Today is the last day of classes at sea. I have met many interesting people with much hidden talent for art. Everyone has a story of one of their parents being artistic, but they just never tried, or some have followed in their footsteps, some have just been taking classes regularly aboard different cruise ships and have gained great skills and tips because each "art director" has had a different take on teaching the art class.

We get so concerned about having the right materials and right paper, or the right environment that we forget to let the creativity through first. My guests have been working at the dining room tables on the Queen Elizabeth, the lighting can be quite yellowish and maybe there is too much sun streaming through the windows, or maybe we have to try and move the furniture around, or the ship starts to rock and roll but the amazing thing is everyone focuses and suddenly none of it matters.

We started the trip with ideas that focused on the upcoming ports, then after 5 straight days of different ports, we started going back to some of the landscapes and atmospheres that were captured during those excursions. Guest started saying, " did you see that sunrise, did you notice the color from the buildings in Dubrovnik or the blue in the water ". They said, did you see a particular piece of art on level 8, stairway B, showing pen and ink. Did you notice the photos in the gallery that looked like the variegated sunset we did. Some guest had never observed oleander or a Passion flower, some were looking at complementary colours in an entirely new way.

One guest decided to try watercolours after many, many years of holding a disheartening memory of an early experience being taught in the medium. She said she couldn't understand why she felt so emotional after the end of the class and felt that she had broken a barrier that had limited her. That was a very emotional statement for me to hear.

Today, we will try a life drawing as one of the guest will be our clothed model. I don´t normally add this into my sessions, but it was requested and we will try it. I want them not to focus so much on the drawing, but trying to get a line and working with Watercolor to fill in the color, shadow and movement that is felt.

This afternoon will be an exhibition of everyone´s work. I can't wait to see the evidence of all the great progress that has been made! I had a wonderful time sharing the energy and ideas and I can't wait to see how they react to the display of all their work!

hineveryone, this has been the busiest cruise ever.  In the next two days , I will bring you up to date on all the activity we have had onboard and in port on the ship. 

My apoplogies for leaving you anxiously waiting to read my updates.  Today we have just docked in Gibraltar and there is an incredible cloud hanging over the rock at the moment.  The weather was foggy last night and so several times they had to sound the horns as we were making our way here after the last 3 saw days.

classes have been packed both mornings and afternoons. The guest on board are very avid watercolour enthusiasts and the creativity has been amazing!  Today we are in port for half a day and there will be a class at 2pm.  I have selected a flower to paint today and hope to do more of the local port sceneries that we encountered over the next two days of sea time before the cruise comes to a finish.

stay tuned!

I have been travelling for the past few days in order to get to Southampton England, where I will be boarding the QE for a 17 day cruise. In preparation, I have been enjoying reading books about the QE2 and finding little tidbits of information online about this Cunard's ships history.

Chris Frame is the QE2 historian and he is one of the special guests that will be aboard the ship.  His handle is ChrisCunard on instagram and I have been following his interesting anecdotes about the ships past.

Yesterday, I walked around the QE2 mile in Southampton.  When I first encountered the information on the local map, I was surprised.  It had not come up in the information online.  Turns out that Southampton has dedicated this area with lots of information and memories about the QE2 including a plaque under the anchor that rests in the pedestrian street also commemorating the last voyage of the ship out of Southampton.

i will be teaching the first two days at sea and I will try and incorporate some aspects of the past into our Watercolor sessions.  As well, I have little demos that will inspire my students to think about the first couple of stops we make - Cadiz and Messina.  We will paint a flamenco dancer, dabble with a bull fighter, see the textures on tones in lemons and celebrate the picture of the QE2 sailing out of the Southampton harbour with firework glow in the background.  Lots of fun and creativity to come!