Dear Diary,
My trip to San Clemente was FABULOUS from start to finish! I had so much fun and met so many wonderful people and ate such great food and — well, why don’t I just tell you all about it?
JULY 24, 2015 – The flight out here was long, but the sky was clear the whole way so I had views of the whole country, from the farm land of Ohio to the Rocky Mountains and the California coast. It was amazing to see it all over the course of just a few hours.
Patti, the owner of San Clemente Art Supply, picked me up at the airport and whisked me away (via an actual California freeway!) to her beautiful Spanish-style home that’s just up the hill from the ocean. I can see the Pacific from her front patio!
After unpacking, we headed for the beach – I couldn’t wait to smell the sea air and wiggle my toes in the sand!
We both took our sketching supplies and spent a blissful hour drawing and painting the beach and the San Clemente pier.
Here’s the sketch I did…
We set up my classroom at the store this evening, then I crashed. It’s been a long day. I’ve been up since 2:30 am Eastern time!
JULY 25, 2015 – The first day of my first California workshop! Yay! I met my eager, happy students and we got started at 10:00. They even managed to squeeze in a little shopping before class. San Clemente Art Supply is an awesome store – wish I could move it to Pennsylvania!
The classroom has plenty of space for my twenty students, and even includes a separate area up front where I can do my presentations. Love it!
After my introductory presentation, everyone began their adventure in sketchbook journaling by drawing and painting their art supplies.
They even incorporated borders and lettering, just like I suggested!
After lunch, they painted an item that had meaning to them, something they had brought from home.
We talked about color boxes, border designs, and lettering styles, and before we knew it, the day was over. But there was still time to shop for a few more art supplies before the store closed!
Patti and I walked down to the beach at sunset, the perfect way to end a busy day.
JULY 26, 2015 – Day 2 of Workshop #1
We started the day with a bang, doing a series of quick drawings on a gridded page. The subject? CANDY!
The creativity and originality shown on my students’ pages was impressive…
and they all had to admit that you really can sketch a piece of candy in 30 seconds or less. 🙂
We sketched some fruit…
and then ate it!
We painted colorful veggies…
and incorporated interesting lettering styles.
We designed corner options for single line borders…
and dreamed up more intricate border designs…
We painted our purses…
and played with color…
My students were amazing!
Time to call it quits for the day, dear Diary. My jet lag is catching up with me, but I’ll write more tomorrow.
7 Comments
Looks like a great success, for you & especially your students. I wish I could have been there. But your pictures have given me inspriration.
Wow, sounds like a fun workshop with a group of beautifully creative students! Thanks for sharing so many of the projects–they give me ideas for things to try myself!
That looks like it was a wonderful class! The students seem to be working from a booklet, are they? If so do you have a book for sale?
That's the class handout that I have to each student. Sorry, but it's not available for purchase at this time.
I just found your art and your blog and I just love it! You've created this beautifully illustrated record for your readers, and your illustrations make us feel like we are right there with you. As a Californian, I'm excited to see that you recently made a visit and incorporated some of our landscape into your pieces!
I love this blog, gave me so much inspiration.
From Nicaragua
Wow these are amazing! So colourful and creative 😀 Thank you for sharing this 🙂
VioletDaffodils
xx