Winter Break in the Bahamas

I'm in Hope Town, Bahamas for two weeks of painting on my own before my landscape workshop arrives on February 8th. It's been wonderful, in the middle of winter, to be out all day exploring the  town, beaches and harbor with my french easel in tow. I'm already looking forward to returning to Hope Town next winter, hopefully for a longer stay. It's easy to understand why Winslow Homer packed up his watercolors, and left Maine for the tropics every winter...
You can see a selection of my paintings from the Bahamas here.
And here is my porch "studio" in my cabin on the beach:

Plein Air in Provence

Painting in Provence was as exciting and challenging this summer as it always is. I especially enjoyed working on a series of plein air oils--you can take a look at them (as well as watercolors and sketchbook pages from the trip) here. As always, my students were a pleasure to travel with, and worked as hard--and drank as much wine-- as I did!

In Madrid and Barcelona

I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing Spain for the first time, from the rural western small towns and farms of Galicia, to the architectural and design (and eating) wonderland of Barcelona. My ten days in Madrid, exploring the museums, streets and parks of this great city with my camera, sketchbook and watercolors, was a revelation. I can't wait to come back--this time armed with a bit more Spanish!

You can see paintings from the trip here, some sketchbook pages here, and photos (of walls and windows--their design and colors really grabbed me) here.

Now on to Paris...

Teaching and Painting in Spain

I had a wonderful week in Galicia teaching a sketchbook workshop on the Camino de Santiago pilgrims trail. Alex Chang of Fresco Tours did a great job organizing a really enjoyable trip for our group--and what a hard-working, fun group it was! Here are some pictures Fresco posted of our week together.

In the photo above, I'm painting a medieval castle. You can see that painting, and some of my Santiago sketchbook pages, here.

Travelogue Paintings

I've started a new series of paintings that I'll be posting on both my blog as I'm traveling and on Flickr as sets after my trips. I'm frequently on the road painting and teaching, and these "Travelogue" sketches are a way I can immerse myself in the spirit of each place I'm lucky enough to visit. ("Walking Down", the watercolor shown above, was painted in Madrid.)

A reader of my blog commented, "I just want to tell you how much I enjoy these one a day 'snapshots'. They put me on a virtual journey with you - sort of friendly 'Wish You Were Here' postcards." Take a look here!

Pacific Northwest Travels

I'm on the road for ten days with my son Colin, who will be turning up probably more than he likes in my travel sketch journal. We're exploring Seattle and Portland (here we are on the train between the two cities) and then on to the Oregon coast, and up to the Olympic Peninsula. I brought my paints--check out my blog A Painter's Year for posts along the way.