"Artz Tour de France 2015"

Artz Tour de France – 2015

A second art trip to France is in the making! In 2010, ten artists went to France to paint for 15 days.

You can read all about the adventure in the blog:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/sugarbaker/1/tpod.html

Many artists have asked for a 2^nd trip to include spouses. So this trip will be open to single artists and couples.

 Here are the Basic Facts!

• Room for 10 people (either singles or couples)
• Dates – first two weeks in June, to be locked in with air fares
• 1^st Week Paris – painting and visiting sites: the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay(impressionists), the Eiffel Tower, Boat Trip on the Seine, day trip to Monet's garden and more!
• 2^nd Week Gueret – staying in the guest house of our personal friends, painting rural France and experiencing the culture first hand. Gueret is near Limoge in central France.
• Tour Organizers and Guides – Steve and Jerie Artz, bi-lingual, residents of France for 14 years, lovers of France, the people and the culture
• Paint and Photograph as much as you want – no official art instruction, but mutual painting, sharing and critiques along the way.
• Cost – depending on air fare and hotel fee in Paris, between $3,000 and $3,800 per person(the travel agent says the air fare is fluctuating! We'll work to get the best rates possible). The hotel is reserving 5 rooms for us that will need to be locked in as soon as we have 10 people signed up. The cost will include, round trip air fare Chicago/Paris, train fare from Paris to Gueret, hotel in Paris, Museum Pass, Boat trip on the Siene, excursion to Giverny, Monet's garden, food in Gueret (we cook for ourselves, had a great time last time!), van rental in Gueret, organization and guide. Does not include souvenir $ or food in Paris.
• If you are interested, call or e-mail and you will be sent full information. As soon as we have 10 people signed up, plans will be finalized. E-mail: artzjerie@gmail.com, phone (765)838-8359 It was the trip of a lifetime in 2010 – it's going to be again! Jerie

Catching up on Posts!

The lack of posts does not represent a lack of painting!  Along with painting for myself, I have enjoyed teaching watercolors to my students this fall in the series "Painting a Hearty Harvest."  It seems like fall is exploding around me and my inner rhythm still has some summer paintings pulsing inside.  Since I love finding inspiration in the kaleidoscope  beauty of God's creation, which is ever changing, I'll put my brush to paper and capture what is calling to my heart, in season or out of season!


Painting demos for my students for this current series of classes often identified as "autumn" subjects:  grapes, pumpkins, squash and luscious apples.  Tomorrow is the last class in this series and we will be painting one of my favorite subjects - autumn leaves. Demonstrating for my classes keeps me learning.

Grapes and Wine

Celebration

Harvest Time

Concentration!  This is supposed to be fun!

Fall Fiesta!

Apples, apples, and more apples

lumpy bumpy!

In September I had the privilege to "garden sit" for a friend who has created an amazingly beautiful garden.  These are some of the paintings from that experience.  I loved her little sign "giggle."  I had fun carrying it around the garden and taking photos of it with different plants.  I think God wants us to enjoy His creation and even giggle!  These were whimsical fun!

This lily was my attempt to capture the setting sun shining through the blossom like a stain glass window.  Light electrifies all it touches and I'm trying catch some of that in early morning, late afternoon photos and paintings.

The Odyssey of a Painting

My mom painted a series of Michigan State University ivy covered buildings over 25 years ago.  Recently, MSU tracked her down through an art gallery showing that was on the internet over five years ago in the St. Louis area.  Here is the rest of the story!
Recently my mom, Arvilla Friar, was contacted by Michigan State University about a watercolor painting she did of the original entomology building. It was purchased by Gordon Guyer, the then department chairperson. He became president of MSU from 1992 - 1993. MSU recently completed the remodeling of their conference room in the Department of Entomology. The conference room is being named after Gordon Guyer. As part of the dedication ceremony, Gordon Guyer has graciously loaned the university the beautiful picture of the Entomology Building at Michigan State University that was painted by Arvilla. They contacted mom to get permission to reproduce 10 copies of the painting to give to each speaker at the dedication event and to invite mom to attend the event scheduled on November 2, 2014. She gladly gave them permission to make reproductions, but won't be traveling to the event. I'm so proud of my mom! Here is a photo of the painting she did so many years ago. Arvilla painted several other MSU ivy covered historical buildings that have been
purchased. Congratulations mom!