painting in Provence

I've just returned from teaching a plein air workshop in Provence, France, and I'm still jet-lagged. And, somewhat disappointed that no one brought me fresh croissants when I woke up this morning in Pennsylvania.

Mas de la Boheme in Arles, Provence, France.

Our trip was absolutely amazing. Our tour operator, Mathieu of Provence Art Experience took care of every every need and desire. We walked in the footsteps of the great French Impressionist painters, and painted the scenes and views that they made famous.

Ochre hills of Rousillon

Every day was a new adventure of painting, shopping, eating, and more.

painting the mountain behind Cezanne's studio, using the Cezanne watercolor paper from Hahnemuhle.

There was so much to see, and so much to do! I spent 10 days in Provence with my students, and could have spent 10 years. 

the Roman amphitheater in Arles at night

We stayed at Mas de la Boheme, a beautiful 18th century guesthouse nestled in the countryside just outside of Arles. Turns out, the owner and his son were members of the famous band, Gipsy Kings...

And, to top it all off, I ran into Yves-marie from Sennelier while my group and I were painting in the streets of Rousillon. We weren't even going to paint in Rousillon that day. We went there in the morning to tour the ochre sites and shop in the local market, but we loved it so much we stayed to paint in the afternoon. Yves-marie lives on the other side of the country, and had just flown in for the day to visit the exhibit of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. So it was pure serendipity that he just happened to walk by on the same street that I was painting, and recognized me. Although we have known each other for at least a decade, we had never actually met in person. Many years ago, I helped Yves-marie test and formulate the new line of watercolors for Sennelier, and we've been friends ever since.

Yves-marie Salanson of Sennelier and Annie Strack in Provence

So, I will be going back to France in 2020 to teach another plein air painting workshop with Provence Art Experience, and we will be collaborating with Sennelier to paint in the Brittany region so we can visit the factory and include Sennelier in our project.

More new paintings, again!

December is getting off to the busy start, with classes filling up and lots of new bookings for workshops and demos. Still, I've managed to find a little time to paint for myself, in between the myriad of holiday parties and travel. I just finished this watercolor painting of dinghies, from a reference photo I took on one of my recent trips to St. John. I love the water in the Caribbean -- it's as warm and inviting as it looks! I'll be entering this painting in competitions this year, and hopefully the judges will like it as much as I.

Destiny Awaits, 14x20 watercolor

This floral is a demo from one of my classes in my studio. I have several stems of silk flowers and an assortment of vases, and every now and then I arrange them for a still-life painting exercise for my students. It's a wonderful break from painting from photographs, and I can rearrange the flowers and lighting to give my students some different experiences in colors, compositions, designs, and values. This one is on Arches rough paper, and painted with my Mission pan watercolors. I used squirrel mop bushes, which combined with the rough paper helps to give it a looser feel.

Floral Demo with Mission Watercolors

Last week, I drove down to Rehoboth Beach for the Delaware Watercolor Society's holiday party. They gave all the artists a cute little apron with their logo on it, and the Signature Members received an additional gift of a lovely tote bag. I'm always toting bags of stuff around, so a new tote bag always comes in handy!

Signature Member gifts from the Delaware Watercolor Society

New pens for plein air watercolor painting!

I just tried some new products for watercolor painting en plein -- opaque white gel pens. These pens are lightfast and archival, making them ideal for watercolor painters. The Uniball pen was a given to me by my dear friend, artist Deb Watson. The Sakura and Marvy pens I found in the crafts department of a fabric store chain. Both the Uniball and the Marvy are 1.0 mil wide, and the Sakura is .04 wide. The wider ones are better for watercolor. Because these are opaque, they cover very well and can be used to add whites to a watercolor painting at the end. This makes it perfect for painting en plein air, when it's inconvenient to use masking fluid. 

 In other news, my workshop in Spain next Spring is almost full! There are only a few seats left, and prices go up after November 2016 so you don't want to wait until the last minute to reserve your space!

As an added bonus, I'm giving away white gel pens, traditional sketching pens, and a special sketchbook to each artist in this workshop!

Plein Air Painting at the Brandywine Museum of Art

I had a wonderful day last week at the Brandywine River Museum of Art during their "Inside Out Plein Air" event. Three other artists and I were invited to paint inside the museum, which was especially nice since the outside temperature was in the high 90's with a heat index in the triple digits. I quickly painted a couple of watercolors of my view of the river, and then a small watercolor of the vase of white hydrangeas in the lobby.

Brandywine River Plein Air, 12x9 watercolor 

Brandywine River Plein Air, 9x12 watercolor 

Brandywine River Museum Interior, 6x4 watercolor 

I don't often get the opportunity to practice painting live figures, so I was thrilled to be able to get out my sketchbook and fill several pages. People standing around and walking about the museum lobby were perfect models, and because I was there with permission I was able to paint to my heart's content without any intrusions. Afterwards, some of my students saw my plein air figure sketches and have asked me to add the lessons to my schedule. Ask, and you shall receive! Figure Sketching in Watercolor is being added to the curriculum of my upcoming workshop in Spain, and one-day classes will be added to my lineup of studio classes.

Plein Air Figure Sketching in Watercolor

 In other news, merchandise is still arriving for the Plein Air Brandywine Valley event in October! Cheap Joe's Art Stuff just sent us a $100 Gift Card and fashionable painting apron that some lucky artist will win as a Merit Award at the event. The name of the comapany -- Cheap Joe's -- is quite an oxymoron as anyone who's ever done business with them knows they are as generous as the day is long.

We're now up to 14 Merit Awards, in addition to the top awards which total over $10,000 in cash! There's still time to apply, although the entries will close in a week so that notifications can begin.

$100 Merit Award for Plein Air Brandywine Valley from Cheap Joe's

another new painting!

Here's my latest watercolor painting! I just finished this one, and sent the image off to the National Watercolor Society for jurying. Wish me luck! I've been recovering from surgery for the past month, and spent the time in my studio working on the complexities of this painting. I'm writing a step by step tutorial using this painting, and soon I'll post the link to where you can find that free tutorial. Many thanks to my friends on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter who come to my rescue and help me with the titles for my latest paintings!

A Tug at My Heart, 20x14 watercolor 

 More sponsorships are rolling in for Plein Air Brandywine Valley! We are now up to thirteen Merit Awards of fabulous merchandise and gift certificates, including the latest from Vasari Oil Colors. Vasari oils are completely hand made of the finest oil and pigments and made in the US. Two lucky artists will win $250 Gift Certificates from Vasari, who has also generously provided two $100 Gift Certificates to be used as awards in the Quick Draw and the Nocturne painting competitions!

Merit Awards provided by Vasari Oil Colors

Recent demo paintings from my classes and workshops!

I've been so busy since my return from teaching a workshop in New Orleans, that I never got around to posting my demo paintings! I painted eight paintings during my 3-day workshop for the West Bank Art Guild, but I only have four paintings to show you because the other four paintings all sold during the workshop to some of my lovely students. The West Bank Art Guild purchased my primary painting from my workshop, and they will raffle it off to their members. The primary painting contained boats, water, trees, and buildings, so we worked on it a little each day of the workshop. We also did a couple or more "studies" each day, to practice the techniques for painting skies, water, reflections, values, mixing colors, using masking fluid, drawing perspective, creating textures, and tons of other great secrets and tips.

Awesome Artists hard at work in my workshop for the West Bank Art Guild!

Beach, 18x24 watercolor $195.

Beach, 18x24 watercolor $195.

Lake Road, 18x24 watercolor $195.

Marsh Sunset, 18x24 watercolor $195.

In my weekly class at the Community Arts Center, we worked on identifying cool and warm colors and optimum placement of them in compositions. We then painted a simple sunflower painting using a split primary palette system, learning how to mix all the necessary secondary and tertiary colors using a warm and a cool triad of primary colors. 

Split primary color wheels.

Sunflower, 16x12 watercolor, $95. 

Paint with me in Spain!

I've just been booked (yesterday!) to teach a watercolor workshop in Costa Brava, Spain -- and it's already selling out fast! There are only 8 spaces left! This plein air watercolor painting workshop is May 1 - 8, 2017. The itinerary includes museums, medieval villages, botanical gardens, castles, fishing villages, and the beautiful coastal seashore of the Costa Brava in northern Spain.

Sign up NOW to reserve your space, before it's all sold out! Contact Jackie at French Escapade tours for more information or to sign up!

Painting en Plein Air at Fontainebleu Park!

I just got back from a trip to New Orleans where I taught a watercolor painting workshop for the West Bank Art Guild. I had a fabulous trip, although I had to dig out from Winter Storm Jonah before I left home. I had a great group of artists in my workshop, and I'll post some photos of that next week! After the workshop, I spent some time visiting with old friends and getting in a little painting en plein air.

(Carol Hallock painting the beach  with oils at Fontainebleu.)

 I stayed at my dear friend Carol Hallock's home on Bayou Lacombe while I was down there. I used to live in Lacombe years ago, and Carol and I are old painting buddies. We both pursue the same subjects in our paintings, although she prefers to paint with oils while I usually reach for watercolors.

(Mary Monk using soft pastels to paint Fontainebleu beach.)

 It was nice to catch up with Mary Monk while I was in town! Mary is an old friend, and stayed at my house while she was painting in the Plein Air Brandywine Valley competition last year. She's always a lot of fun to hang out with!

(Carol Hallock, Mary Monk, and Annie Strack painting en plein air at Fontainebleu State Park.)

 I painted two small watercolors en plein air while we were at Fontainebleu State Park, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It was foggy when we got there, and the fog lifted and the light changed dramatically. We stayed out painting until sunset, and I shot some fantastic photos of the changing light to use for studio paintings later!

Fontainebleu Beach, 6x12 watercolor $79.

Fontainebleu Park, 6x12 watercolor $79.

It was a busy couple of weeks and I'm still not caught up with my studio paintings, new painting courses, and other work. I've also been inundated with requests for workshop proposals -- I'm getting those out as fast as I can, and so if you've just sent me a request you can expect to hear back within 2 days. I'm adding new workshops to the Calender Page of this website all the time, so be sure to check back often to see the latest listings. Workshops sell out quickly, so if you see one you like, you need to jump on it and register before it's sold out!

Do you know how to identify a good art instructor?

(Annie Strack teaching plein air painting in Spain)

My new watercolor class started yesterday at a local arts center. I started my course with the basic lessons about art materials -- I explained the different types, grades, uses, properties, and care of the various materials we use in class -- paper, paints, brushes, and more. How the materials are made, what the ingredients mean and why they are added, explanation of art and painting terms, and on and on and then moving on to drawing and design before getting into painting techniques.

(Annie Strack filming for television)

Most of my students have been taking watercolor painting classes from other art teachers at that center for years, and after the class they confided in me that everything I taught was new to them! Their previous teacher/teachers just SHOWED how she painted, but never EXPLAINED her processes -- like what makes a good composition, or why she choose certain colors, or the importance of values, or how color temperatures work, etc., -- nothing.

(Annie Strack giving the keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society)

My students lamented that their other teachers had never explained the differences between artist grade and student grade materials. Or the difference between washes and glazes. Or how to mix colors, or clean their brushes properly, or the difference between opaque and transparent colors, or, well, anything. They were so grateful to finally have an experienced professional teacher, and they eagerly soaked up knowledge. 

(Annie Strack's students at Nunez College)

Sadly, I've seen this all too often. A person can be a great artist, and at the same time, have little or no knowledge about art. There's nothing wrong with that. But being able to paint beautifully does not mean that they automatically possess the ability to teach art. I’ve watched lots of talented self-taught artists paint, and many of them have no idea how they create – they “just do it.”

(Annie Strack teaching at Delaware Watercolor Society)

Some of these artist can enjoy great success, and their paintings are featured in magazines and even win top awards in major juried exhibits. These are the idiot savants of the art world. People who were never taught how to mix colors or hold a brush, and yet they can produce a beautiful work of art through intuition -- without understanding how they did it.

(Annie Strack teaching watercolor painting techniques in New Jersey)

It’s like the people who can play an instrument “by ear,” but can’t read a note of music. Their music can sound perfect, but if they don’t know what key they used, or can’t tell you the name the chords, or show you the difference between flat and sharp, then they can’t teach you how to play the instrument.

(Annie Strack's workshop students in Mississippi)

Anyone can call themselves an artist, and any artist can call themselves an art teacher. This is why it’s so important for students to make sure that their teachers are good teachers, as well as good artists.

(Annie Strack's students at the Bayou Lacombe Art Center)

I'm seeing some of my former students are advertising that they are now teaching workshops and classes, even though they've only been painting for a short while.

(Annie Strack teaching a workshop in Ocean City, Maryland)

Although I make it look easy to my students, art and teaching both require training and practice. Someone may copy my lessons or paintings, but they can't teach from experience that they don't possess.

 (Annie Strack's students and Yves-Marie Salanson of Sennelier in France)

I have decades of training, knowledge, and experience, and spent years perfecting lessons and developing instructional materials for artists. It's better to learn my material directly from me, rather than from someone who has taken a workshop from me or just watched me demonstrate a technique.

(Annie Strack teaching at at Rowan College)

Before you sign up for an art class, make sure the instructor has demonstrated knowledge of whatever it is that she is teaching. Besides experience teaching in legitimate and prestigious venues such as schools, art centers, arts supplies stores, and artist organizations, look for teachers who have glowing references and recommendations.

(Annie Strack's workshop students in Charleston)

Most art instructors publish tutorials and lessons, and you can usually find samples online and in print. Look at their online videos and check out their DVDs. Read their tutorials that they wrote for art magazines, for art supply companies, and online blogs. You need to see evidence like these examples that prove the artist's teaching abilities. If you can't find any evidence, then it probably doesn't exist -- and that is a BIG red warning flag! 

(Annie Strack teaching artist materials at Plaza Art Stores)

The funny thing is, the bad classes are often the same price as the good classes. Would you rather spend your time and money in a class where you won’t learn anything, or would you rather spend that same time and money taking a class from a professional artist who has the knowledge, experience, references, qualifications, and credentials that prove her worth as an extraordinary teacher?

(Annie Strack teaching for the Louisiana Watercolor Society)

Don’t sign up for a class just because the artist is a remarkable painter, make sure the artist is a remarkable teacher, too! 

(Annie Strack teaching workshops at Jerry's Artarama's annual Art of the Carolinas)

Same goes for those of you who book the workshop artists and hire the art instructors – the good teachers don’t cost you any more than the bad ones, so do your homework and get the good ones!

(Annie Strack teaching for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society)

There are a lot of art teachers to chose from -- make sure you choose an artist who has a strong background in teaching art, has demonstrated her abilities by winning tons of awards, is recognized as a top artist by her many prestigious Signature Memberships, has actually studied art, and is vastly knowledgeable about artist materials and supplies. 

Annie Strack helping students learn how to make paint in Italy

I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to photograph my paintings from the Cedarburg Plein Air last week! I pulled out of the Plein Air early and spent the last week visiting my sister and her family in northern Wisconsin. I had already turned in my 1st Quick-Paint entry, so I don't have a photo of that one, but here are all the other paintings. Because I only stayed in the Plein Air for the first week, I wasn't able to enter any of these in competition and sale the following week. So these are all available for sale now!

Cedar River Falls, 8x10 oil (SOLD)



Cedarburg Forge, 8x10 oil (SOLD)
 

Port Washington Beach, 8x10 oil

Cedarburg Bridge, 8x10 oil

Foggy Morning, 8x10 oil

Port Washington Sunrise, 8x10 oil

Yellow Water Lilies, 5x7 oil (this was my second painting in the Quick-Paint competition)
 

All of the eight paintings I painted during the Cedarburg Plein Air are on Fredrix canvas panels and painted with Grumabacher Pre-Tested Artist Oils -- my preferred art supplies for painting en plein air!