Is ITALY Calling YOU???

Painting Ladies,

Is Italy Calling YOU???

We are so excited about our upcoming trip to Italy this September to stake out our next
C&C painting journey!

Carole and Claire are now taking reservations for the few spots in our Italy painting journey week in the Tuscan town of Cortona September 11 - 18, 2010!
Cortona is a most charming walled town that Claire spent the summer of 1994
studying drawing and painting for her Master's degree.
The town dates back to 500 B.C.!!! Read more in the link above.
The experience was life changing!

The painting journey will include several hours of daily painting and instruction by Carole and Claire, creative spirit time, shopping and sipping cappucino along Via Nationale (Cortona's lovely main street full of boutiques, antique shops, dress shops, perfumerias, art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, etc.), and a day trip to Florence to visit the wonderful Uffizzi Museum and to see Michelangelo's David! We will stay in the heart of Cortona with wonderful accommodations. Cortona is a walking town and boasts a gorgeous park and a 2-mile walk around the town giving you the most breath-taking
views from every direction that you will ever see!

This journey is limited to only12 spots.
It will be first come, first serve by submitting 1/2 of the total fee due by
November 30, 2009
balance due August 11, 2010.
Total fee will be $2900.

We will be planning a detailed itinerary in the coming weeks once we visit next month!

CORTONA, ITALY 2010 (at a glance)
September 11 - 18, 2010
Fee: $2900
Key Date: 1/2 fee due by November 30, 2009
12 student limit
2 instructors (Carole & Claire)
Lovely accommodations
Breakfast each morning
Evening dinner
All painting supplies
Shipping of your work back to the U. S.

All that YOU provide:
Your fun spirit!
Air fare to and from Florence
Tickets for train and other activities
and lunch

Let us know ASAP as we expect spots to go fast! Questions? Call or email Carole or Claire.

We hope you can be a part of this fabulous, life-changing experience in your painting journey!

Love,
Carole & Claire

Carole's phone: 256.232.2521
Claire's phone: 651.983.2743

When Harry Met.... US!!!

I finally met Harry! Harry Wallace! He's the 4 month old baby (GORGEOUS baby) of my friend Hillary who I met last year. She painted with me last fall, and then she delivered Harry in March. We have not gotten together until today, and what a fun time we had catching up on things, talking photography, and watching Harry make us laugh! He is so quick to smile which I love in a baby, and he has an amazing disposition and the most beautiful blue eyes (can't tell in these B&Ws). Not surprising knowing Hillary and her husband. I so enjoyed out time on the porch in this rainy Friday just sitting and visiting. The girls loved holding Harry, too, and making him smile. Thanks for such a fun time,
Hillary and Harry!

... a sufficiently worn out Harry! Sweet dreams!

When Things Just CLICK!

Things just clicked today! Wow, I got this thing painted in just over an hour! I painted this for my Dad who worked for Volkswagen while he was in college, and he owned a Karmen Ghia that he just adored. I was driving down Ford Pkwy. the other evening a few cars behind this one, and I thought, "OH, that is a great looking Karmen Ghia! I'm going to try to follow it to shoot pics for Dad!" Well, the guy pulled over and parked, and I parked right behind him and asked if he minded my shooting a couple of pictures of his car (telling him about my Dad...) he was happy for me to, so I did. Got them and chose this angle. I toned it thickly with a palette knife with raw umber and painted with oil on top. I was in my groove today!
I'm giving this to my Dad... ;)

Plein Air Painting at Dodge Nature Center!

What a great time and a most gorgeous day we had with plein air painting today at the Dodge Nature Center! We could not have asked for more perfect weather - sunny with those big, puffy clouds and about 75 non-humid degrees! This painting is from across a pasture toward the garden with beautiful trees behind it. The view offered so many greens with spruce trees in the background offering a touch of blue green to the more earthy greens of the trees in front of them. I LOVE a sky with these puffy clouds (cumulonimbus? clouds). I wanted keep this as loose as possible by using only one 1/2" brush for this 6x12 painting. I love the feeling of it!

6 x 12", oil on board, $99, $12 s/h SOLD