The place to meet was near a coffee shop on Vicente Guerrero. Some artists painted in the boulevard, others in the coffee shop, and a group of 5 of us tucked in the shade of a friend's house. We took 2 photos of the works in progress when it was coffee time. What a wonderful way to spend a few hours in the morning, chasing the light!!

"Blooming And Blue"
8" x 10", en plein air oil on canvas pad, #20022725

Our group was large on the drop in Saturday morning plein air at Las Palmas,  private residences with multiple units. There were so many great views, the ocean, pool, housing units, gardens, laundry etc, it was fun to see what interested the artists. When the first person is ready to leave, we take a photo of all the group's  "works in progress" to share on our Messenger group chat. Thank you to Lorry and all the owners for giving us access to their property!

This 8" x 10" plein air oil painting was sold, wet off the easel to one of the owners, win/win! Thank You!

A lovely group met in the main square to draw, paint and sketch whatever moved them. Lots of people were walking around and curious but only a few kids tried to interact with the artists. A local Mexican went to the restaurant and bought bottles of water he handed out the the artists, what a wonderful and thoughtful surprise. I should of taken a photo with him! When the first person is ready to leave, we do a "throw down" and take a photo of the works in progress. We enjoyed food and drinks at the jardin's restaurant after, a lovely way to spend a morning!

Jardin Plein Air
8" x 10" plein air oil on canvas paper
#20020225

#pleinairpainting #travelpainting #urbanpainting @karenoliversfineart #canadianartist #pleinairartists

Sue and I had so much fun in Doreen's wet felting class that we came back for her needle felting class. There were 5 of us sitting outside in the shade while Doreen explained the process and the different supplies and their uses. We all wanted to make coasters as any glass with a cold drink sweats a pool of water on the table. I made one for me and one for my husband. For those that know Gord, the bike coaster is his. We were all very happy with our coasters and the class zoomed by. Thanks Doreen!
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​#learninganewcraft  #wetfelting @karenoliversfineart #karenoliversfineart

Doreen also taught a felting a bar of soap class. In the past, I had been gifted a felted bar of soap and it seemed to last forever. The felting works like a facecloth but dries with the soap so no slimely or disappearing soap. The orange felted soap with the lines and 2 yellow dots is mine. 

Five of us had the opportunity to take a wet felting class taught by Doreen McGillis. None of us had ever tried this before. Doreen supplied everything we needed including her expertise! We all made a scene from our own reference, with mine being a photo of the ocean view right here at sunset. There were beach scenes and mountain vistas that were beautiful when completed. Doreen showed us how to needle felt a few details that some completed at home and shells were added as an embellishment to one. I did not add either to mine. We were all so pleased with the class, Doreen's great teaching and expertise and our finished pieces! Thank you Doreen!

Top left is my piece as I laid out the wool. Top right are the wet pieces before needle felting or embellishment. Bottom is my finished piece that I think I will sew onto a pillow for our couch when I get home.

#learninganewcraft  #wetfelting @karenoliversfineart #karenoliversfineart

The choices were hard and had so many elements now that we were building up on our layers of learning in Efren's class. I loved the photo choice as it was a street I had walked on many times on our holidays in San Miguel de Allende. I have many photos of it but always thought it was to complicated to paint...again learning was emphasized in this class as Efren did multiple demos in the various layers. The paper dries so quickly in the warm Mexico weather, you had to work fast. Efren broke the elements down and showed us how to work with minimal drawing on the paper.

"Aldama in San Miguel de Allende"
​9 1/2" x 13" (1/4 sheet) water colour on water colour paper

This was our last demo and painting, our choice of a landscape photo taken by Efren. He did a demo first, lightly drew the big shapes and soaked the water colour paper under water for 5-10 minutes, put it on the board and wiped the edges so it could be taped down. He quickly painted the whole scene while it was still wet! I really enjoyed this process but had to paint so rapidly in the warm weather as it quickly was drying, speed painting!

"Country Siesta Time"
​9 1/2" x 13" (1/4 sheet) water colour

This painting was a value study demo Efren did for the class and at the end, he did a draw for one of his painting demos and separately this value study, which I won, WHOOO HOOOOO! What a great example to study. I would highly recommend taking a water colour or oil painting class from Efren! Check out his website here
@karenoliversfineart  #paintingclassinMexico #watercolourclassinMexico

The class came in the morning with a wide assortment of animal or chicken photos that Efren had taken. It struck me as funny as I left the CENAC (art center) the previous day that I stopped to take photos of some chicks, chickens and roosters on the dirt street, a premonition I guess! Again Efren demonstrated placement and how little he drew on the paper and how he started his water colour painting. I found it difficult to getting my mind around NOT painting the white rooster as the white is the untouched paper!

"Dinner Out"
​9 1/2" x 13" (1/4 sheet) water colour

The dancer photos looked impossible to choose from never mind paint! This required more drawing time as the dress with all it's folds did not make sense to me. Proportions certainly had to be right. Before I measured, I had her feet way to small, they are actually the same size as her face! The Mexican dancers have a ton of material to move around in what seems effortlessly!

"Expressing The Music"
​9 1/2" x 13" (1/4 sheet) water colour

Efren Gonzalez's website can be viewed at ​​https://artefrengonzalez.com/
​@karenoliversfineart  #paintingclassinMexico #watercolourclassinMexico

This was a water colour class of a dozen artists. Efren is a prolific Mexican artist that teaches in oil and water colour. I took his oil class last year and decided to treat myself to another 4 day workshop in water colour, what a treat indeed!! I'll split my 4 day experience into 3 blog posts.

Efren's method of teaching is to do a demo explaining what he is doing and why. With water colour, you can only do so much and then you have to let the paper dry. In a Mexico beach town, it doesn't take long!
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Everyone picked one of his photos on the same subject and went back to our table to draw and paint. The first painting was on student grade paper that buckled and wouldn't work well, to see how we did and what we knew so he had a better understanding of our class as a whole and individually. It was also a learning tool for how he draws for a water colour painting and how little he draws on the page. You can see how much the student grade paper buckled! The second painting was a value study using one colour (Payne's Gray). It was also a great way to evaluate the elements and move/add/delete elements for the final painting. Efren reminded us often that everything was for the purpose of learning, not the final product.   You can go to Efren's website here

"Resting During Siesta"
9 1/2" x 13" (1/4 sheet) water colour