Falling towards November

Can't believe it is the end of October already--- seems like yesterday that I was packing up for the month of September in Europe.  
The trip was fabulous- Spain and southern France glorious at this time of the year- sunshine, stunning art and architecture, friendly people, fantastic food and of course terrific wines everywhere! Check out my Facebook for pics of the trip (maybe I'll get around to putting some up on Instagram as well).

​I managed to paint my small watercolour and ink travel sketches almost everyday, and although I gave quite of few of them away, I have a fun set of souvenirs. Here are a few of them...

While in Barcelona I visited an amazing art store (Piera) and bought several of the Versatil 'synthetic kolinsky' watercolour brushes made by Escoda (in Barcelona). These are sold at Opus but there were many more styles and lines at Piera, and the prices were amazing- even with the low dollar and the high Spanish VAT taxes they were less than half the Opus price.... so needless to say I bought quite a few!!

The painting holiday with Adam Cope at the Chateau de Sanse in the Dordogne region of France was great fun--- beautiful scenery, knowledgeable teacher and wonderful people--- not to mention the great accommodation and food etc. I didn't produce any stunningly good art, and gave most of it away so that I didn't need to pack it home. I'd definitely try to do another painting holiday...

So now I am back to reality and have started classes again: beginning  and intermediate watercolours as well as beginning acrylic classes. Drop-in sessions on Monday and Friday afternoons (1:30 - 4:30) have also been busy as well. 
​Here are a few pics of some of the 'students' work in the first classes last week.... 
(The power went out during the acrylics class-- check out the head lamp being worn by one of the artists!)