Watercolor Traveler: Simple and Small

I have signed up for a two-day art workshop this weekend.

Sometimes, you know, I have to step away from words and let another part of my creative mind have a play day or two.

I am a very amateur artist who enjoys sketching and watercolor dabbling. What attracted me to this workshop, called Watercolor Traveler: Simple and Small, is that it is described as being for someone looking for "some fresh portable ways to paint and draw." It promises that at the close of the second day I will have a hand-made reference journal full of examples to use "in the field or at home." 

Any activity that involves notebooks appeals to me. And, simple and portable is just my speed. 

So I have gathered together my paints and brushes and am ready to Meet My Muse.

To inspire me even further, I dipped into my copy of The Art Spirit (1923) by Robert Henri and found this:

Painting is the expression of ideas in their permanent form. It is the giving of evidence. It is the study of our lives, our environment. The American who is useful as an artist is one who studies his own life and records his experiences; in this way he gives evidence. If a man has something to say, he will find a way of saying it. 

As will a woman, Henri. As will a woman.

On Leaving Paris

Read all day Sunday. Finished The Greater Journey by David McCullough. All 456 pages not including the Source Notes, Bibliography, and Index (although I did browse those).

I was a little sad when we reached the turn of the twentieth century and the American men and women who had filled the streets and studios of Paris were either back home, soon to be dead, or already in the grave.

It was a marvelous journey. I met so many folks I didn't know and many that I just thought I knew. What a project for Mr. McCullough to research and organize and write a book of such scope and detail. And even when I got lost amid some of the unfamiliar names, historical events, dates, and the avenues of Paris, I just let myself go with it.

After all, there wasn't going to be a test or quiz on the information.

I know I was a bit put off at the beginning of the book and I am so glad now that I stuck with it. One page at a time and I was mightily rewarded.

One of the artists mentioned toward the end of the book was a fellow named Robert Henri. Here, in the source notes is what McCullough wrote:

Robert Henri, who was to become a leading American painter of the early twentieth century and was one of the most inspiring of all American art teachers, also wrote a delightful book called The Art Spirit, with recollections of his time in Paris and much else.

Now, I just happen to have a copy of The Art Spirit. It was recommended by a watercolorist when I asked her what was the one book she would want me to read about being an artist. Shortly after that, I found a used copy at a consignment store. This was about a year ago. The shop had just received a great number of art books from the personal library of a local artist who had recently passed away. I bought several. Of course.