Winter Interrupted--Adventures in Art
January 26, 2015
Friday I returned from Laure Ferlita’s artist’s beach
holiday, Winter Interrupted. Along with a suitcase full of dirty laundry and
sand in my shoes, I came home with new friends, new sketches and great
memories. Eight of us spent four days sharpening our sketching-on-location
skills at various places in the St. Petersburg, FL, area. Each day we had a
new destination: John’s Pass, Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the beach itself, and
Sunken Gardens. Laure offered instruction and demos, then turned us loose to
sketch. Most of us had never met in person, but had taken online classes
together and/or connected through our private class blog. It didn’t take us
long to bond, and we ended up spending a good deal of our free time together, too.
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| Where we stayed |
Some
general observations on this adventure:
Sharing benefits everyone. One of my favorite things was
when we shared our sketchbooks after each session. Each person’s take was
different—even when two people sketched the same thing, the results were different—the
hand of the artist in action. One day we also shared all the items in our
sketching kits—so much fun to see each person’s favorite pencil/pen/sketchbook/palette,
and we all jotted down tools we want to get our hands on.
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| Physical therapy for Winter the dolphin at Clearwater Marine Aquarium |
“Bad sketching days” happen. I had one when I felt
overwhelmed and just “off.” I didn’t like any of my sketches, but I made myself
sketch anyway. The next day was better, and I can always go back and sketch
from photos if I want a better representation of what we saw that day.
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| John's Pass |
I love sketching palm trees! I added them to several pages,
even when they weren’t part of the lesson.
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| Palm tree practice--my favorite is the one in the middle |
Sketching in ink can be fun. My mechanical pencil ran out of
lead at Sunken Gardens and I was forced to sketch with a pen—something Laure
encourages but I hadn’t yet tried this trip. I’m not confident in my drawing
skills and the pencil served as a security blanket. And you know what? I had
the most fun sketching that day, and that page is my favorite page from the
trip. (I can hear Laure laughing from across town.)
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| Sunken Gardens |
Art instruction is great, but being inspired by fellow
artists is even better. Each woman on the trip had something besides her art to
bring to the group. I came away energized and eager to make my life even better
than it already is. Getaways like this help us to pay more attention to our own wants and needs, and to open up to new people in a way we wouldn’t during our normal, everyday interactions with others. (Thank you Laure, Cheryl, Claire, Clare, Patti, Susan and
Terry!)
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| Our collected sketchbooks |
I’m still working on my pages—and will be for a while—so I
can draw out the pleasure of the experience. I’m grateful to have had the
chance to escape my everyday routine and add some art adventure to my life!
When was your last getaway? Are you planning one soon?
12 comments
Thanks! Kinda wish we were still there...
ReplyDeleteLove the palm trees! Nice to see your work. Yeah, I kinda wish the same.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Thanks to you too Kathy.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laure, and you're welcome Cheryl! We'll just have to do this again soon.
ReplyDeleteOh Kathy, how wonderfully nourishing, your artistic retreat!! Your palm trees look so alive & lively. I guess accepting "bad sketching days" is as important as enjoying the good ones! I haven't been away in awhile & will have to think about that.
ReplyDeleteRita--it was a great retreat, and I came back recharged. Hope you get the chance to recharge, too, whether or not you go away somewhere to do it.
ReplyDeleteOh Kathy - what a wonderful experience - so glad you got to go. I am sure you made memories that will last a life time too. Thanks for sharing your photos and I love your sketch in ink. Take care.
ReplyDeleteDebbie: Thank you. It was wonderful. The whole group bonded almost immediately, and we feel like we got so much more than art instruction!
ReplyDeleteKathy, would you mind if I use your sunken garden photo as a reference for a sketch in my book? Yes, we did bond almost immediately. It was one of the highlights of my life. One of those things I have fantasized about for years and the dream was truly made Real!
ReplyDeleteClare--Yes, please feel free to use my photo. I'm so glad you felt as I did that we all bonded so quickly. Hope you're staying warm!
ReplyDeleteI loved our adventure and I loved reading your relection on it. As a bonus I shared it with my mom and she thoroughly enjoyed getting a 'peek' into our experience. ;-)
ReplyDeleteClaire--It was so wonderful, wasn't it? Glad you were able to share with your mom, too.
ReplyDelete