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Traveling with a group of artists is different than taking a typical tour.  We move at a more leisurely pace as we paint, photograph and absorb everything around us.  We seek out the culture, the art, the history, the architecture & the people that make a place special.  Everything is planned by our tour operators and they are with us to ensure that everything runs smoothly making a carefree vacation for us.

	Watercolor Journals:  I encourage my students to create with ink and watercolors in Watercolor Journals and to write their experiences thus creating illustrated journals of their trips
	Little Gems:  I also like to create small ink and watercolor paintings on 300 lb paper that I bring home and frame in shadow box frames.

All Mediums:  Students are welcome to work in any medium of their choice and I will be there to help each of you individually.  At home I paint in oils and acrylics in addition to watercolors, but I choose to demonstrate and paint in watercolors when I travel because I just like “traveling light”.

Beginners are welcome on my Painting Trips.

Tour Operators:  I use professional “small group” owner operator tour companies that are experienced in painting trips.  I know I would not like to be on a tour with 25 to 50 people herded on and off busses, so I do not work for big companies that run those types of tours.  However, due to the limited number of spaces available on these trips, you need to send your deposit in as soon as possible.  The tour company website listed with each tour explains all the terms and conditions and tells you how to pay your deposit and reserve your space.

Flights:  Flights are not included in the cost of my painting trips so you can use frequent flyer miles, or meet up with our tour after already traveling elsewhere in Europe.  Please do not book your flights until you are advised that the tour is filled and is a “go”.

References:  I would be happy to give you the names and email addresses of students that have traveled on previous painting trips with me.

Non-Painters are welcome on my painting trips.

“Plein Air Painting in Provence, France”

May 22 – 29, 2011 Limited to 7 participants
only 1 space remains available


Tour Company FRENCH ESCAPADE

US $3,190.00 per person double occupancy, single rooms are available for the first three that request them for an additional US $550. 

Jackie owner of French Escapade is from Belgium and she and her French partner Valerie will make you feel like a guest in France, not a tourist.  They pick us up at the train station in Avignon, France and deliver us to our beautiful guesthouse where the fun begins with a welcome reception. 

All week long Jackie is our personal French-speaking guide and chauffeur and we travel comfortably in our air-conditioned van.  Every morning we are treated to an authentic French breakfast and then we set off with Jackie to explore and paint in a different village in Provence each day.   Along the way Jackie will teach us about the history and culture of the places we visit.  We will find lovely scenes to paint and I will teach you tricks and techniques for capturing our adventures in our watercolor journals or in small watercolor paintings. 

We will visit and paint in the tiny hilltop village of Roussillon where ochre has been mined for centuries, the market in the hilltop village of Gordes, Avignon with its Palais des Papes, follow Van Gogh’s trail in St. Remy, the beautiful village of Venasque and spend one day painting the breathtaking view of the Nesque Valley and the Carpentras plain from our garden at the guest house.
 
This will be my fourth Travel Workshop with French Escapade, and my first time to take students to Provence.  It is an area I have visited and painted on my own, and I am now pleased to be bringing students to this beautiful part of France.

For those of you wishing to visit Paris before or after this workshop French Escapade has compiled a very helpful “Paris Planner”.

Beginners and non-painters are welcome to attend this workshop.  I will be demonstrating in ink and watercolor working in a watercolor journal and on individual paintings.  All mediums are welcome.

Click this link for complete details, itinerary and enrollment form:  www.frenchescapade.com.

“Creating Watercolor Memories of Cinque Terre”

September 7 – 14, 2011 . . . 8 – 12 participants

Due to currency fluctuations, it is too early to establish the price for this trip, but it will be all-inclusive; and paid in US dollars.  Included will be tuition, meals, accommodations, and local transport.  Too get a ballpark figure, see similar trips on www.toscanaamericana.com.  

One of my favorite places in the world to spend time painting plein air is the 5 little fishing villages of the Cinque Terre National Park on the Italian coast.  I have been there twice now, and both times thought what a perfect place it would be to bring a group of students to paint.  I am delighted that Patrick Mahoney of Toscana Americana has planned this trip so I can finally bring my students to the Cinque Terre.

Maybe it is because I grew up in a town of 525 people, that I feel right at home here in these tiny villages even though I cannot speak Italian.  The pace is slow, cars and motorbikes are forbidden making it quiet.  Since cars are forbidden on the streets of the villages it is possible to paint a cute doorway, or house or shop without a car being parked in front blocking the view, perfect! 

The villages are connect by a local train that runs often, and by hiking trails that afford the most incredible views of villages spilling down the sides of cliffs into the sea.  Below are some photos taken on my two previous trips to paint in the Cinque Terre, followed by some paintings created on those trips.