Patreon news (Patreon)

Hello everyone on Wednesday May 13, at 12noon Eastern time I will be announcing my second retreat of 2027 which will be in Occitanie, France! May 5-12 th!! Yes we will be in France during Mother's Day of 2027 so either give the gift to yourself or someone else or just because- YOU deserve it! I spent my Mothers day in the UK at a retreat in 24' and it was fabulous so I know this will be as well. I especially wanted to tell you about this today because Mother's day is Sunday and I want to wish all the moms ( including fur/animal moms) the best day ever!

If you have never been to this part of France it's just wonderful and that time of year spectacular! I will be putting all the info on the post on Wednesday so please look out for it!

Also FYI - I only have 2 spots left on my Morocco retreat April 22-29th 2027 if you were on the fence grab it before it's gone. I am soooooo excited to go to this magical place. Here is the link if you missed it when I posted it a few times. https://uptrek.com/retreat/colors-morocco-watercolor-retreat-artist-ellen-crimi-trent-morocco

I am going to try and keep with doing a theme each month so the paintings make a mini collection- don't hold me to it- since life here is a bit crazy!! Many have asked about water, reflections, and coastal so they are coming!

Try to challenge yourself to painting outdoors even if it's for a few minutes- observe what you see around you. The biggest thing you can do to improve your art is to observe and DRAW! yup by drawing you are observing and by observing you are seeing the values and shapes the key to any painting!!! Just use a simple sketchbook and draw what you see around you - the more you do it the better you get!

If you struggle with these things don't worry everything takes time- some ppl are better learners when they can observe in person- others can just see it online. I am doing my best to accommodate all needs of my fabulous Patreon family! IF you can join a workshop- my 2 day workshops dive into techniques needed to improve watercolor- I still have many spots open in my only available workshop in NYC- Dec 4&5 - if interested click here: https://www.ellencrimitrent.com/service-page/nyc-watercolor-workshop-1?referral=service_list_widget

However I get not everyone can come to something in person- so when looking at my tutorials online see if my paint is getting thicker or thinner- the water control is EVERYTHING in watercolor! I am going to do my best going forward to make ppl more aware of this- its impossible to show the water cup without making the image smaller- I would need a split screen and more editing - maybe in the future - but for now its limited to just my one screen.

Remember it's JUST PAINT- try to be kind to yourself and do not get upset if things are not going your way- think of it as a way to keep your mind sharp and have fun!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!

Ellen