there is something that's just too cool about making and using your own sketchbook that I keeps me coming back for more!

Do I dread the mess and the process of traditional bookmaking? Yes. It's mostly because I don't have an area where I can leave all the stuff out during the process (cutting, assembling, and drying time, etc.)

Have I messed up a sheet of paper before? Yep! The paper was still usable, just not in the format I had intended...which I try to look at as just another art adventure (after I get over being mad at myself).

If any of this sounds familiar to you, I invite you to come and join me at a Live and Learn Workshop on Saturday, July 29th! We'll be learning to create a Reverse Piano Hinge Sketchbook out of a single sheet of watercolor paper. Part of the reason I like this style so much is because there are so many ways to individualize the books to show personality and charm! Plus, it doesn't require any glue!

Below is the basic book we'll be learning. It is nearly square and has a self cover with a string tie closure which we'll also be making:

The back of the sketchbook shows the unique look of the binding. The actual hinge is "hidden" on the inside of the sketchbook. The hinge on the right in the image below shows some of the ways this sketchbook can be personalized:


 These next two sketchbooks are variations on the basic book. Regardless of size or format, they are both made from a single sheet of watercolor paper! The sketchbook below shows the added fun of changing up the string tie to a couple of silver leaves for the closures.
The next sketchbook is an even bigger departure in that it uses scrapbook paper for the covers (rather than a self-cover) and hinge. By using scrapbook paper, I also gave myself more pages inside. I also changed the size so that I have a long landscape view.

Another fun size for this book is  the 5.5 x 7.5 inch size. Again, it can be customized in endless ways!

Want to learn how to make your own sketchbook? Click on this link or the image on the sidebar for more info! Hope to see you in July!

Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife's, family home

If you're wondering whether or not take a weeklong workshop (like the Art Walk England in August!!) is a good fit for you, I hope the following will give you a better idea:

7 Awesome Reasons To Take An Art Walk Workshop

1. Ummm, because it is sooooo much fun!! It's total immersion into the location you're visiting. In our case, we'll be spending time in Stratford-Upon-Avon. We'll have plenty of time to explore our surroundings, mingle with the folks that live there, and absorb the environment. How often have you been on a trip where it felt like all you did was snap a few quick pictures, but when you arrived home, you felt like you didn't really get a good feel for the place? Have you ever wanted to linger in a place but your travel schedule didn't allow you to dawdle?

Blue Walk Tours gets that this about travelers, especially about artists. They get that we need to take our time and not just look but truly see. They make sure we have the time to sketch the fabulous wildflower in the meadow or shamble around the old bookshop.

2. Speaking of  s-l-o-w-i-n-g  d-o-w-n…you have time to plop down and sketch where you are because there is time built into the schedule. You'll still have time to see the various sights without being rushed. There's time for you do a little exploring on your own if you'd like, or maybe you'd like to enjoy a good "lie-in" (British slang for staying in bed later than usual).

3. The joy of being with like-minded people. Artists are, or can be, an odd lot. We want to draw and paint the darnedest things like our meals, a pot of flowers near a bench on a busy thoroughfare, a cat in a window or an unusual piece of pottery in the garden. But when you're with like-minded people, they get it. They totally understand why you just have to stop and commit those daisies to the page. They're likely to join you!

There is also safety in numbers...it makes it easier to be brave when others are near-by doing what you're doing and if you just happen to be one of those artists that loses all perspective of where they are and what they're doing (also called getting into the zone), there's someone nearby to watch your back. If you want to travel, but do not have someone in your life to travel with, this is an excellent way to see the world as well!

4. You're NOT sitting in a classroom! This is both a scary and exciting point. After all, you're there, in England, out in Stratford with a sketchbook in your hands and you have TIME to put something on the page. Freaky-scary-kinda cool, right?

You also have a secret weapon—me! I will be there by your side each day to help you get started, to answer questions, to make suggestions on how to fill the page, to show you how to tackle different subjects as well as different approaches to the page. I promise to help you get past the sticky bits by doing impromptu demos based on the day's activities.

Think how exciting it will be to come home with a sketchbook of your making full of little snippets of your memories—each page an instant portal back to where you were, who you were with and what you were doing!

5. It's a small group so you won't get lost in the crowd. The group is deliberately kept small in number so that I have time to work with each artist and so that you can see the spontaneous demos, ask questions (and get answers) and not get overwhelmed by too many people.

Blue Walk Tours strives to find the right balance between enough participants to make it interesting (as we can learn a lot from our travel mates) and activities (sight-seeing places of interest) with spending time with our sketchbooks and giving you plenty of opportunities to work with me. (There are still some spots left! Click here for more info!)

6. Assistance is at your fingertips. The Blue Walk Art Tours are guided tours and there is always someone around to assist with questions, challenges and obstacles. And they know the scoop on all the cool places to go and the ones to avoid! They are there to make sure you don't have to worry about getting around, to the playhouse, back to the restaurant or anywhere else. Having visited Stratford before, they can answer questions you may not think to ask until after the day's tour is long over. They provide a wealth of knowledge as well as peace of mind. They have our backs so we can enjoy our time!

Cottage garden

7. No dishes, no housework, no laundry, no job interference for seven days. How often do we try to create our art in stolen moments found between the demands on our time? You get to concentrate on your art without all the distractions you have when you're at home (what's for dinner, I need to go pick up the dry cleaning, I need to prepare for that big meeting tomorrow).

There is a sense of freedom when you're totally away from the daily demands. The idea of having all that time to create as much (or little) as you want is liberating in a way that's hard to describe, but it's worth experiencing!

We're heading out to Stratford, on August 14th! I hope you'll join in the fun.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions in the comments!