New Institute for Higher Learning in the Arts Opening Soon

It’s almost official. A logo has been designed and the board has approved it. We have elected our klass president. I am polishing my pencils, and waxing my watercolors for the first day of school. It will be here before you know it. We decided to call our art institute BARK University or BARK U. based on the response from the 3 blog readers who gave me feedback when I asked for an opinion on a name for my new school.

Since I made myself Dean of WaterCOLOR, I got to choose my 2 favorite complementary colors for our school colors, Permanent Rose and Leaf Green. We don’t have any problems finding a mascot either, Pace volunteered. Our campus will have several locations. The main campus will be in my home studio in San Marcos, other campus’ may include a local farm, a bullet train in Kyoto, a barge in Central Germany, the beach in Encinitas and of course there will be a location in Italy. I may have to take a field trip to Italy soon to find the perfect location.

I hope you like our logo

Land and Sea

After spening a morning in the town of Bergen we set sail for the island of Trexel. It was an exhilarating sail on the high seas of the Atlantic to cross to the island. For a land lubbing artist like myself, the crossing was a big adventure! The wine bottles rode across on the floor to avoid falling when the waves rocked the boat.

The town of Trexel is filled with sea faring images I am busy photographing for future classes to paint. I am going to branch out from laundry and lavender fields to boats and sea gear, maybe.

Cotswolds Village Painting

Because they are amazingly charming and quaint, the Cotswolds villages provide limitless scenery and subjects for watercolor sketching.  The Anywhere Art group members have been very busy! 

Nancy Holtz sketching with Marianne and Flo advising.

Opportunities for finding quality subject matter are not limited to landscape we had to taste the local tea and cake in order to find teapots to sketch.

On the right above the teaot is tea cake which contains tea soaked raisins.

We are trying all sorts of local foods of the region.

Pep Talking Yourself into Painting

This weekend I tried a new technique to get myself to my desk to watercolor.  You may have used this technique before with a friend or family member. Maybe you’ve said to them  “You can do it! You’re smart, you have a good head on your shoulders, just try,”

Pep talks are not to be cnfused with affirmations. I think an affirmation is something you repeat to yourself that you want to be or happen. You could say, “I am a successful painter, I am creating all the time, even if these things aren’t true I think the theory is that if you repeat them often enough you will believe them. Affirmations don’t work for me. I tried saying to myself, “I am 20 lbs thinner,” then I reached for a cookie.

Today I said to myself something I had been mulling over for a while. “Barbara, you need to practice the painting concepts you have been studying, you don’t need to create a perfect painting.” I also threw in, when you finish you can have a cookie, ooops I said carrot”. 

Here is my practice. Going into the kitchen to get my carrot now.