ANNUAL PAINTING RETREAT

Our morning view.

It’s been a couple of weeks now since I returned from our annual painting retreat, and I’m just now getting caught up and finding time to check out my photos and talk a little about the trip.

This year we began our second decade – we’ve been getting together for 11 years now – I cannot believe that! Who knew we would last this long!

We held our retreat at the “scene of the crime” so to speak, back on the coast of North Carolina. The accommodations were fantastic, the scenery divine and the camaraderie unparalleled. We painted, ate, ate, drank, ate, painted, drank, drank, ate, painted and dyed. Some of us got several paintings completed, some of us only one, but we are all happy with the results.

Over the years two of us have been published (one in two North Light books), three of us have been in a National Watercolor Society show, four of us have achieved signature status in state watercolor societies and some have held individual art shows. We are not jealous of each other in any way; quite the contrary, we do truly cheer each other on, reveling in each other’s accomplishments. And it seems that each year the paintings we complete at our retreat go on to be accepted into a show, or sell. We think that must have something to do with all of the good vibes those paintings absorb!

We spent a little longer traveling this year, but the accommodations en route were nonpareil! Other than a couple of minor bouts of car sickness (by moi – through the mountains and due, no doubt, to the vertigo problem) and one really bad restaurant, our trip was glorious – no rain could dampen our spirits.

This year we added someone to our group. She was a bit frail and fell down a couple of times, but she wore the requisite T-shirt and proved to be quite resilient. She didn’t even mind the rain. We hope she can make it in the coming years.

Now we can look back at our photos and memories and look forward to next year’s retreat!

Our evening view.