Laurelines: 2009, the plan, at last!

January 31, 2009

2009, the plan, at last!

It's still January, it's still 2009, and in spite of a straggling start (see post below for reasons why), here's my art and travel plan for the year:

It's a back and forth dance between drawing and painting.

Painting projects: I'll continue as a main painting focus my pursuit of watery subjects, blogging here about my efforts and on Watermarks, too, a group blog I'm a member of. I'm sure the other Watermarkers have entertained the thought of tossing me overboard, as I've participated very little of late. Life has its ebbs and flows and I've been ebbing, but for understandable reasons, I believe, so I hope they'll bear with me. I'm priming the pump, though. Flow will happen.

I can and will, of course, paint other stuff. We'll see what life brings.

September in Brittany: In pursuit of the above, I'm hoping to spend the month of September painting in Brittany. I'll find a house to rent and take my sketching stuff and my paints and go. Details to follow as they evolve. Much depends on the economy. But that's the plan for now.

Newfoundland and Labrador! Jeanette Jobson, a fellow Watermarker, lives in Newfoundland. Her stories and paintings of the area have made me so keen to go and see for myself! I'm hoping to take a few days' trip there in July. Last year, I fell in love with Iceland, and here I am again, inching closer, from where I start, to the Arctic Circle.

Drawing bootcamp! My new drawing hero is Veronica Lawlor, whom I met online via Urban Sketchers, another inspiring group blog we both contribute to. Click on her name to see her gorgeous, exciting, dynamic drawings! I want to learn the techniques she's developed for reportage illustration. She and her colleague Margaret Hurst run Dalvero Academy, offering courses in New York City and beyond. Last year, they conducted a two-week drawing workshop in Paris. Every year in August, they do a ten-day workshop at Disney World and, seeing as how there's no 2009 Paris course, that's where I'll be going.

I'm ecstatic about this. Veronica says we'll draw at least eight hours a day! In Orlando, in August! Won't that be kind of like the Arctic Circle?

They also do three-day workshops in Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. I hope to take one of those this spring. I can't wait 'til August to try my hand at reportage illustration!

Illustrating a food lover's guide to my area: My town was named one of the top food destinations in the US by Someone recently. Someone Official and Fancy, but I can't remember now who. Will edit this post when I find out. Anyway, my friend Moreton Neal is writing it, I'm illustrating it, and we have a contract. Should be lots of fun.

Urban sketching: I am having such a great time thinking of things to sketch for the aforementioned Urban Sketchers, the terrific blog started by Gabi Campanario! It's a thrill to be part of a worldwide network of people as crazy about drawing as I am!

That's the rough guide to Laurelines in 2009. Hope you'll bring your windbreaker and your dancing shoes and come along!

Laurelines on January 31, 2009 in Art goals, Drawing, France, Travel | Permalink