Visual journaling often surprises me like this. I start out with images or words and begin to layer paint and journal my thoughts. It's completely therapeutic! If you want to try it, please come to one of my monthly clambakes. Or check out this book by one of my favorite artists: The Art Journal Workshop by Traci Bunkers. 

​You can see more of my visual journaling pages here.

After a week of teeny tiny carved lines on large blocks I decided to go more abstract. The woodblock process is naturally layered - but I needed a different kind of layering - something more organic and loose - less planned, less realistic. 

I asked Paul to cut my wood (birch plywood from Lowes if you were wondering) into four inch squares. And then the fun began!

I really loved mixing up colors and shapes. It also helped that each little block didn't take all day to draw and carve. And the background color blocks aren't carved at all! Check out a few of my block combo prints below. Can't wait to do more of these at home!

I kept chipping away at my woodblocks last week...making art at Penland is so fun...and challenging!

Here are the 3 color blocks and the black key block. Then I printed -- too much brown on the haystack, so I cut out the blue and red -- that left me with a bright yellow haystack! And a purple needle, of course. Notice how the yellow, red and blue layer to make a beautiful brown...and you probably can't see it here, but there's some gorgeous wood grain happening on the print too.

You know it doesn't matter if you liked it better the first way...you've carved it off forever now! Did I mention this is challenging?

Here I am, in a rocking chair looking out at these beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains,  energized from a week of non-stop creative work at Penland School of Crafts...life is good!

I'm studying with Paul Roden, a master printmaker from Pittsburgh, learning to make multi-block color woodcut prints. The studio here is wonderful, the people are amazingly talented and I'm picking up lots of pro-tips from Paul as we work together each day. 

The basic idea is to create layers of color from seperately carved blocks - one for the key block (usually black) that gets carved first with all the details, then one for blue, red and yellow (or cyan, magenta, yellow as in CMYK.) I have learned how to transfer my key image to other blocks, how to mix transparent inks, how to get perfect registration on the paper - and that carving wood is a lot tougher than carving linoleum! 

There are SO many variables to work with in this - the inks, the carving, the pressure of the printing press, the kind of paper - but all that makes it like a big puzzle to solve! 

The best way to remember an event or trip is to journal it. 

Now that I'm home, it's fun to sit with my "Irish Adventure" journal and fill things in after the fact -- adding ticket stubs and postcards or sketching from a photo. Two of my favorite tools are perfect for this kind of work - the Fuji Instax printer and my collection of washi tape - both too cumbersome to pack in my sketch kit, but great to play with in the studio.

Try some washi tape in your next project; you can find an amazing variety now at Target or Michael's. And check out the Instax printer, you will be hooked on this fun little gadget!

​Now get journaling!

Both of the following prints are based on inspiring sights in Listowel. The "Castle" was fast and simple; the "Garden" was super detailed and took forever to cut, print and paint. I was happy to see that the Castle print was a big favorite and best seller - an iconic image for the town.

​Perfect inspiration for my first linoleum print! I hand-colored each one after printing and hung them in the gallery window along with Olive's beautiful daffodil paintings. 

We had our first visitors to Listowel last week! Emily Brown and David Calvert, both juniors at North Carolina State University, joined us on our Irish adventure for a week of history, castles, hot tea, cold wind, driving on the "wrong" side of the road, pubs and pints, Dublin and Dingle, and best of all, Mama time. 

We toured Bunratty Castle near Shannon and Ross Castle in Killarney and decided that we preferred life with windows and central heating. We also learned that Irish weather can change in a minute - we arrived at Ross Castle in the driving rain (watching the birds fly backwards) and moments later, the sun was shining on the lake. We especially loved a trip into a moss-covered forrest in Killarney National Park to see Torc Waterfall. We didn't see any fairies or leprechauns but we knew they were there!

You might spy an Amy flower in the window too - they are starting to grow amid the Irish daffodils we see everywhere!

March 1st - our residency in Listowel began and the season of Lent began with the services of Ash Wednesday. First, Amy and I got down to business to make some art. She collected scrap metal and tools, I sketched and started carving some linoleum. And we adjusted to the cold temps! Now we know why the Irish drink tea all day, it's to keep warm!

When there was a break in the drizzle, I walked to the town square to sketch. I'm afraid my delicate magnolia sensibilities didn't last long - but I did manage a quick sketch of St. John's, a former Church of Ireland that is now an arts center.

That night, we headed to the only other church in town, St. Mary's Catholic Church, for the imposition of ashes. And sensing that our Lenten discipline will be unusual this year for many reasons, we decided to mark the occasion with a pint of Guinness. For strength, you know. 

I've made it to Listowel, Ireland, friends!! 
And so the adventure begins...and the magic is already happening!

The amazing Amy Hart, sculptor and welder extraordinaire, and I are the Olive Stack Gallery Artists in Residence for the month of March. We rolled off the plane yesterday and didn't stop until nightfall and our eyelids couldn't stay up any longer.

Listowel is beyond charming and our hostess Olive is the embodiment of Irish hospitality. We will mind the gallery four days a week and make art in the studio upstairs. I'm planning to work on linoleum carving and prints - and Amy is going to make her found metal sculpture (she has already had me dumpster dive with her and is meeting all the local farmers and hardware store owners to find her tools. 

Right now, I'm nibbling on my "rock pile" scone from the bakery across the street and watching Window Theater. Each floor has a lovely window that looks out onto Main Street and all the action in town - it's wonderful entertainment with a nice cuppa tea!

So you've all been asking to see my workshop journal...here it is! As I look at the pages, wonderful moments of the trip come flooding back to me. That's what sitting and really looking at something will do for you, better than any quick photograph. Not that we didn't take hundreds of those. We all have PLENTY of source material to work with for a long time! I can't wait to print out some photos and use them as new inspiration (that was our last day's lesson, after all!)

My final day in Italy, I made my pilgrimage to the Church of Renaissance Art History, The Uffizi Gallery. I arrived before opening, with advance ticket voucher in hand and STILL met lines and lines of faithful art lovers there before me. But all was revealed in God's time, and I was face to face with the great masterpieces in all their larger than life glory. 

Like most museums, you move in chronological order, observing artistic developments in progression. From flat, wooden Medieval altarpieces with stylized faces to the introduction of perspective and suggested depth to the fully understood workings of human anatomy and light, I delighted in pulling the bits of remembered art history lectures from the cobwebs of my memory. Names like Giotto, Filippo Lippi, Caravaggio, Bronzino and of course Botticelli and da Vinci. 

And it must have been Heaven, because almost all of the paintings featured Jesus, Mary and assorted Saints in their majesty. Like any good icon, these religious paintings were a conduit towards the divine, an inspiration and a recognition to me of God's life and incarnation in the world, working through the hands of his creative artist children. And I wondered, as I navigated the crowds of tourists from many countries, did these images hold anything sacred for them? Or were they just another stop on the bus through European masterpieces? 

I'm sad to say that the shortest week ever, my week teaching a stupendous group of students in Cortona, has come to a close. Just when we knew how to order Vin Santo y Cantucci for dessert! Some of us added onto the journey with trips to Rome, the Amalfi Coast and myself here in Florence. A few of us added to the adventure in the Amsterdam airport, to their dismay, but made the best of it with a day free for museums. All of us will return home changed. The experience of living in a new place for a week, really studying the landscape and all its wonderful details, and sharing meals and laughs and hurts and hugs was a gift to me. And we all made great art! I am truly grateful.

Look for a survey from me soon, about art travel trips and future dream destinations. It can be a stretch to set aside the time and resources for a journey like this, but it's something I can't recommend more highly. I would love to be your creative guide in far-off lands!

And don't worry, I will share more art from my sketchbook, too! But right now, I'm going out to see and sketch more on my last 2 days in Florence! Ciao!!

A wise man (Paulo Coelho) once wrote, "Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup."

​We have certainly had our taste of wonderful wine and adventures here in Italy this week as we drink from every cup and a variety of glasses! We have visited two beautiful wineries and become experts on Chianti Classico (with the Black Rooster seal of approval) and the local Sangiovese grapes. Our new favorite for after dinner is Vin Santo, wine of the Saints! It's a strong, sweet little drink that's often served with biscotti to dip into the wine.

Yesterday was windy but sunny during our visit to Le Terre dei Cavalieri, a gorgeous villa near Cortona that grows fields of sunflowers (past bloom now unfortunately) and grapes. Today we had rain for the fields while we toured the Chianti region, stopping for lunch and a tasting at Il Molino di Grace, part of a large collective of organic vintners, with rows and rows and rows of grapevines.

Today our painting prompt is to imagine your own wine, design a special label for it and write a review. I can't wait to see what these creative, wine-loving women come up with in their journals!

I wish I could pass you some wonderful wine through the computer. All I can say, is così delizioso! Saluti!

...Are the LUCKIEST People in Italy!
Day 5 (already?) began in Pienza, another lovely hilltop town about an hour from Cortona. On the way we passed beautiful vineyards and vines heavy with grapes, olive trees and cypress trees in stately rows, and fields of sunflowers that were dry and brown and ready for the oil press. Every time I passed a villa, I thought, hmmm, I could live here!

Our lesson was the dreaded "painting people." There are seven billion of them out there in the world, so you have to paint them eventually! Our spot in the sunshine was perfect and we attracted lots of cameras and smiles (even the attention of an artsy cat!) We made a new friend, Erica from Verona, who posed for us. And we told ourselves that, YES! We are Artists!

Just when we thought the food couldn't get any better, we met Chef Donatella and her daughter and translator Luccia. Mamma Mia! The food was amazing and all used simple, organic ingredients from their farm. We made Panzanella (a salad with stale bread - sounds weird, tasted delish!); Maiale all male verdi (pork with green apples that smelled SOOOO good while it was cooking); Pici all'aglione (hand-twirled, dumpling-like pasta with fresh tomato sauce); Rappini (simple boiled greens with olive oil); and the piece de resistance, Torta della Nona (Granny's cake, a divine concoction of 2 sugar cookie-like rounds of dough, rolled out and nested into a giant pan, with a layer of creamy egg custard between them.)

We are definitely in food heaven!!! Donatella, grazie mille!

Bongiorno from Cortona! I don't think there could be a more lovely place to live and paint for a week! I haven't been here a full 24 hours, but already I am smitten. The town is perched on the hillside and has only one flat street. Everything else is either up or down. 

Today I begin teaching eight wonderful women. We will work in our journals each day outside, en plein aire, to capture the essence of the moment and really really LOOK at what is around us. 

We began last night, meeting our guides Patrick and Angela of ToscanaAmericana, who hosted a wonderful dinner at a charming little restaurant. 

But now the bells in the Piazza are ringing and it is time for some of that amazing Italian coffee. I cannot wait to see the creative joys that come out of this week together. Stay tuned for more pictures - sketched, painted, and photographed!

You may have the universe if I may have Italy. Giuseppe Verdi

Only two more days until I take off for Italy! I have spent the last few days working on lesson plans, packing supplies and making handouts for my eight travel companions. We will be staying in the Tuscan hill town of Cortona, just south of Florence. Every day we will venture out for plein aire painting, journaling with watercolors, pens, pencils and anything we can find to collage with.

What a fabulous gift this is to me! I have to keep pinching myself, saying "I'm getting PAID to go teach in Italy!!"

I thought that a trip this grand deserved a new paint palette and a new journal. In England earlier this summer, I took my itty bitty Altoid box of paints, but now I'm going whole hog on the colors! Yes, I may have gotten a bit carried away on the Daniel Smith website, but why be limited when you are surrounded by Italian light!?
 
In case you were wondering, here's my list of colors, going around clockwise from the top yellow:
Winsor Yellow, New Gamboge, Quinacradone Gold, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Deep, Quinacridone Magenta, Opera Rose, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Sepia, Burnt Umber, Carbon Black, Paynes Grey, Moonglow, Amethyst, Winsor Violet, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine Blue, Pthalo Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, Pthalo Yellow Green, Permanent Sap Green and Olive Green.

Yes, there are some wacky colors in there - Moonglow, Amethyst, Turquoise and all those Pthalos and Quinacridones - but they make super beautiful, intense shades when mixed with the old standbys. 

One more day to pack all those less important things, you know, my clothes.

So you may have noticed that while all my art buddies are posting their paint, sweat and tears every day, this chick has been suspiciously absent. Here's why: doing this everyday is hard!

I did work in the studio on Day 17. I tried printing some goldenrod from the mountains through the press, like I did with my hydrangeas. Let's just say, it looked like someone vomited on the paper. Bleeeeck. But, hey, what's a little ink puke to stand in the way of creativity? Suffice to say that I DID work all day to make something of the mess and MAYBE have something worth showing you. But not yet. Sorry. 

What happened next? Family life. College visit. Grocery shopping and cooking dinners. Church, Project Runway, cookouts with friends and wine on the porch. Good stuff. But not art. 

And I'm ok with that. I'm impressed that I made it 17 days straight, since I have never been very good at good habits. It's all fodder and fertilizer for the creative garden.

So here's the prototype...can't let the Queen out of the bag just yet. But hopefully the 8 recipients will be pleased and surprised!