Watercoloring and Travel

My goodness, it has been such a long time since I have posted anything to my neglected blog!  Perhaps, blogging is just not my thing, but here I go again!  Trying once more to get into a routine of posting.  

I am excited to be enrolled in the new online class taught by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner, which starts next week and is all about watercoloring.  To get ready for the class, we have already been given some "homework" and I have been working on that as I have time.  So, I have been dusting off the various water color products which I have accumulated over the years and playing with those a little.

This card is one I made before starting my practice pieces.  It was inspired by Jacqueline who makes the most beautiful grid cards which are posted on the Hero Arts blog.  I did mask off the areas with painter's tape to make my grid and then I went back and stamped each block.  It was a lot of fun to make, even though time consuming.

 

Most of the stamps which I used were by Hero Arts and were from various sets.

The next items are the charts which I made as instructed in the pre-class videos.   There are many products which I have accumulated over the years so I still have some more items which I have not brought out yet.  But after viewing the video which Kristina made, and I found the Koi set at AC Moore's, I just had to have it.  I must admit that the colors are much creamier to work with than the cheap sets which I have used.  Have not tried coloring an image yet, but the swatches seemed to make up with little effort.

Another assignment for class is to make up a background using watercolors.  Mine turned out pretty vibrant with the new set, but trying to find the right amount of water to mix with the creamier paint is going to take some practice.

 
Last, but not least, here are a couple of the photos from my trip to Southern France.  I have always wanted to take a river cruise after hearing from friends how amazing it is to travel in this fashion.  So March 29 of this year I realized this dream by going to France with several friends.  We were on a brand new ship, the Viking Hermod, and were pampered royally.

Here is a picture of our ship:

We flew into Marseilles, France, and then were bused to the ship in Avignon.  On Sunday afternoon, we could take a walking tour into town.  On our return to the ship we had a great view of The Pont d' Avignon.  This bridge was completed in 1185 but swept away by floods on the Rhone.  It was made famous by a French folk song, Sur le Pont d'Avignon (on the Bridge of Avignon which describes boys and girls dancing on the bridge, but it was more likely that they danced under the arches of the bridge).

Hoping to get into a groove of posting so the posts will not be so long to try to catch up on everything.