Birthday Parties & Watercolor Basics

As I mentioned, it is indeed friends and my passion for watercolor journaling that has carried me through these recent bumps in life. These colorful pages again reflect the joy if find in people and pigments. Not necessarily in that order all the time :)

One of the most colorful personalities who have added flavor to our Ashland Art Center is Wendy Gell. Known internationally for her outrageous "Bling" artwork, especially for her famous "wristies". And when Wendy has a birthday party ... it too is jubilant. I was thrilled to be invited to the nearby Pho Sur Restaurant (incredibly delicious, by the way) in Phoenix (Oregon, not Arizona) for the gathering. We were to dress outrageous and also, the gifts turned out in that order too! Wendy had printed out the lyrics to "When I'm 64" by the Beatles for us all to sing and of course, those had to go into my page!!

I wanted to capture the playful activity of the affair

 and was pleased with not only the "suggesting" of personalities but the surroundings too! You can tell who the "Star" of the occasion was, right? Isn't she just beaming? Thanks again Wendy for a fab night!!

In the ensuing six weeks, I was teaching my "Watercolor Basics: Landscape Focus". What a wonderful dedicated group of participants I had (yes, you will recognize Wendy again!) and I caught a couple of them in complete focus. I can't say enough about how much growth I witnessed and the pleasure these people gifted me with along the way.

Can you understand why I love how my lil' red paperclay heart pokes thru into this page too? I really do wear my heart on my sleeve ... and wouldn't have it any other way.