Getting ready to go to New Zealand

This painting sold this week....yaay! It seems that art sales are picking up again. I have heard good things from a lot of different artists.

I have been too long delayed in posting something new, but I haven't had much time to paint. My sister Adele and I leave in two weeks for New Zealand and I have been on full speed trying to get everything done before I go. We are doing our scouting trip for the watercolor holiday that she and Joe Garcia will be conducting a year from now, in February/March 2012. I get to go along as chief cook and bottlewasher :)

The trip this year is to make sure that we like the cabins we have selected for our lodging and want to be certain we have alternative places to paint if (or when) it rains. We also want to check out the restaurants and bakeries that we are planning on using, to make sure that they are still in business and still serving good food. Yum! We have to check on transportation as we think that we will hire a small bus rather than driving two vans ourselves when we do our daily trips. That is undetermined until we talk to the bus company. It seems that New Zealand businesses just haven't got the hang of doing business on the internet. They are bad at answering emails and websites often are pretty sketchy. But that is ok, I don't mind checking it out in person!

We will have 18 to 20 people on the holiday; just over half being painters and the rest spouses and partners wanting to also see New Zealand. Deposits are due in by the end of the month and we have a waiting list, so if some drop off, it looks like it will still be full. We will probably do another workshop the following year, in 2013, and may bring in guest instructors too, so we can cover both oil and watercolor. New Zealand is a fabulous country, and so paintable!

Oil Painting workshop in New Zealand

I wrote previously about a watercolor painting holiday in New Zealand in February 2012, just over a year from now. We are considering adding another week, working in oils this time, with Michael Chesley Johnson. Michael lives in Canada in the summer, Sedona, AZ in the winter and he teaches lots of workshops. He likes the idea of our relaxed itinerary in New Zealand and if we have enough interest, he would be willing to do it the week after we finish the first one with Adele Earnshaw and Joe Garcia. That would make it the first week in March, 2012, which in New Zealand, is late summer. A perfect time to be there!

The painting above is one of Michael's, not mine. He has titled it Low Tide at Friar's Bay, and I think it is one of his Canadian pieces. I lifted it (with his permission) from his website. New Zealand has similar scenery, with oceans and beaches, but we also have rain forest and pastures. It is a unique country, and one worth visiting. Let me know if you think you might have interest in joining us in New Zealand and I will send you more info.