We’ve awakened to a new world these past few months, and every week this reality has sharper edges. The hubby loves to do the grocery shopping, so we’ve changed a lot of our habits to doorstep deliveries, but some things require venturing out. While picking up a prescription, I was amazed that the grocery store was fully stocked, except for the paper products aisle (no Viva paper towels, eep!). Despite all of this, I realize today I am one of the fortunate ones, an artist who already has a healthy online teaching business. This makes me want to drop to my knees and thank the angels. I’m watching art friends whose survival depends on teaching and gallery sales suddenly searching for new ways to pay the bills. And I know this is just the tip of the iceberg for what is happening to scores of other professions out there.

This is not the first time the world has dropped out from under my feet as an artist, however. About 4 years ago, after launching my first online class, I was elated with the results. Over 400 artists from around the world signed up, and the students were very happy with the class. A few weeks afterward, while teaching a class in France, I received a startling email. The Web developer for the class decided to drop our contract. The funds that had been sent to the Web developer were substantial (think about buying a car, or two, and then finding out you’re allowed to drive it a few more months, but then must park it for good, while it still had the new car smell!).

I was devastated. I remember sitting on the edge of a bed in a 300 year old convent after reading the email, and feeling like I had fallen down a deep hole. We had invested all of our savings in paying the developer for her work. My husband had just given his notice at his company 2 weeks earlier, to work with me full-time. We were fairly certain we finally had an art business that could survive on its own, and perhaps even grow in the future. And now we were facing the prospect of starting over from scratch, and trying to build everything again. It felt like the end.

The angels were watching over me, however. My virtual assistant, Jude Rush, was in touch within minutes. She said not to worry. She and I had already survived several amazing highs and lows together in navigating the uncharted waters of online teaching, and our “Thelma and Louise” track record was solid. Jude said to me, I know a Web developer who is absolute gold. And that’s when Rachel Vane became part of our team.

These two young women have been the backbone of our art company through thick and thin. I read years ago that, if you give a busy woman something to do, rest assured it will be done, and it will be done well. Thanks to Rachel and Jude, I became one of the first oil painters to launch a monthly online membership class three years ago, an affordable way for artists to be able to access full-length painting lessons with lots more beautiful bells and whistles to boot. (You can read more about The Joyful Brush here).

I suppose what I’m trying to say is this: If it feels like the world has dropped from under your feet and the end is near, take a deep breath. There are helpers out there, and angels are watching over us. Artists are amazing, giving people, and the good energy they submit to the universe every single day does result in echoes and ripples, in goodness and joy, that return to reward you. Keep your heart light, keep creating and sharing beauty. Your gift means more now to the world than it ever did before, so don’t give up, and don’t be afraid. You’re part of a family, and we’re in this together, sweet friend.

 

All new online lessons are blooming!

 

Start painting with me right away in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Find out why hundreds of students from around the world have already joined the flower family, with weekly live videos, live paintings, and a library filled with full-length lessons. Get all the color you love, and a beautiful place to grow through all the seasons of your art journey.

I want more Joy in my studio!

 

***

 

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in my studio or hop online with me – Here’s the scoop!

With all the scary news around us, I’ve found myself spending more time in the studio, exploring new subjects and pushing the boundaries of my own comfort zone with brush in hand. There is a peace that comes from the act of creating, and, while it’s not meditation, I always feel much calmer at the end of the day when I have a new work drying on the easel. Lately I spend equal time with acrylics and oils, moving back and forth through the two mediums, trying acrylic techniques in oils, pushing for bolder, more graphic colors. When I turn to my acrylics, I push them to produce the soft, gentle blending of oils. The more mediums you work in as an artist, the more tools you have to turn to in those quiet moments of problem solving.

A few of my favorite out-of-the tube acrylic color combinations have proven so striking, I’ve begun to create similar recipes and effects in oils. Golden acrylics is known for being a company that has almost every imaginable acrylic color available right out of the tube. Scrolling through their catalog list takes quite a bit of time, but for color hungry artists like me, it’s an exercise in pleasure. When I was young, I was a clothes horse. I shopped for new outfits, running my fingers across fabrics to feel the textures and dreaming of new shoes I could never afford. Now I dream of paints, brushes, and miles of blank canvases ahead, waiting to be filled.

Here are a few recipes and color combinations that might spark your muse ~ whether you find yourself leaning into light, bright vignettes or bold, dark backgrounds, the possibilities in both mediums, oils and acrylics, are endless. My favorite background color (this week, who knows about next week!) in acrylics is Cobalt Violet Hue and Burnt Umber. That combo doesn’t sound delish, but trust me, it’s like warm chocolate sauce behind the rich greens in your garden paintings. One of my favorite background combinations in oils is a light gray green beneath thick, painterly strokes of pale violet and brilliant yellow light. The key: don’t blend those fat strokes. Not all flowers need to spring forth from dense foliage, sometimes it’s delightful to just let that bundle of gorgeous petals float in the middle of a bright, textured canvas, filling your room with color and light.

I have over a dozen new paintings blooming in my shop this week, and a secret sale, too. Take a peek, and you’ll see some of the recipes I’ve shared today. Stocking up on joy is much more fun than racing to the store for hand sanitizer and TP!

 

All new online lessons are blooming!

 

 

Start painting with me right away in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Find out why hundreds of students from around the world have already joined the flower family, with weekly live videos, live paintings, and a library filled with full-length lessons. Get all the color you love, and a beautiful place to grow through all the seasons of your art journey.

I want more Joy in my studio!

 

***

 

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in my studio or hop online with me – Here’s the scoop!

Flower Mound Studio stands empty, echoing, and absent of any flower paintings, for the first time in years. I’m soaking up these quiet moments, forcing myself to breathe and be still. This is not easy, I’m not someone comfortable with sitting down for long spells.

Waiting is not my super power.

For now, my time is best spent examining this home where memories were made, and laughter happened, pugs played and a husband cooked, a Christmas tree twinkled, a back gate creaked and a live oak once small now stretches vast limbs in a protective canopy over a garden I’ll never see bloom again. All the tiny nuances aren’t so much about the brick and mortar of a dwelling, but vibrations of memories made under this roof.

I know from past losses how important it is to concentrate on absorbing these tangible seconds, storing this up like treasure, willing my typically unreliable memory to hold onto these memories no matter what happens between now and all the tomorrows.

Mentally, I’m letting the irises go, releasing the garden, accepting that the studio will likely become a bedroom or office, and acknowledging there will never be another easel entangled in the chandeliers or paint spattered on the shiplap. I’ll never walk into this studio again and encounter a group of women hard at work on paintings, giggling with newfound friends, eating donuts and asking when the next time the pugs will be let loose to wreak havoc around their feet.

The best thing, though, is knowing that wherever I go, my art friends, my family and my husband and pugs, will be there, too. I’m taking you with me on this next new adventure, (okay I’m scared and I want you to hold my hand!), so don’t expect long stretches of silence. I’m hoping you’ll walk with me every step of the way. Next week the final boxes will be sealed, the movers arrive, and we load up the pug-mobile for a cross-country trek. It’s definitely onward, and most assuredly upward, to a higher elevation. Look out world, the next chapter for Flower Mound Studio is about to begin!

 

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

 

Dear future resident who will call our abode in Flower Mound, Texas, home: Soon you will move into a house that has been cherished for 19 years. Your furnishings and family, your hopes and dreams, will fill the space and adorn the walls that have held the weight of my paintings and family photos, memories of my own loved ones and places that echoed with the laughter, joy, and tears. My greatest wish is that you will sense how loved this home has been.

Under this roof, an art dream was born and flourished. Eight pug children lived full lives here, and fourteen foster pugs found respite and joy for the first time in their lives, before transitioning to forever homes. While I know you desire details on how to operate the heat and air, the Nest system and security cameras, warranties and plats and deeds and such, I hope you’ll save time for another little family that still resides on your new back porch.

The little reed basket that hangs from the rafters has been home to four generations of house wrens. There is a nest there now, and this noisy neighbor does need to continue use of their tiny home. Please do not remove or relocate Wren Unit 1 ~ its tenants have lived under our care for so long we’ve named them, and grown to know and love their chicks and great-grandchicks. Perhaps you are too busy to concern yourself with their history and names, but, if your heart is kind or at the least tolerant, you will leave their home intact. Maybe it’s a trivial matter, but I rescued Mama Wren when her tiny foot was caught in a wire mesh table on a rainy night. I held her gently in my palms while unhooking her little nail from the screen, and was so grateful to see her back in the nest with her babies the next morning. Yesterday her fat husband fussed at us for packing the plants all around him, and we assured him you would be kind enough to keep his home intact for years to come.

These wrens are the tiniest creatures in our garden, flitting from bush to bush, twigging at the ivy plants we’ve hung nearby, leaping-off points for their chicks and tweens. I’ll give it to fate, I’ll send this out in faith, and trust in your grace, that these tiny souls will remain safe in your care.

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

This week we have our two final video shoots in Flower Mound Studio with Joel, and then we pack the big ole’ truck with paintings and head to Colorado. Transporting three very energetic pugs cross country is the one bit of our grand transition that has me worried, mainly the evening we would need to spend in a pet friendly hotel between here and our new home.

One thing I’m especially looking forward to: The smallest member of the household, 12 pounds of pug mightiness herself, has perfected an ear-splitting pig squeal any time she sees a human in public who is not rushing over to pet her. I can just imagine the reactions from unsuspecting business travelers in hotel corridors, normal folks who aren’t aware that a shrieking animal is not being harmed, but is, instead, inexcusably spoiled. Would we be politely booted out by hotel management for animal abuse? Would the SPCA be summoned for a midnight intervention at the I-45 LaQuinta? Fortunately, a fellow pug rescue friend offered the use of her home at the halfway point of our journey, and, like a miracle dropping from the sky, the pug squealing in public situation was resolved. (Pity, though, all those business travelers have NO idea what they will be missing.)

Taylor is saucy, bossy, and has no qualms about making herself heard. I sometimes wish I had such self-confidence and absolute faith in myself. It may be a side effect of being an artist, though, this constant self-analyzing, processing, measuring and assessing of everything we create. There is also that tendency where we compare our paintings to others, instead of simply accepting what we’ve created as a tribute to how hard we’ve worked, and how far we have come in the journey. The simple act of creating is such a powerful thing we’ve allowed into our lives and nurtured in our own studios and homes. How exquisite this world would be if this positive energy was a part of everyone’s lives. Couple that with some bold, sassy self-confidence, and we artists would be superpower, cape wearing, life celebrating, unstoppable forces!

Watch out world, she’s getting those brushes out again…

 

 

***

 

 

 

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

 

Super early tomorrow morning, we take our first load of treasures to our new home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I know what you’re thinking: What on earth are you doing, moving in winter? It’s going to be COLD there, and it snows there, too! Peeps are saying there’s going to be an adjustment period, especially to the chilly weather. And I totally get that now. I was up ’til midnight last night googling hairdressers (specializing in coloring gray hair) and where to buy cute winter shoes. You know, priorities and all. But winter shoes! Just those two words were enough to send me spiraling. I’ve been an open-toed sandals kind of gal year-round for decades. We are officially off the plantation and outside the 80-degree winter comfort zone.

The movers took one look at my art stuff on video (did you know they do these quote thingies by video now?) and announced they do not move paintings or paint or artwork of any kind. Fortunately, I had already planned to hand-carry these items. After all, just the tubes of Old Holland Caribbean Blue alone cost more than our Toyota Highlander. We can’t take foolish risks and all, potentially losing one of those.

It is all super exciting, and there is something cathartic about throwing dusty things in the bin. I spent all day today cleaning out my paint store room. There were some shocking discoveries, such as learning I have a propensity for hoarding future art supplies. Someday I shall be a furniture refinisher! Someday I shall learn tole painting! Someday I shall… (and the list goes on). You may have no idea what I’m talking about, since you are smarter and more logical during your unsupervised visits to arts and craft stores than that gal in Flower Mound Studio.

A new beginning is blooming, and every moment I’m thankful for this opportunity. I’m incredibly thankful to my students, who keep my little art world turning and all the excitement and joy front and center. Starting a new chapter at this late chronological juncture is a gift, and without my hubby here, it would never have happened. And I mustn’t forget to mention how super helpful the pug pups have been. Did you know, for example, that silk flowers are edible, and when Mom yells “Spit that out” it means: Run as fast as you can away from Mom? The monkey business does keep me giggling, though, and it’s wonderful to know we don’t have to rush this process. The next time you hear from me, I’ll be sharing more of this big adventure with you. It’s time for a new leaf, and all the new color and joy is still ahead. A million thanks for all the good wishes, flower family, it’s time to try on some winter shoes!

 

 

Registration closes October 23 at midnight!

There is just one week left to register for my first first ever online acrylic workshop, Paint Brilliant Acrylics. What an exciting few weeks it has been, with hundreds of artists from around the world joining the class, from Zimbabwe to New Zealand, and Ireland to Canada, and across the US! For years, my students have been asking for an acrylic equivalent to my other online oil painting classes, and so this is long overdue.

Get all the colorful details

In the 6-week online class, I’ll be sharing my secret sauce medium that keeps your acrylics wet longer, and you can download and keep all six full-length lessons. Learn to make your acrylics perform like oils, with a beautiful, blendy effect and get all the tools you need to create bold, impressionistic paintings in acrylic color. There is only one week left to register, and class begins October 24. Once class opens, we won’t be accepting new students so don’t delay, flower friend, your new journey awaits!

My message is: Paint what you love how you love it, and don’t be afraid to get a little wild and happy when the brush is moving and the muse is dancing. Life is too short to deny yourself joy in this wild and precious journey. Try something new, because outside the comfort zone is where the magic happens!

 

 

 

Registration is now open ~ Paint Brilliant Acrylics!

 

June 2020 ~ Your summer escape awaits!

Mon Dieu, This Workshop Has Only One Room Left!

You are invited to join Nancy for a summer getaway to the magnificent French Alps. There is no more beautiful escape from the summer heat than spending 10 days in the heart of the lovely  medieval village of Annecy, known as “The Venice of France” with its canals, flower gardens, cafes and shops.

Learn more about the French Alps painting getaway!

After flying into Geneva, Switzerland, we’ll make our home in The Splendid Hotel near the shores of historic Lake Annecy. Your journey begins with a tour of Col de la Forclaz with lunch on the terrace of a dairy farm in the mountains. We’ll sample slices of charcuterie, cheeses, potato beignets, and fresh blueberry tarts with cream. We’ll tour the Chateau de Menthon St Bernard, a castle filled with 13th century furnishings, tapestries and a library of ancient manuscripts painted with illuminations from the monks of the Middle Ages. And this is all just Day 1!

During your journey workshop, you’ll have plenty of painting time with Nancy in the indoor studio at your hotel in Annecy. Nonpainters will enjoy additional tours and excursions while the painters are busy in the studio. This tour is filling quickly! Contact [email protected] for registration details.

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

Less than a week ago, earlybird registration opened for my first online acrylic workshop, and I’ve been amazed and delighted at the sheer number of artists from around the world who have signed up for this new adventure. For years, my students have been asking for an acrylic equivalent to my other online oil painting classes, and so this is long overdue, but what a joy it has been to create Paint Brilliant Acrylics, along with my super talented team.

Get the details for my 6-week online class

When hubby and I watched one of the new superhero movies on cable the other day, the last words on the screen were: “This movie employed over 15,000 people for special effects and all that went into the making of this film!” We didn’t employ 15,000 FX creatives to make this class, but I am quite certain my web developer and designer, my virtual assistant, my business manager and my videographer are the best in the business at producing top tier online learning environments for artists. My Web developer says this new world of learning shakes the wheat from the chaff only if it offers the best “UE” on the net – that’s “User Experience”. The overall experience has to be easy and pleasing, from the moment of sign up, to six months or even later after the class is over, she explained. Wholehearted passion and dedication shows, when it’s based on real joy and a real belief in what we’re providing.

So many artists have reached out to me to find out how I teach online, how I run an art business, how I make all the moving parts come together without falling into disarray. It works well, because teaching is my calling, and it is what I love doing from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I didn’t fit into corporate America. In this new chapter of my life, I fit in, because I’ve found my purpose. At 10 pm at night, I’m thinking about what else I can do, where I can take my students next, that will inspire them to keep painting, to keep pursuing their craving for creating. There is nothing more important to me than helping my students find enough joy in creating to ensure they won’t walk away from their own calling in the future. This world needs all the help and healing it can get, and if that means 15,000 more artists and creatives, then I think there is an army of art teachers out there ready and happy to take on the challenge.

My message is: Paint what you love how you love it, and don’t be afraid to get a little wild and happy when the brush is moving and the muse is dancing. Life is too short to deny yourself joy in this wild and precious journey. Try something new, because outside the comfort zone is where the magic happens!

 

 

 

Now open for earlybird registration ~ Paint Brilliant Acrylics!

 

June 2020 ~ Your summer escape awaits!

Mon Dieu, This Workshop Has One Room Left!

You are invited to join Nancy for a summer getaway to the magnificent French Alps. There is no more beautiful escape from the summer heat than spending 10 days in the heart of the lovely  medieval village of Annecy, known as “The Venice of France” with its canals, flower gardens, cafes and shops.

Learn more about the French Alps painting getaway!

After flying into Geneva, Switzerland, we’ll make our home in The Splendid Hotel near the shores of historic Lake Annecy. Your journey begins with a tour of Col de la Forclaz with lunch on the terrace of a dairy farm in the mountains. We’ll sample slices of charcuterie, cheeses, potato beignets, and fresh blueberry tarts with cream. We’ll tour the Chateau de Menthon St Bernard, a castle filled with 13th century furnishings, tapestries and a library of ancient manuscripts painted with illuminations from the monks of the Middle Ages. And this is all just Day 1!

During your journey workshop, you’ll have plenty of painting time with Nancy in the indoor studio at your hotel in Annecy. Nonpainters will enjoy additional tours and excursions while the painters are busy in the studio. This tour is filling quickly! Contact [email protected] for registration details.

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

Two days ago, I arrived home from France, a few pounds heavier, and missing my gorgeous students so much. Sometimes the universe sends you a gift when you need it most, thankfully, because this journey did not start off on the best foot. Have you ever had one of those trips where it felt like all your best laid plans were coming unglued? Like every time you put out one fire, another one sprung up? A day before travel, we discovered (doctor’s orders) Carlos was not to fly anywhere for 2 weeks. Then, just moments after absorbing that, I realized I had made a major error in booking our flights, thinking we were staying a few days in Paris on the inbound leg. After all, we had done exactly that in 2018! Alas, there were no such plans this year, so clearly my brain was on early vaca mode when I booked these dates, ages ago. So, I could choose to take a nerve pill and go set my hyperventilating self down on the couch, or I could put on my cowgirl boots and my Dr. Pepper lip gloss and face this crisis head on. Thanks to a super nice gal at American Airlines, all was smoothed over for us in the flight department, less than a day from departure. Even better, travel insurance said everything was fully covered. Carlos was fine, just needing to take it easy for a bit, per his doctor. The rest was going to be a breeze, right? Until my baggage, including all the students’ gifts and all the art supplies, failed to accompany me to France.

I was a bit shaken and stirred upon arrival in Carcassonne, with the idea of having to go a day sans deodorant or toothpaste weighing upon my mind (“Do you remember that art teacher who refused to speak to us the first day of the tour, or let us come near her – sheesh!?“). But this is the part that matters: My hostess, Carol (whom all my France students agreed could aptly be called “She Who Shall Always Be Adored”) brought me a care package with toiletries, PJs, comfy socks, and a hair scrunchy. I couldn’t use the hair scrunchy with my short curls, but it was the thought that counted! Next, my students stepped up and said, no worries, if my supplies did not arrive, everyone had a squirt of some color I needed, and duplicates of other goodies such as brushes and canvases could be found for teacher. Thanks to these gals, I felt like I could breathe again. It was really hard not having Carlos there, but a big weight was lifted from my shoulders.

This is what happens to women when other women stand by them.

One more time, I was reminded of how blessed I am – the artists who paint with me feel like more than friends, in truth, they are sisters. I’m a lucky duck. I’ve been given permission by the universe to do what I love – to work with artists. It’s a gift, and this combination of freedom and love is a potent one. When I feel afraid, or fearful of the future – the universe always seems to step in and send an angel or two, or even a half dozen, with paintbrushes in hand. This is my thank you letter to those better angels and kind souls – the artists who walk with me on this journey: a most heartfelt thank you!

 

 

.

 

June 2020 ~ Your summer escape awaits!

Mon Dieu, This Workshop Is Almost Full!

You are invited to join Nancy for a summer getaway to the magnificent French Alps. There is no more beautiful escape from the summer heat than spending 10 days in the heart of the lovely  medieval village of Annecy, known as “The Venice of France” with its canals, flower gardens, cafes and shops.

Learn more about the French Alps painting getaway!

After flying into Geneva, Switzerland, we’ll make our home in The Splendid Hotel near the shores of historic Lake Annecy. Your journey begins with a tour of Col de la Forclaz with lunch on the terrace of a dairy farm in the mountains. We’ll sample slices of charcuterie, cheeses, potato beignets, and fresh blueberry tarts with cream. We’ll tour the Chateau de Menthon St Bernard, a castle filled with 13th century furnishings, tapestries and a library of ancient manuscripts painted with illuminations from the monks of the Middle Ages. And this is all just Day 1!

During your journey workshop, you’ll have plenty of painting time with Nancy in the indoor studio at your hotel in Annecy. Nonpainters will enjoy additional tours and excursions while the painters are busy in the studio. This tour is filling quickly! Contact [email protected] for registration details.

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

I’ll be sharing some exciting news over the next few weeks with you, so stay tuned, especially if you absolutely love acrylics! But first, mon Dieu – we depart for France today! I’m not sure why I like scheduling every little thing in life so that it all happens in the same 12-minute time span. Do you ever do that, or is it only me? This week has had a few items on the check-off list: Flying to Colorado Monday to look at a new location for Flower Mound Studio (insert SQUEEE noises here), prepping for a new fall online class launch, polishing the final bits as an official art ambassador for Jerry’s Artarama, and packing every tube of paint and brush I own for the trip to Carcassonne, France. There, in the ancient walled cite, a group of talented artists will be on hand to assist me with important croissant sampling activities, painting, touring, shopping, and more. Ooo la la!

The good news is, I have already located a French art store, which we shall plunder visit promptly upon arrival. I do hope the paparazzi do not catch scandalous photos of the teacher leaving the store with disheveled hair, a crazed look in her eye, and bags and bags of unnecessary supplies (but they were FRENCH paints, mon amie!). The last time I accosted anything with such feverish intensity was when I met a super cute Pug on the streets of Paris (he is named Droopy and we are officially in a long-distance relationship, please do not tell my husband!)

Truly, I shouldn’t tease you about dangerous liaisons in France without showing you a few photos of the residents of Carcassonne, including the knights in shining armor. We’ll be treated to a tour or two by these fellows, I’m told, one of whom has a master’s in medieval history and promises to wear all the accountrement during his presentation. At least for the ladies, these images are strictly for historic and educational purposes. Scroll down for those. But first, be sure hubby has left the room, and, yes, you may have these printed and enlarged as posters for your studio, absolument. I’ll be sharing more images from France soon, so stay tuned for scenes from one of the most beautiful and inspiring places on earth – southern France!

 

 

 

.

 

June 2020 ~ Your summer escape awaits!

This Workshop Is Almost Full

You are invited to join Nancy for a summer getaway to the magnificent French Alps. There is no more beautiful escape from the summer heat than spending 10 days in the heart of the lovely  medieval village of Annecy, known as “The Venice of France” with its canals, flower gardens, cafes and shops.

Learn more about the French Alps painting getaway!

After flying into Geneva, Switzerland, we’ll make our home in The Splendid Hotel near the shores of historic Lake Annecy. Your journey begins with a tour of Col de la Forclaz with lunch on the terrace of a dairy farm in the mountains. We’ll sample slices of charcuterie, cheeses, potato beignets, and fresh blueberry tarts with cream. We’ll tour the Chateau de Menthon St Bernard, a castle filled with 13th century furnishings, tapestries and a library of ancient manuscripts painted with illuminations from the monks of the Middle Ages. And this is all just Day 1!

During your journey workshop, you’ll have plenty of painting time with Nancy in the indoor studio at your hotel in Annecy. Nonpainters will enjoy additional tours and excursions while the painters are busy in the studio. This tour is filling quickly! Contact [email protected] for registration details.

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!

The White Queen is my latest daily painting, inspired by one of the residents of my neighborhood – a family of peacocks that lives just up the lane from Flower Mound Studio. Flower Mound, Texas, used to be home to over 100 free roaming peacocks, but encroaching construction, predators, and traffic have reduced their numbers. Along with the azure blue members are a family of white peacocks, and in the spring I watch for them crossing the road with their chicks.

Flower Mound is the first town I’ve ever known that has a Peacock Crossing sign, and I’d like to think that reflects the care that surrounds these feathered folk. The Garcia family feeds and watches over the peacocks, as much as they can, and community members are constantly reminding one another to slow down when the chicks and their parents are crossing our roadways. The Garcias have been dropping 40 pounds of bird seed on the ground for them each week for 31 years. While the birds prefer bugs, they are protective of their seeds. Bill Garcia reports they especially love when he gives them leftover desserts. Now that’s a bird after my own heart!

I’ve always believed birds are like flowers with wings. Peacocks are, by far, the most colorful and beautiful of them all. I hope they continue to be cared for and protected for many years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

June 2020 ~ Your summer escape awaits!

This Workshop Is Almost Full

You are invited to join Nancy for a summer getaway to the magnificent French Alps. There is no more beautiful escape from the summer heat than spending 10 days in the heart of the lovely  medieval village of Annecy, known as “The Venice of France” with its canals, flower gardens, cafes and shops.

Learn more about the French Alps painting getaway!

After flying into Geneva, Switzerland, we’ll make our home in The Splendid Hotel near the shores of historic Lake Annecy. Your journey begins with a tour of Col de la Forclaz with lunch on the terrace of a dairy farm in the mountains. We’ll sample slices of charcuterie, cheeses, potato beignets, and fresh blueberry tarts with cream. We’ll tour the Chateau de Menthon St Bernard, a castle filled with 13th century furnishings, tapestries and a library of ancient manuscripts painted with illuminations from the monks of the Middle Ages. And this is all just Day 1!

During your journey workshop, you’ll have plenty of painting time with Nancy in the indoor studio at your hotel in Annecy. Nonpainters will enjoy additional tours and excursions while the painters are busy in the studio. This tour is filling quickly! Contact [email protected] for registration details.

***

 

Get more joy with monthly online classes

Click here for the scoop!

Do you love vibrant, loose florals and landscapes? You can paint online with me in The Joyful Brush, my monthly online class. Learn more…

Join me in Flower Mound Studio – Here’s the scoop!