Doesn't Interrupting Winter Sound Like A Great Idea!?! Imagine next January—the long, cold, gray days of snow, sleet and oh, yeah, more snow…or…imagine yourself soaking up the sun with your toes in the  warm sand as you enjoy gentle breezes off the Gulf of Mexico! Doesn't that sound much better than freezing!?! Then come and join me for  Winter, Interrupted: An Artist's Beach Holiday, January 18th through the 22nd, 2015.  I'll be hosting a 4-day workshop and together, we'll explore St. Pete Beach, Florida as well as several other wonderful locations including lush Florida gardens, wild bird sanctuaries and historic John's Pass.  With live sketching demos and one-on-one feedback from me, you'll be going home with a very special sketchbook brimming with beach memories and treasures! The workshop will take place in the morning so that you have plenty of free time in the afternoon to go exploring or to bask in the sun in a royal blue cabana!  We'll be staying at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort for 5 fabulous nights. Click the link to check out this awesome resort!  Please click here to see and download the brochure with all the juicy details!  There is a Frequently Asked Questions document included with the brochure to help answer many of your questions. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at the email address listed in the brochure.   This adventure is so brand new, it's not even on the web site yet! Saving the best for last, I have a very special offer to share with you, dear friends: Everyone who registers by April 30th,* will save $100 per participant on the total workshop price   they register for!  Past ITMR participants** will save $150 per participant on the total workshop price you choose          if you book on or before April 30th.* On May 1st, the pricing in effect will be prices listed in the brochure.  Let me mention now that our grand adventure will take place in one of the busiest seasons in Florida. This means I have a very limited number of rooms available. To get the room you want, please, please book early. I don't want anyone to be disappointed.  If you're interested in coming in early or staying after the workshop, book now!  Don't wait. This isn't a sales pitch. This is me being me asking you not to wait—the rooms will become more scarce and the prices will only go up the closer we get to January.  *One discount per participant. Completed and signed Registration and Liability Release Forms along with the deposit amount for each participant must be received before or postmarked by April 30th, 2014 to qualify for the discount. Regular pricing will apply if the Registration and Liability Release Forms are received incomplete and/or unsigned.  **One discount per participant from the NOLA Live! Trip only.Completed and signed Registration and Liability Release Forms along with the deposit amount for each participant must be received before or postmarked by April 30th, 2014 to qualify for the discount. Regular pricing will apply if the Registration and Liability Release Forms are received incomplete and/or unsigned.  This sketching holiday is brought to you by Imaginary Trips Made Real, LLC (ITMR).

Save $100 Per Participant on Winter, Interrupted Workshop  By Registering On or Before April 30th!* Valid through 4/30/2014 Please print, clip and attach coupon to Registration Form  *One discount per participant. Completed and signed Registration and Liability Release Forms along with the deposit check(s) for each participant must be received before or postmarked by April 30, 2014 to qualify for a discount.  Regular pricing will apply if Registration and/or Liability Release Forms  are received  incomplete  and/or unsigned. Prior ITMR Participants, Save $150 On Winter, Interrupted  By Registering On or Before April 30th!* Valid through 4/30/2014 Please print, clip and attach coupon to Registration Form *One discount per participant. Completed and signed Registration and Liability Release Forms along with the deposit check(s) for each participant must be received before or postmarked by April 30, 2014 to qualify for a discount. Regular pricing will apply if  Registration and/or Liability Release Forms   are received incomplete and/or unsigned.  As always, please let me know of any questions you may have and I look forward to interrupting winter with you next January!

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.

Manaphin off Clearwater Beach Photo Credit © Manaphin.com

Did you hear about the recent sighting of the manaphin off from Clearwater Beach!?! The marine experts in the world had long thought this unique creature was extinct.

It is a mammal and thought to be part manatee and part dolphin.

And oddly enough, the same week of the manaphin sighting, a "banana-phin" showed up on my kitchen counter!

You never ever leave food out on the counter at our house! Bananaphin Watercolor and ballpoint pen Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook

The banana actually came from Chris' sister. She wanted us to try the banana as it is about half the size of a regular banana and she says it tastes better than the larger fruit.

As Chris studied the banana, he began to see "shapes" and with the help of his trusty pen, he'd created a banana-phin!

Of course, I had to put it in my sketchbook.

My husband's food art is legendary.

We used to have waiters that would get excited when they saw us come in the door because they couldn't wait to see what Chris would create for them to find after we'd finished our meal.

All that time his mother just thought he was playing with his food…

Anyway, if you'd like to know more about the really cool manaphin, please visit here. You can see photos and hear what it sounds like underwater.

To learn more about the sighting off from Clearwater Beach, please read here.

As of yet, no further information is known about the banana-phin.

Beloved Toy Watercolor and Gouache Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook 5.5 x 8.5 inches

That's a mouse.

Yeah, that gray fuzzy thing at the end of the red string.

Actually, it's the remains of a mouse.

It's lived survived through six cats and counting.

It has outlasted balls, feathers, springs, pieces of paper wadded up into balls, toilet paper rolls, catnip toys and all kinds of other things that pass for toys in the eyes of a cat.

And it, above all others, has been the most played-with, tugged-on, gnawed-on, swatted-at, chased, cherished toy in all of catdom.

It currently hangs off the back of the chair in our living room.

Without fail, if you pass too close to the chair, at least two bright, eager eyes will peer over the seat waiting for you to make the mouse move.

And you do.

Because what kind of human would you be if you did not entertain the feline-in-residence?

And the small, frayed little mouse is leaving—tug-by-tug, fiber by fiber.

I wanted to capture it before it was completely gone.

The string, while picked and pulled, is still in good shape.

We could probably attach a new mouse…but it just wouldn't be the same.

This one has staying power, history.

And you can't replace history.

Because it's just not the same.

I consider this another sketch in the Ordinary to Extraordinary Series.

What have you elevated from ordinary to extraordinary lately?

Maderia Beach Visit with Terry and Jim Watercolor, Ink and Gouache 5.5 x 8.5 inches in Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook

My view from the restaurant. You can see the reflections caused by the plastic as well as the edge and grommets of the shade

Maderia Beach, Florida

Graphic used courtesy of © JetPens.com

Every once in a while I come across a fabulously useful post about tools we all have in our collections.

Sometimes those tools are underutilized because we purchased a so-so tool and we can't figure out what all the big noise is about.

White pens fall directly into that category. If you don't have a great one, they're hard to get excited about.

All white pens are not created equally and being the owner of a number of the so-so pens that are now collecting dust in my studio, I was thrilled to see this marvelous post about all different types of white pens from JetPens.com.

They list different uses as well as their favs (which happens to be the Uniball Signo Broad* which just happens to be my favorite!).

Bookmark it the post, print it, read it and you too will have more info than ever before on which white been works best for each project!

Speaking of using white pens, Warren Ludwig just posted an awesome tutorial on his blog, LUDstuff! on using a white Sharpie Poster Pen for painting silver eating utensils (spoons).

*If you're new to watercolor and how you might use the Uniball Signo Broad Pen read on. I use the pens to recover whites lost in the painting process or to create sparkle in a sketch. Since the ink is water-soluble, it can be softened to eliminate hard edges or to complete lift or melt if I get the ink in the wrong spot.

If I need more coverage (opacity) or permanent coverage, I opt for the Sharpie Poster Pen as the ink in this pen is acrylic and once it's down, it's down! If you opt for this route just be aware that it does alter the paper surface.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to dust off my white pens and do a little creating!

Hard Working Chucks © Laure Ferlita Watercolor and Ink Stillman and Birn Bound Zeta Sketchbook 5.5 x 8.5 inches

It sometimes take seeing someone else sketch something to open our eyes to what is and has been around us all along.

Take for instance these dilapidated, falling-apart Chucks that belong to my husband.

They are his yard shoes. The ones that aren't good for anything else, but he can't quite bring himself to part with them.

As I stood in the kitchen, I found myself sketching them in my head.

This was after I pondered why they were lying in the middle of the breakfast nook. Look no further than the two kittens that reside with us for an answer—those strings make fabulous toys!

Gazing at them, I wondered why I hadn't realized before now they would make good sketching material. After all, they'd been there for a few weeks.

It's because I saw Jean McKay's sneaker sketch. You'll have to have a Facebook account tho see the sketch.

Her sketch provided the inspiration to make me take notice of the ordinary.

I truly enjoy sketching and viewing sketches when I see something elevated out of the everyday flotsam and jetsam that largely passes by unnoticed.

It makes me wonder what else have I missed, what else has the potential to become something special in my sketchbook if I pay attention.

Even though our sketches have little in common besides both being sneakers, it's fun to see the different ways we manifest our surroundings in our sketchbooks.

What have you elevated to the extraordinary lately?

Persimmons on watercolor paper Watercolor and Ink

Not too long ago, I found some gorgeous persimmons at the grocery and I decided they would make wonderful sketching models. And they did!

They didn't move a bit. They held their poses and didn't seem to mind at all when I became distracted or had to go and hunt for tools.

Rather than sketch in my sketchbook, I decided to test out some new watercolor paper.

All three were identical when I finished up, but since I was testing the paper, I decided to go one step further and add ink. When the paint was dry, I added black ink.

Black ink was added after the painting was complete The white highlights are the paper showing through.

Many folks like to draw in ink and then add watercolor. To me, this feels a lot like paint by numbers or a coloring book page. I sometimes feel restrained by the lines. By adding ink after the painting is completed, I can:

• determine whether or not the art would benefit from adding ink;
• avoid feeling like my creativity is restrained;
• add ink for emphasis to either draw attention to one area or away from another;
• create an entirely different look and feel to the work;
• use ink as sparingly or heavy as necessary to create the look I want.

Persimmons San Ink

Taking a look at the images, tell me which you prefer and why if you know. Do you like the ink best or without better?

There's no right or wrong, just personal preferences.

Check out that helmet!

To step outside of mainstream, to show originality takes courage and whenever I see someone who has stepped away from the safety of the herd, I always take a minute to salute them. 

Bye!

He probably would have shrugged it off as if it didn't matter, and maybe to him it didn't.