Come Join The Fun On An Imaginary Trip To SW France!

I've always heard about the gorgeous light in Paris, but I never imagined that all of France (well, the parts I visited anyway) would have that same light! At times, it seemed pearlescent or iridescent...and so very clear.

It was a delight to walk around medieval towns and villages to sketch and paint (and take photos) because of that light. But I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the subject matter of said sketches and photos...delightful visits to so many small towns, parks, rivers, castles, gardens, and cities made this trip worthy of being made into an ImaginaryTrips.com' online class!

I hope you'll join me for the Imaginary Trip To Southwest France and Le Vieux Couvent! We'll explore the lovely convent and its gardens, where we stayed as well as some of the most intriguing small villages (Saint Cirq Lapopie and Beynec), larger cities (Sarlat) and some off the beaten path destinations (Castelfranc).

There is something for everyone! I will be sharing my sketchbook and the pages I created while in France and I'll also show how I create a more finished look to those pages once I'm home.

Class starts on April 18th and will feature four assignments. There is an interactive class as well as self-study class option available.

To join in and get registered today, please click here for more information!

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I am going back to LVC in September this year and would love to have you join me for the 10-day travel and art workshop! It's not to be missed! The convent was originally built in the 1600's and has been lovingly refurbished into an art retreat complete with secret gardens, a koi pond and lovely courtyard. The classroom and art library are both huge and available 24/7.

This is a true immersion experience as we will get out to explore, sketch and paint the Dordogne and Lot Regions each day! We'll make use of the classroom to finish our pages in the evenings and during any inclement weather.

And I have to say, the people of LVC make this place truly magical! From the wonderful meals they create from local sources to the care they show in everything they do, this is one of those rare workshop opportunities that transcends the words, "travel art workshop!"

I hope you can join me for this awesome experience!

To learn more and get registered, please click here!

I hope to see you in France!

It's Time For A Visit To Autumn!

Okay, I'm in serious denial. This is Florida with temperatures in the high 90's, with hurricanes and tropical storms swirling around us, and we don't see Autumn before December (usually) at the earliest...but why let a little thing like reality spoil the party?!

 I'm going to have myself an An Imaginary Visit Through Autumn and my autumn is going to have cool temperatures, gorgeous jewel-toned leaves, a cup of tea, a bowl of my favorite soups, maybe even a wood fire! Wanna come play with me?!

I did this piece last November and it was meant to pay homage to some of my FAVORITE things! in fact, I was picking up acorns in a parking lot today. (I think I may have been a squirrel in a past life!) I'm thinking there might be a few more items to add to this list...

Farmer's Markets, gorgeous flowers, scarecrows, crows, acorns, pumpkins, and who knows what else might show up on our sketchbook pages! I hope you'll consider joining me. The class will be four assignments long (6 weeks) and starts this coming Thursday, September 1st! 

I can tell you it's going to be a blast. I may have to crank the AC down and dodge a hurricane or two, but I can't wait for cooler temperatures and turning leaves!

For more information on An Imaginary Visit Through Autumn, please click here. I look forward so sharing the fun with you!

Come and Play at the Beach in January 2015!

Doesn't Interrupting Winter Sound Like A Great Idea!?! 

Imagine next January—the long, cold, gray days of snow, sleet and oh, yeah, more snow…or…imagine yourself soaking up the sun with your toes in the warm sand as you enjoy gentle breezes off the Gulf of Mexico!

Doesn't that sound much better than freezing!?! Then come and join me for Winter, Interrupted: An Artist's Beach Holiday, January 18th through the 22nd, 2015.

I'll be hosting a 4-day workshop and together, we'll explore St. Pete Beach, Florida as well as several other wonderful locations including lush Florida gardens, wild bird sanctuaries and historic John's Pass. 

With live sketching demos and one-on-one feedback from me, you'll be going home with a very special sketchbook brimming with beach memories and treasures!

The workshop will take place in the morning so that you have plenty of free time in the afternoon to go exploring or to bask in the sun in a royal blue cabana!

We'll be staying at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort for 5 fabulous nights. Click the link to check out this awesome resort!

Please click here to see and download the brochure with all the juicy details!

There is a Frequently Asked Questions document included with the brochure to help answer many of your questions.

If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at the email address listed in the brochure.

This adventure is so brand new, it's not even on the web site yet!

Saving the best for last, I have a very special offer to share with you, dear friends:

• Everyone who registers by April 30th,* will save $100 per participant on the total workshop price they register for! 
• Past ITMR participants** will save $150 per participant on the total workshop price you choose if you book on or before April 30th.* 
• On May 1st, the pricing in effect will be prices listed in the brochure. 
• Saving coupons are available here on my blog.

Let me mention now that our grand adventure will take place in one of the busiest seasons in Florida. This means I have a very limited number of rooms available. To get the room you want, please, please book early. I don't want anyone to be disappointed.

If you're interested in coming in early or staying after the workshop, book now! Don't wait. This isn't a sales pitch. This is me being me asking you not to wait—the rooms will become more scarce and the prices will only go up the closer we get to January. 

This sketching holiday is brought to you by Imaginary Trips Made Real, LLC (ITMR).

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*One discount per participant. Completed and signed Registration and Liability Release Forms along with the deposit amount for each participant must be received before or postmarked by April 30th, 2014 to qualify for the discount. Regular pricing will apply if the Registration and Liability Release Forms are received incomplete and/or unsigned.

**One discount per participant from the NOLA Live! Trip only.Completed and signed Registration and Liability Release Forms along with the deposit amount for each participant must be received before or postmarked by April 30th, 2014 to qualify for the discount. Regular pricing will apply if the Registration and Liability Release Forms are received incomplete and/or unsigned.

As always, please let me know of any questions you may have and I look forward to interrupting winter with you next January!

Laure

An Imaginary Trip To Greece - Come Join The Fun!

As I'm getting ready for an Imaginary Trip To Greece starting next Tuesday, October 15th, I thought I'd share some of the cool, fun facts about this country. In no particular order:

1. Greece is about the size of the state of Alabama with approximately 10 million people living there.
2. Over 16 million people visit the country each year! Tourism is 16% of the country's Gross Domestic Product.
3. The country has more than 2000 islands with 170 populated. Crete is the largest and beyond gorgeous!
4. Greece is the world's third largest producer of olives...can you guess the first and second?
5. When we think of Greece, many of think of the doors, windowsills, and church domes that are painted a beautiful turquoise blue. This paint color is used because of an ancient belief that this shade of blue keeps evil away. The color is called kyanos. “Cyan” and “cyanide” are derived from the word.
6. The legendary home of Zeus and other Olympian gods and goddesses is Greek’s highest elevation, Mount Olympus at 9,750 feet (2,917 meters). The country's lowest elevation is the Mediterranean Sea.
7. The Parthenon (from parthenos or “virgin”) was built almost 2,500 years ago and sits on the Acropolis above the city of Athens. It took 15 years to build. At one time, it featured colorful sculptures and a large gold-and-ivory statue of Athena. 

I hope you'll join me on this fall getaway and visit this beautiful country! To learn more, please visit here. 

Please let me know of any questions you may have. 

Thanks!

Laure

Summer Classes at ImaginaryTrips.com!

Tuscan Gold
7.5 x 5.5 inches on Arches Cold Press 140 lb. paper
Watercolor

It's summertime and the travel is easy—just take an Imaginary Trip to a wonderful location and never leave home! No packing, no fatigue, no hassles with luggage or security lines.

Come take a look!

Imaginary Trip to Italy 2012 - Six weeks to visit the wonderful country of Italy. This class starts tomorrow, so hurry! More information can be seen here.

Imaginary Trip to Australia - This ALL NEW class starts this Thursday, July 11th. We'll take six weeks to travel around "down under!" You can sign up for the class here.

Imaginary Trip to New Zealand - Another ALL NEW class, we'll be headed to this fabulous country starting August 29th. Come and join the fun here.

Imaginary Trip to New Orleans - This city ROCKS! Come and join the fun starting September 3rd. For more information, click here.

I hope you'll join me on one of these fun adventures. The classes are very flexible and allow you to work on the assignments at your leisure so you can still get in plenty of playtime outside.

As always, we laugh, we learn and we come home with a great sketchbook full of the places we've seen, the things we've done and the experiences we've shared.

Please let me know of any questions you may have!

~ Laure

Sometimes, You Have To Outsmart Yourself! (Laure Ferlita)

After returning from my trip to San Francisco, I knew I'd be adding a page of the gorgeous California Poppies I saw all over the city. I also knew I wanted them to be loose and painting loose for me is always a challenge!

Detail from Full Spread
Click to Enlarge

Since I worship at the "altar of detail," I decided to really make it difficult to paint details by painting the pages while standing up with the sketchbook turned upside down with a #10 size brush.

Detail from Full Spread
Click to Enlarge

After the pages dried, I sat down to add just a few of the details to the flowers to suggest the crinkled and wrinkled texture of their petals.

More Detail
Click to Enlarge

Adding in those few details also fed that need I have for detail work without overwhelming the flowers.

California Poppies
11 x 8.5 inches
Watercolor
Ink for the writing only

This was way fun and a little scary as I was working in my sketchbook for San Francisco and I really could have messed up, but I had a game plan in case of failure. I figured I could either glue new paper over the ruined pages or possibly gesso over these and go again. Thankfully, I didn't have to!

If you are a detail painter with a strong desire to let go of the details with no idea where how to begin, let me suggest giving this a try. Choose a large, easy, organic/natural subject so that if you get "outside of lines" it doesn't ruin anything.

Lightly sketch out your page, gather your supplies, put your book upside down on a table, stand up, and let the paint fly! (I had to leave the room while it was drying to keep from fiddling in the paint!)

The other thing that helped me was leaving all reference material in the other room out of sight. That way I didn't start trying to add in any details or shadows.

After your page dries, consider where you can add just enough detail to clarify or suggest texture. Keep in mind that less is more. Go slowly by adding in a few details and then stepping away from the work so that you can view the page with a fresh eye.

If you decide to join me in the "upside down, standing up, large brush" painting method, please let us know by leaving a comment below with a link so we can see you efforts too!

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I hope you'll consider joining me on "An Imaginary Trip to San Francisco!" The "trip begins on August 16th. More information is available here! Hope to see you in the Imaginary Realm!

Need Some "Zen" In Your Life?!

Enjoy An Imaginary Visit To A Japanese Garden!

Stroll along the statues and koi pond.

Feel the gentle breezes sweeping cares and concerns away.

I hope you'll come and join me, Laure, for a wonderful visit....more class information can be found by clicking here. The class is now open for registration. 

It's Time For A Visit To Autumn's Garden!

 

Autumn has arrived and there's a chill in the air!!

Well, actually, I think maybe the humidity has just dropped as the high for today is suppose to reach 92º in Florida! Still, you can see and feel the changes....you just really have to be paying attention. Of course, many of you have really begun to feel the chill and see the changes.

And all this means it's time to start preparing for An Imaginary Visit to Autumn's Garden! This class is scheduled to begin on November 18th and run through December 16th. There will be one assignment each week.

For more information and to register for the class, please click here. If you're interested in registering, I suggest you not wait as this is one of the really popular classes over at Imaginary Trips!

New Fall Classes Starting At ImaginaryTrips.com!

Gosh, it seems odd to be writing Fall when it's still hotter than blazes outside! All the same, the new classes start next week over at ImaginaryTrips.com!

An Imaginary Trip to Paris will begin on Tuesday, September 6th. You can find more information by clicking here.

An Imaginary Trip to New Orleans will start on Monday, September 12th! It will be a whole lot of fun in that great city. Please click here for info on this trip!

Also starting on Monday, September 12th, is Artful Journaling: Foundations class! For more information on getting started with watercolor journaling, please click here!

Please let me know of any questions you may have.

Thanks!

Laure

Christmas....In July?!

Yes! Christmas in July! Why? Because if you're like me, you have dreams of creating your own designs at Christmas time every year. You realize on the 18th of December that it's probably NOT going to happen. Again.

So this year, I decided to do a MINI Christmas In July class! You can find more information here. It's a 4 week class with a creative prompt each week as well as a video demo covering some aspect of making the artwork card-ready for the holidays.

Come and join the fun! Class starts tomorrow.

It's Time To Celebrate Spring!

Not only is Spring finally getting underway, the Spring Schedule for Imaginary Trips has been posted!

We'll be going on "An Imaginary Visit to the Garden!" starting Thursday, April 14th and the Artful Journaling classes, Foundations and Explorations are starting on Tuesday, April 19th!

Come and join me, Laure Ferlita in the fun! For more information, you can visit the links above or visit the i•Trav•e•logue here.

The Art of Collage (Designing the Page)

Imaginary Trips' Parisian Cafe Collage

Hi, there! I'm Laure Ferlita. I'm so excited to be one of the artists in Kate's book. (Thanks, Kate!) I host Imaginary Trips, and we often work on collaging bits and pieces of art into a cohesive whole. Designing a collage page can be a fun way of combining several quick vignettes from a holiday/vacation, a walk around the neighborhood or simply different days of the week.

Even on Imaginary Trips, you don't always get a great seat at the cafe or perhaps your view is blocked. Other times, you may be moving so quickly that all you have time for is to snap a picture and promise yourself you'll paint it later. You arrive home to open all your images only to find that what you thought was going to be a super shot didn't translate into such a great photo after all.

It's quite fun as well as a challenge to weave unrelated elements together to tell a new story! By using brief moments wisely and/or utilizing the "good" parts of photo images from a holiday, we can often come up with an interesting journaled page. It may only have meaning to us, or it may be entertaining for the viewer, depending on our goal for the page.

The image above is a collaged page that combines elements from 4 images in and around Paris. Together, they appear to tell a "story" of a bored bistro waiter and a cat near a Metro sign when in fact the waiter was very busy, the cat was no where to be found and the bistro sign was on the other side of the city!

Some of the guidelines I use to create a collage page:

• Use like colors even if they are not in the actual place or image you’re adding to your journal. In the example, the colors repeat in the red signs as well as the waiter and sign post. The cat and the wall are similar in color too.
• Ff you’re working from photos, remember, this is your artistic journal you’re working in—it doesn’t have to look like the photo! Interpret the image as you remember it!
• Repeat similar shapes where possible. The rectangle of the Metro sign and Bistro sign echo each other. The long pole of the Metro sign and length of the waiter repeat each other.
• Keep the time of day consistent (day or night). The greens of the trees in the background of the Metro sign give you the impression of daylight as does the light around the waiter.
• Keep strong directional light consistent (cast shadows). 
• Remember to play and have fun—these are guidelines and not rules!

There are several ways to approach a collaged journal page. You can wait until you're home from vacation and pull bits and parts from various photos, you can start a page and let it develop on its own as you travel around, or create a "theme" for the page. Look for unusual signage, people wearing hats, animals you see, flowers, birds, windows, etc. The ideas are endless!

I hope this will inspire you to try your hand at building a few collaged journal pages! For more tips, please download a pdf on collaging here.