I'm excited about my first workshop of 2012, Painting Landscapes I, which I'll be teaching at the Calistoga Art Center on Saturday, June 23rd, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We'll cover a lot in that time – how to create a landscape painting from a photograph, how to choose your palette and create color harmonies that work, how to approach designing your composition and painting your painting in ways that keep your inner critic at bay, and more. You'll go home with a landscape painting!

We'll pack a lot into the time, and you'll go home with a full complement of techniques and ways of approaching a painting that you can incorporate into your own artwork.

You can read more about it at my workshops website, NapaValleyArtWorkshops.com. Let me know if you have any questions!

Last December, I spent a wonderful afternoon in the company of two remarkable artists who'd lived bohemian lives in New York during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, post-WWII and into the fifties and sixties. Willard Bond, the father of my friend Gretchen, and Jean Steubing Maggrett, whom I've known since I moved back into this area ten years ago, had never met, but had much in common. They shared memories and stories over coffee and cookies, and I listened with rapt attention.

In the months that followed, Willard's health declined. He was able to move out here from upstate New York, to the California Veteran's Home in Yountville, where he was given the best of care, and where Gretchen was able to spend every day with him.

On Saturday, May 19th, in Gretchen's words, Willard "cast off for the final time and set sail for his voyage into the mysterious unknown. He departed this realm under calm seas and a gentle wind." Words well suited for a sailor and marine painter, whose paintings of racing sailboats are unexcelled.... I'm very glad I got to meet him.

You can see some of his work online at http://www.annapolismarineart.com/WillardBond.html

You can also read about our visit in December here (scroll down to read the first post).

A little addendum on June 10th: Willard Bond's obituary was published in today's New York Times (mmm - actually, it looks like tomorrow's), with a good summary of his life and artwork. You can read it at Willard Bond, Vivid Artist of Yachting, Dies at 85. The photo of Willard on his sailboat comes from the article.

The Sketchbook Project has arrived in Oakland, California – not too much more than an hour from here. I'm looking forward to visiting it sometime between now and June 17th. Hours and address are listed above, if you're in the area and want to take a look at some of the thousands of handmade sketchbooks in their traveling library (including mine). Let me know if you do!