“wish you were here!”

Travel journals to our inner selves!

Begins: Tuesdays -April 21, 2026 - May 26th, 2026

don’t miss out on this class!

-perfect for beginners and beyond!

Finding new meaning in our travels & making space for introspection with our place in the world

- The next studio series runs Tuesdays,

6 weeks on zoom!

My current students & I love the “zoom Room”-

I do hope you’ll join us!

(If you already know you want to sign up, scroll to the bottom of this for registration!)

(and no problem if you’re working during these hours, or something unexpected comes up - these classes are recorded so you won’t miss a thing! We also have a private Facebook group to share our work in, find encouragement from your classmates, and receive feedback from me!). Once you’re in….you’re ALWAYS in!! Welcome to your new group of painter peers!!

I’d love for you to join us - Tuesday mornings

(scroll to the bottom if you already know you want to register!)

This series is for YOU, for any level of painter, new to more experienced. We’ll be working travel journal style, with a focus on finding new meaning in your favorite travel memories. The part about “traveling to our inner selves” will explore our favorite travel memories and how they’ve changed us over the years! Let’s dig into new insights about why we love travel the way we do.

**Have you traveled with painter friends before? Put it on your bucket list! Let’s make it happen!**

A painting isn’t good because it looks like something. It’s good because it FEELS like something! How do you get beyond ‘copying a photo’ and learning to interpret your references…and bring out your own ‘style’. How does one ‘find that uniqueness of self’? (And how does this help us when we are painting from life?)

Painting while traveling has changed me more than anything. It’s made me more hopeful, connected me with more people, forged deep friendships that I truly value. Perhaps you haven’t tried that yet….but it’s on your bucket list? Maybe you have never left town before, perhaps you want to consider why you’d even want to. Perhaps you’ve traveled the world, but never went back to look at your gazillion photos you’ve taken…(do you truly remember your favorite things?). In this course let’s take a deeper look at how travel changes and enriches our lives.

here’s the fun & helpful things we’ll cover in this class:

1. Vignettes, artifacts, and collectibles we find during our travels. Designing our pages.

2. Long view landscapes, distant vistas, castles, villages, farm fields; making a large expanse of land fit into a relatively small sketchbook.

3. Interesting architecture (without being an architect), castles, cottages, doors and windows, textures, mixing colors in watercolor.

4. Patterns, tiles, fabrics, historic significance, repeated beauty.

5. People in town; populating big scenes for scale.

6. Getting you and your friends in there! (make it memorable….it doesn’t have to be ‘portraiture’!!).

**Imagine a painter’s picnic along the banks of the river after shopping on market day….what a view - what a picnic it was!!**

**If you lived in a simple cottage for a month during the summer, what parts would you try to recreate at home?**

**Even a misty, rainy day can have its perks! How would you choose to spend it?**

“wish you were here!!” - it’s for you if:

-you love travel, and have photos in your files that you would like to put in a sketchbook format…and perhaps find some new meaning in your favorite travel memories. The part about “traveling to our inner selves” will explore our favorite travel memories and how they’ve changed us over the years!

-you are ‘any level of painter’ - looking to grow your confidence and skills with new techniques and ideas and solidify and strengthen the things you already know. You’re trying to ‘find your own way’ and become more expressive in your ideas and painting techniques. You want some deeper insights about why you love travel the way you do!

-you want to increase your capacity to make imaginative paintings that inspire and excite you (and others).

- you want to be confident in the decision making process in this watercolor medium.

-you want to move the level of your work to ‘confident, and not tentative’.

-you want to learn to incorporate other mediums into watercolor.

-you want to begin a daily practice of painting, so that this becomes ‘like breathing’ and ‘not so scary’ a thing to do.

-you are not afraid of ‘embracing the wonky’ as you grow your skills!!

**These sketches help me remember my favorite people and places, even though they were made many years ago. I feel so lucky to have had this in my life!**

-you want to learn how to make beautiful textures in watercolor and incorporate these into your paintings.

**I’ve preserved some of the sense of wonder from my trips years ago (and even the ‘weird’ memories! ha! ).**

-you want to expand your color knowledge and make smart choices when ‘editing your palette’.

-you want to feel comfortable in knowing the colors you mix won’t turn into a muddy, murky mess.

-most of all, you want to let go of perfectionism and HAVE FUN!!!

Wedding crashers? No, we were having lunch on the patio outside, when this unfolded in the square, right in front of us in Arezzo!! On the way to lunch, we walked right past their ‘get-away car’ parked on the street in front of the church.

**Practicing a bit of basic vocabulary.**

“wish you were here” is not for you if:

you lack a sense of adventure and fun.
if you’re looking for perfectionism, high realism, architectural drafting skills, etc.

But it’s definitely for you if you’re looking for some insightful time, savoring your travel memories, and bringing more of that ‘feeling’ into your life again!

**How might I change my daily habits in life?**

**Little bits of these places get lodged in your heart, and never leave.**

I’d love for you to join us on Tuesday mornings

9:30am - 12:00pm

$150 for 6 weeks

Dates: “Wish You Were Here!” - - current session, 2026 - April 21st-May 26th

I LOVE seeing the progress that every one makes in my classes. I created this curriculum ten years ago - and continue to update and develop it, and it really works. I’m so excited to keep you going on YOUR creative journey, and nurture YOU along your way!

Sign me up for the current Tuesday morning class!