Painting on Vacation

Each year we visit the Pacific Ocean for our family vacation. This trip is especially exciting for me as I love being by the water.

Marriott’s Newport Coast Villas offers a Canvas Art Event, a class where you paint step-by-step with an artist.  Since we live in the desert, I enjoy this event because we get the opportunity to paint a local seascape. Last year I attend this class by myself with a certain amount of trepidation.  There is no experience necessary and all ages are welcomed.  After the 2 hour class, I so enjoyed taking home a keepsake from our vacation.  Here’s is what I painted last summer, called Heisler Park, a setting in Laguna Beach, CA.

This year, I convinced my 2 daughters and their friends to take the class with me.  There was a bit of hemming and hawing, but you can’t learn to paint if you don’t try, right? The class was held in a light-filled room overlooking the Pacific Ocean, which, in and of itself, was inspirational.

The painting, entitled “Sailing to Catalina” was our topic.  Here is the teacher’s version for us to emulate.

The class was $35.00 per person and included a prepared 11″x14″ canvas, the brushes, acrylic paints, supplies and instruction.  The largest brush has inch markers on the handle which we used to determine our horizon line.

The instructor told us which paints and quantities to use.  The sky, for example, was 2 parts white to one part blue.

We then used the white paint to create the clouds.

Next we added Catalina Island in the distance and added various quantities of white paint to the darker purple to add dimension to the rock.

The painting of the beach came next.

We used different shades of blue and green for the ocean.

Added waves, and then the greenery in the foreground, as well as the sailboat.

Added the finishing touches of the flowers in the foreground~~ a quick 2 hours! Our instructor, Jessica Byrne, traveled the room, lending her artistic feedback and helping each of us with our paintings.

My daughter, Julianna, decided to add a character (Patrick Star) to her painting!

Everyone was happy they attended and we each had our own artistic style!

This was a fun family experience! If you haven’t painted before, taking a group class and doing it alongside an artist is a great place to start. This particular company, Painterly Events, also provides private, corporate events and plein air (outdoors on location) classes.  What a fun way to gather a group of friends/family and share in an artistic experience.

Now I am off to enjoy the ocean! Happy Saturday!