Water in the Landscape

Painting the Nature of Water: waterfalls, tumbling water, waves crashing into rocks.

July 22-25, 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

Location: Paint spot: Artelier is located at 10045 81 Avenue NW, Edmonton (back alley entrance). The workshop space is one block south of The Paint Spot.

$395 ($315 + $80 Supply fee)

Registration through the Paint Spot

Water is amazing as it moves, flows, reflects and tumbles down a mountain or hill. It is translucent and picks up color around it. It changes as it moves. I never get tired of painting water.

Learn how to paint the nature of water as it falls and tumbles and crashes over or into rocks. We will look at how it reflects or picks up colors around it. We will look at the flow and how it changes the way we paint it. Included will be filling in the landscape around the water.

In this Four-day workshop, each morning, we will work on studies with an aspect of painting the movement of water. In the afternoon, we will apply what we learned to a full landscape working on your own projects.

We will cover: 

• The use of masking in the waterfall, and water movement
•  Painting the rocks under the surface of the water
•  Capture the luminescence of a wave that is crashing
•  Painting the reflected lights and color on the water surface

I will be teaching with demos in the morning and coaching you on your projects in the afternoon. You are welcome to follow along with the demos or work from your own reference photos.

Techniques in watercolor we will touch on:              

• Planning a painting
• masking
• layering
• color mixing the shades in water
• sponging
• spritzing water
• scraping
• cling wrap
• wet into wet
• wet on dry
• pushing and pulling

As I sit here to write on this last day of April, the snow is falling outside. This is typical spring weather in Alberta. Hopefully, this is the last snowfall, and we all know the snow won’t last, plus my daffodils and tulips are getting their water. (painting: Is it Spring yet? Watercolor, 11x7 in. ©JulieDrew)

I so enjoy watching the signs of life and new growth that come at this time of year as the greening ripples slowly through the trees and bushes and the perennials are waking up from their winter sleep.

Inside the house I am enjoying the last three buds blooming on my Christmas/Easter cactus. The buds started appearing in the beginning of March when I counted 24 blooms. I have lost count of how many more there have been. The blooms look like dancing fairies. I took some mornings to sketch out a portion of my plant in color pencil.

Spring! New Life! Hope!

As it is spring, I can work again on the last bridge painting I wanted to do for the Connection: Building Bridges Series, the Tawatinâ LRT bridge. On the ceiling of the bridge pedestrian walkway is the story of the indigenous people here in Treaty 6 territory painted in shaped panels.

I can see a hint of the panels, the walkway and the bridge from the spot where I plan to paint the bridge. I can also capture the new growth of the trees on the bank.

Why paint it in spring? I want it to be a painting of hope. A willingness of people to come together – to bridge the gaps of what separates us from each other. There is much we can learn from one another. There is much we can appreciate and value.

Last year, I was particularly mulling over the disparity between factions and all the divisions cropping up in our world. I firmly believe we need each other. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. The focus on building bridges was to find ways to connect with each other again.

Along the lines of connection, even as I complete the bridge project, I am thinking of where it is taking me next; Connection => Collaboration. We not only needt to connect, but to trust each other enough to work together.

Part of this is figuring out what collaboration means for me, and for us as a community, society.

We live in a very individualistic society. We have our own property, possessions, etc. We work our own jobs, have our own income which we can spend however we want. Competition is pushed and individual profit, success, and gain are glorified.

I like to play cooperative games. We purchased a couple new ones for Christmas to try out. It is a nice change to work together to solve the game, the puzzle or the clues. Working together includes listening to each other, waiting for each other and letting new ideas come forth. This is so different from the competitive games where there is only one winner and lots of losers.

This painting of the Seal is, for me, a metaphor for collaboration. I used handmade paper, eggshells, sand and acrylic paint, and an ink drawing with the transfer process to create it., The different mediums I used are like individuals contributing their part to the whole project. And the end result is not something that could have been accomplished with just one individual part (or medium).

Collaboration is the theme we will be contemplating at this year’s Art Vocabulary for the Soul retreat. We will see where it takes us. I look forward to the collaboration.

As collaboration is a new theme for me, I welcome your comments and feedback.

Art is a lot about taking chances and trying something new, whether it is showing my work in a festival,  the blank canvas or paper that can be intimidating or the uncertainty of the next step in the painting process.  The phrase “I don’t want to ruin it!” comes up with my students and echoes in me when I am at certain points of a painting or project.

Over the holidays when our children and grandchildren were visiting, we took an LRT (light Rail Train) ride downtown. We were going to turn around and come back after we walked around Churchill square. Instead, we discovered the ice rink was opening up with free skate rentals. Our grandchildren and my son and daughter decided to go skating. I, on the other hand, was not going to. Last time I had skated was two years before when visiting my grandchildren. I did not grow up skating, so I am not great at it and I really don’t like to fall. But as I helped put on my granddaughter’s skates and talked to the fellow in charge, I got to thinking about not letting my fears rule me. Why not skate? It was fun to skate two years ago with my grandchildren. Why not try it again and participate, not just sit on the sidelines and watch the fun. 

So, I took a chance and got a set of skates. It was a beautiful day, with sunshine, Christmas music playing and fun skating with family. It took a few laps with the stacked “help” before I felt I could skate on my own. But I did it!  I even had a fall where I fell without hurting myself.  As I became a little more confidant, I even tried to skate backwards again. Here is a link to the short video.

I will hang up this image of me skating with my family where I can see it whenever I need to face the challenges and the fears that come with new things or next steps. I want to remember how to move forward again – even if it means going backwards.

May you have a beautiful holiday filled with love and laughter, friends and family!

Our four children will be home this Christmas with my two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren. We are looking forward to their visit.

Can you imagine going to Italy to take a weeklong Art Retreat, painting, sketching and enjoying the Italian countryside? 

I have an opportunity to teach a retreat in a hotel in Montelparo, Marche, Italy. (Two artists told me about their amazing experience teaching there, and one of their participants said she had a great time and it was well worth it.)

Not only will we enjoy Italian food, great company, 5 star treatment at the hotel and spectacular scenery, but we will also paint and sketch from life the scenes of the Le Marche area. 
Le Marche is Italy’s best-kept secret. Known as ‘Italy in one region’, it has retained its authenticity and remains one of the very few places in Italy to have escaped mass tourism despite its miles of untamed coastlines, medieval hilltop towns full of art and culture, it’s hidden beaches, its patchwork quilt countryside, its three national parks – it really is a secret slice of Italy.

Starting at €2499, plus air fare (rates vary to the room chosen) Includes meals, transportation from the airport or bus station, three day excursions, 5 days of art tuition. Nonparticipating friend or partner would pay for everything except the painting tuition.

I have booked my week, Sept 26-Oct 3, 2025!  All of the information is on the article Italy Art Retreat in the menu. It links to the Hotel Leone where you can fill out a form to talk with Madeline about a room and more information.

I am Excited!!

Finding balance between work and play, family, health, exercise, and rest.

Although I make plans, I try to remain flexible. As unexpected things arise that take me away from what was planned, filling the open places on my schedule, I look for things I need to let go of for now and possibly even adjust my expectations.

I don't want to repeat what happened last fall when I didn't have a weekend off so I didn't get any sense of rhythym between work and rest. As a result, I ended up with migraines almost every weekend, until I finally had enough of balance between working (teaching art, painting and our website businness), stretching/excercise and resting.

So as I approached this fall knowing what was coming, I made some choices, like finding a way to participate in the Night of Artists Artwalk, which was a huge 3 day time commitment, by showing 2 paintings in the Night of Artists Gallery 12"x12' show for the month of October. I am very glad I chose that, as on Oct 15 we were blessed with a new granddaughter (the first for my second son.). Many extra meals to take over to them as they adjusted to being a family of three filled part of my schedule.

On Oct 23, my husband, Sam, graduated with his Masters of Psychotherapy and Spirituality, which he started during Covid. (He did a four-year part-time program in three years. It has been a busy three years.) And we enjoyed a visit from Sam's mother. I was doing alright, adjusting my schedule to fit things in, even getting some painting time in, but during that busy week I stopped part of the exercises I do to maintain fexibility. When the next week came with 5 different classes I was not as rested as I needed to be, and I started experiencing warning signals of pain in my muscles. So, I had to adjust my schedule to fit in a massage and physio to take care of myself. 

Even writing in my journal has not been as regular lately, and that helps me to process things and write these newsletters. I was reminded that when I let these things go for awhile, I need to get them back into my schedule. It wasn't until after journaling again that I understood what my body and spirit were telling me.

This is part of finding balance for me - my physical health, mental health and spiritual health are intertwined. I need to balance them even if things ebb and flow, like the seasons. we cannot always be in spring and summer, we need to have the fall and winter times as well.

This is a theme that I have revisited often, as I need to be reminded of it often. (Links to past writing on rest, on letting go, and on presence)

Do you struggle with finding balance?

November 11- December 31

Artwork of the instructors at the PaintSpot

I have 5 paintings up and about 5 prints available as well.

#PaintSpotArtGifts

https://paintspot.ca/12-days-of-christmas-at-the-naess-gallery/

For the month of December the "Winter Wonderland 2" feature exhibit will be showing in the Night of Artists Gallery in Bonnie Doon Mall, Edmonton.

I have three painting there.  I took a short video of the show. Enjoy!

My daughter, Reena, was home from university for a few days and we took off a day to hike in Canmore. She hiked on and left me to watercolor sketch at the beautiful waterfall on the grassi lakes trail.

I did a quick ink sketch too.

This fall I will be teaching some sketching classes here in Edmonton. We will get out and enjoy the fall colors as we capture what is around us. 

Autumn Landscapes in the River Valley; Drawing and Painting - Yorath House in Buena Vista park 4 Tuesdays starting Sept 19.

Sketching at the Valley Zoo, October 1

Exploring Fall Colours in Watercolour: Drawing and Painting Exploration 6 Fridays starting Sept 22.

(If the links don't work, the details of registration and classes are also on the Fun Art Classes Page with more classes and information.)

At the end of my residency, I had a spontaneous show on April 1, 2023. Here is the unedited video my daughter recorded as I shared my Art Talk. 

Below, I include some close ups of what was set up for display on the tables during the show.

Water

For over a decade I have been painting, writing and thinking about Water, from the perspective of water crises as a metaphor for our thirst for Living Water to Saturation. I was in the process of reworking the Living Water series, but I was stuck. I couldn’t seem to get past the idea of connecting and collaborating as the next part, but how?

This Residency gave me the opportunity to devote some time and energy into it, giving me a direction to pursue further.

I shared the poem on Water I wrote in 2010. You can read it here.

 Connections: Connecting with People

Part of preparing for the Residency, was gathering what I already had in paintings, unfinished paintings and sketches, as well as photos of the river valley.
In 2020, during covid, weekly Plein Air workshops were a way I could still connect with my students. These paintings were all started during that year as we explored different parts of Edmonton and the surrounding area.

Thank you to all who came to paint on the Plein Air Excursions, especially my friend Marjie who came all 13 weeks in 2020.

Connection: East to west – transportation route

Flowing to Lake Winnipeg, the Saskatchewan was the major transportation route that connected eastern Canada to the Rockies before the railroad.

The North Saskatchewan River begins at the Saskatchewan Glacier in Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains and flows southeast through the northern tip of Banff National Park and into the foothills where it opens up into Abraham Lake, created by the Bighorn Dam.

The South Saskatchewan River is formed by the junction of the Bow and Oldman rivers, the headwaters of which are in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

Today we can canoe or kayak down the river. Part of the photos I reviewed for the residency were of our two kayak trips down the river through Edmonton.

Connection: Seasons of life along the river
The basin of the North Saskatchewan river supports life, animals, plants and people. It is the source of water for Edmonton.
Wahkohtowin, a Cree word which denotes the interconnected nature of relationships, communities, and natural systems. Its literal meaning is "kinship."

Connection: Building bridges
When we build bridges we connect two places together, two sides of the river, different parts of Edmonton together.

As I worked the bridge paintings, reworking, drawing them until they looked correct, building the one out of handmade paper, piece by piece, it took effort. It was even painful as my hand took a few days to recover from the overextension of muscle.

This made me also think about relationships. We can build bridges between people as well, like the LRT bridge. And like my paintings and hours of work to get the bridge right, it takes effort to put aside our differences and build bridges to another person.

Connection: Treaty 6 territory  - Building Bridges in Community
We acknowledge Treaty 6 territory—the traditional and ancestral territory of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux and Nakota Sioux. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Métis Settlements and the Métis Nation of Alberta, Regions 2, 3 and 4 within the historical Northwest Métis Homeland.

The North Saskatchewan flows through Treaty 6 territory. As we have taken steps in Canada to honor the First Nation people through Truth and Reconciliation, Edmonton built the newest LRT bridge to make connections between the indigenous and Canada. Below the main deck of the LRT, is the footbridge for people to walk, bike, roll and enjoy the beautiful artwork on the ceiling that tells the story of the First Nation people. The artwork on the ceiling is by Indigenous artist David Garneau.

I will work on a painting of this in the spring when the greening of the trees begins, reflecting the new life building bridges can bring to relationships. I went to sketch the bridge again as the buds on the trees were opening. I have one of the hotos I will reference as I begin the painting.

February 26

Last week, I started a self-directed artist residency at the Yorath house in Buena Vista Park in the North Saskatchewan River valley here in Edmonton. I will be pondering the word “connections” and see where it leads me. I wrote in my proposal that I would “explore the metaphors I find of the connections of the river valley between the river, the land, the animals and people that are connected to it.” This residency is giving me an opportunity to take the time I need to explore what has been percolating in me for that last three years.

 
The first two days it has been cold (-17C and -22C) I did take a half hour walk along the river at the end of my day there on Tuesday and took some photos. At Buena Vista park, the river is a solid swath of white – with animal tracks bounding over the snow covered ice.

At other parts of the river which we drive over, there is a dark ribbon of river that ripples along near the middle. 

Since the weather was not conducive to painting outdoors yet, I decided to look through the photos I have taken of the river valley over the years and pull out the unfinished plein air paintings I started in 2020 and 2021 of the river valley.

As I started swiping through the photos from our kayaking trips down the North Saskatchewan, all of the unique bridges spanning the river caught my eye. Here is a way of seeing connection that I had not been thinking about, connecting banks of the river, building bridges. Also, three of the four unfinished plein air paintings were of bridges. It is a place to start.

I look forward to seeing where this takes me in the next few weeks.

I am excited to have finished mixed media painting, Regeneration 3, I started working on in the Acrylic Explorations class in the fall! 

It will be shown for the first time at the Nina Haggerty Gallery, 9225 118 Ave NW,

during the Deep Freeze Festival January 21-22, 2023 12-6 pm 

Buiding a Textured Painting:

I blocked in the colors and used it to demonstrate texture building 

I added the trunk in handmade paper, eggshells create the texture of the burls and for the ground cover of pine needles I used saw dust and sand. I painted over the textures.

After adding the ink lines to the bark of the tree, I added more handmade paper for some 3D effect of the ferns and branches coming out of the burls.

I have painted this particular scene several times, each time is a little different. Here is one: Redemption-New Life Another one was part of the Waiting series that was shown at the Glenrose with this poem/ meditation.

You can see the painting this weekend at the Nina Haggerty Gallery during the Deep Freeze festival. I will be there in the building at the Artisan Market. If you come to the festival, be sure to stop by for a visit!

May the road you travel be filled with Sunshine!

Our funny Christmas tree story...

We don’t have a tree this year. We like to get a permit and drive the hour or so to the crown land and cut one down. Sam and I were all set to go on a Sunday when something came up unexpectedly with Sam’s project that had to be done that day. So, we postponed it to the following Wednesday. We drove all the way out there, got out of the car to start tromping through the snow, when Sam got a phone call from work, and we were called back to town…with no tree. We set another date to go on the following Sunday, but that weekend I had two migraines, one each day. A tree this year was not meant to be.

But my Christmas Cactus is blooming and festive… it is an “ever green” …

So, this year instead of a tree, we have a blooming Christmas Cactus.

From Coast to Coast and Places Inbetween

I am feeling thankful. My husband and I did a whirlwind of travel mid August – early September. It was a lot of long days of driving so that we could spend a couple days with people here and there. I sketched along the way and took thousands of photos.

We traveled with our middle daughter, Natalia, to Vancouver Island to go camping with our son, Thaddeus, and his family at Englishman River Falls Provincial Park Campground. Our grandchildren are delightful. Griffin is fearless on his bike. Jade loves playing on the playground with other children.

We came home for a day and headed out with our youngest daughter, Reena, to drive her, her bike and belongings to Kingston, ON where she will be taking the rest of her schooling at Queens University in person. We had really long days on the road, listening to audible books and music. I took out my sketchbook to capture a few things as we drove along. It was good practice in quick observation and memory as we passed by and I was still drawing the scene.

We went by way of Marblehead, MA to see Sam’s Mom, Jeanne and Mike where they relocated this year. They took us on a ferry to Boston to see historical sites there as well as around Marblehead. One of the ocean coastlines was inspiring to me! I can’t wait to work on completing a painting that has been sitting unfinished since 2018.(see the Marblehead, MA  photo above with my husband, Sam, climbing on the rocky shore)  I wasn’t able to spend the day painting, but I took photos and I hope to be working on it this fall. The picturesque town of Marblehead with the brightly colored houses reminded me of places in Europe, particularly in Norway. 

I got up early to watch the sunrise just down the street from where we were staying in Salom, MA. A heron and egret joined me. I love seeing the larger birds. 

One of our overnights on the way was with my aunt and uncle in Syracuse, NY whom I had not seen since 2000 a week after Reena was born. I was happy to introduce Reena to them and we enjoyed our brief visit, especially all the weaving creations my aunt wove. Beautiful! Seeing it brought back good memories of weaving from the time I went to school in Norway. I had enjoyed the rhythm of weaving the shuttle.

From Marblehead we traveled northwest past Ottawa to stay a couple of very restful days getting to know another uncle and aunt of mine in Pembroke, ON. Delightful! They live in a beautiful home they had built on an acreage surrounded by tall white and red pine. Hummingbirds and a variety of other birds came to their feeders. We were too early for the fall colors, but one or two had started to turn.

After we dropped off Reena and got her set up (we went shopping for furniture – a desk, chair and bed),
we stopped to see Niagara Falls briefly on our way back toward Chicago. It was only an extra 2 hour side trip to the day.

We had lived in Chicago before, so we went to stay with our friends for the long weekend before heading back to Edmonton. Sam went kayaking on the Chicago River, we went biking down the lake shore pathway, we went to the Art Institute and saw my favorite impressionists’ paintings and the Botanical Gardens.

I will devote another post to the art institute and my favorite painters. Here I am in front of one of them - George Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte - 1884. It is all done with dots of paint.

We had a couple days home before we went camping with my son, Nathaniel and his wife for the weekend. We hiked to see another waterfalls. It was a good way to end the summer trips. I am so thankful we had one more trip with our dog, Lizzy.

Whew! What an end to summer and beginning of fall, but I am thankful we saw everyone we did, we managed to spend time with all of our children and grandchildren. We traveled safely from coast to coast and home again. We saw beauty everywhere we went, and I am feeling inspired to paint.

I am excited! I took 19 paintings today to have them set up in an art show at The Carrot Community Coffeehouse for the month of August. Woohoo!

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted to move up my art show from November to August. On that short notice, I pulled together waterfalls and rivers that I had available and titled it “Let the Rivers Flow.” I put four of them into frames and the rest were ready to go.

Let the Rivers Flow,  August 2-27, 2022

As the rivers flow, and cascade on their downward path, spilling over rocks and making their own paths, they bring life with them to nourish the thirsty world.

I enjoy painting water, it’s movement and flow. It is peaceful to sit and take in the beauty of a river or waterfall, but to go further and capture the moment with paint is delightful. I experimented with different painting methods for capturing the water scenes: watercolor, acrylic, oil, combining ink and watercolor, and using handmade paper for texture in some of the paintings.

This series includes 19 paintings of waterfalls and rivers in Alberta, Oregon, Croatia, Iceland and Norway.

Opening Reception
7-8pm on August 4, 2022
The Carrot Community Coffeehouse
9351 118 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T5G 0N3

Let the Rivers Flow Art Show will be up from August 2- 27, 2022
The Carrot Hours: Tues.-Fri. 9am to 8 pm; Sat. 9am to 10 pm. (closed Sun. and Mon.)

Registration for all the classes below are on the movelearnplay.Edmonton.ca website then click>registered programs>arts programs>adult programs> ***painting classes are now under Painting Classes and drawing classes are separate under Drawing and Mixed media art programs. The classes are listed alphabetically. I put the class code with each class that may work in the search. ALTERNATIVELY,  you can call 311 to register. There are similar class titles by other instructors. Check the time and instructor information as well. 

Acrylic 1 & 2 - Class Code #736360

8 Wed. April 24 - June 12, 2024

6:30-9:30 pm

Cost: $200

Location: City Arts Centre

Quick drying time and multiple textures make acrylics a great choice for beginners and intermediates. In this weekly course learn painting basics such as composition, colour, and numerous painting techniques. Talented artists and painters will guide you through various subject matter such as still life, portraits & figures, landscapes, and much more in this inspiring and engaging weekly course. Have the opportunity to learn a wealth of knowledge and express your personal creativity.

Painting Botanicals at the Muttart: Watercolour Workshop  class code #736365-class full, waiting list

2 Thurs. April 25 & May 2, 2024  6-9 pm

Cost: $80 all supplies included

Capture the beauty and translucence of flowers and variegated plants in watercolours during this two evening workshop at the Muttart Conservatory. Through hands-on demonstrations from artist Julie Drew, learn to paint petals, leaves, and backgrounds using a variety of painting techniques. ALL MATERIALS ARE INCLUDED, just bring yourself & your creativity.

Exploring Spring Flowers in Watercolors: Drawing & Painting Explorations - Class Code: #736362  

8 Fridays April 26-June 14, 2022
1-4 pm

Location: City Arts Cenre,  10943 83 Ave NW, Edmonton

cost $240 ALL MATERIALS  INCLUDED

Love watercolours but you have never taken a drawing or painting class? No problem, this class is for all skill levels, taking you to the next step in the process. Use watercolor pencils and ink to draw and sketch landscapes, animals, and people. Artist Julie Drew will show you numerous techniques to combine mediums and even have you explore working outdoors with plein air sessions (weather permitting). ALL SUPPLIES ARE INCLUDED, just bring yourself & your creativity.

Acrylic 1&2 - Class Code #736361

8 Fri. April 26- June 14, 2024  6:30-9:30 pm

Cost: $200

Location: Dr. Anne Anderson Community Centre: 11810 35 Ave 

Quick drying time and multiple textures make acrylics a great choice for beginners and intermediates. In this weekly course learn painting basics such as composition, colour, and numerous painting techniques. Talented artists and painters will guide you through various subject matter such as still life, portraits & figures, landscapes, and much more in this inspiring and engaging weekly course. Have the opportunity to learn a wealth of knowledge and express your personal creativity.

Classes in May

Hand painted Mother's Day & Floral Cards: watercolour and Ink workshop - Class Code #736366  This class is full, wait list only

Sun.  May 5, 9:30 am-12:30 pm

$55  all supplies included

Muttart Conservatory

Create your very own Holiday cards while enjoying the gorgeous scenery at the Muttart during this one morning workshop. You will have the opportunity to paint the foliage and flowers for your valentine! Be guided through several techniques, colour suggestions, and basic composition strategies as you come away with the know-how to continue painting. ALL MATERIALS ARE INCLUDED, just bring yourself & your creativity.

Classes in Aug

Summer Landscapes in Acrylic - Class Code #

3 Wed. Aug 14-28, 2024  6:30-9:30 pm

Terwillegaer Rec Centre

More information coming soon

Quick drying time and multiple textures make acrylics a great choice for beginners and intermediates. In this weekly course learn painting basics such as composition, colour, and numerous painting techniques. Talented artists and painters will guide you through various subject matter such as still life, portraits & figures, landscapes, and much more in this inspiring and engaging weekly course. Have the opportunity to learn a wealth of knowledge and express your personal creativity.

Pouring Watercolors:  Painting Techniques - Class Code: #

Monday -Friday. Aug 19-23, 2024

1-4 pm

Location: City Arts Centre: 10943 83 Ave NW, Edmonton

More info coming soon

Take your watercolor to new levels with pouring watercolours and working with layers. Explore the techniques of watercolor in new ways using the natural world as inspiration. During this 8 week program with artist Julie Drew you will learn a vast range of watercolour skills such as: masking, pouring, working with layers and salt, painting in details, composition, and working with the results – listening to the painting. This course is perfect for those who are starting out with watercolours or are looking for an expressive technique or for those with previous painting experience looking for a new style and inspiration.

Painting Botanicals at the Muttart: Watercolour Workshop  class code #

2 Thurs. Aug 22 & Aug 29, 2024  6-9 pm

More information coming soon

Capture the beauty and translucence of flowers and variegated plants in watercolours during this two evening workshop at the Muttart Conservatory. Through hands-on demonstrations from artist Julie Drew, learn to paint petals, leaves, and backgrounds using a variety of painting techniques. ALL MATERIALS ARE INCLUDED, just bring yourself & your creativity.

We had 12 of us at the Art Vocabulary for the Soul Retreat last weekend! I am so thankful for the beautiful people who came and explored as we contemplated going “Into the Unknown.” We looked at parts of the stories of Ruth and Jonah, as opposite ways of dealing with going into the unknown. We used art to process our own journeys. I was blessed with their stories, and their creativity. I was so caught up in experiencing the weekend, I forgot to take photos.

For my own exploration, I find sometimes I am like Ruth, willing to venture forth and try new things. But sometimes, I am like Jonah going the other direction or slow to make any changes until I feel prepared. One thing is sure, when I am grounded in presence, letting the flow of my creator’s living water run through me, the journey into the unknown becomes do-able and an adventure to take.

Photo of 2 pastel sketches of my processing "Into the Unknown.".

I also love going out to King’s Fold Retreat Centre. It is such a beautiful place to retreat with so many trails through woods and meadows and down to the river below.

Mark your calendar for next year’s Art Vocabulary for the Soul retreat: June 23-25, 2023. Early bird registration closes on March 20, 2023.