San Miguel ~ Mel Stabin Workshop

Mel Stabin watercolor 1/2 sheet, 15" x 22" "Hotel Posada"
Day 1 of Watercolor workshop
I've had a wonderful watercolor workshop in San Miguel de Allende February 23 and I returned March 1- my luggage returned March 3 and today I'm resorting and repacking for the Pat Dews workshop. This was my first trip to SMA and it was an unforgettable experience through Flying Colors.
San Miguel is the best known artist's colony in Mexico and it's colorful with lots of galleries and photo opportunities. Altitude is about 6,000 feet and you can walk on cobblestone streets or catch a ever present green taxi. Temperatures were perfect - 80's in the days and 40-50's at night. There isn't air conditioning or heat. I had the same goals as when I went to Italy - I didn't fall down, I didn't lose my purse, or I didn't get sick - all accomplished. I might add there were no traffic lights, no bugs, and no trash - just incredibily beautiful sights and friendly folks. I relied on other workshop participants to speak Spanish for me and help me with my coins, but many of the people there spoke English.
We stayed in a lovely hotel, Hotel Posada de la Aldea, close to the art institute and a few blocks from the cathedral and the Jardin, town square. There was a direct flight from DFW to Leon and a shuttle or a 1 1/2 hour taxi ride to the hotel. About 26 students were in the workshop with a few locals with a mix that included some beginner painters to art teachers with an interest in watercolor and plein air painting and daily demonstrations. Working in "plein air" is not my favorite way of working as they work on location to quickly capture the light effects and complete a painting on site before the light changes or some prefer to finish up in the studio. The above painting by Mel was the first demo on Monday morning and as an inexperienced plein air painter I decided I'd just look at the scene and copy from my photo and Mel's painting. This was painted in our hotel's courtyard. Later I need to erase some on the wrought iron railing and do some touch-up on mine.

Nancy's 11" x 15" copy of Mel's Hotel Posada Painting

Over the next few posts I will write about this workshop and the one I took with Robert Burridge February 17-22 at the Dena Wenmohs Ranch.

Mel cleaning his palette after the flight down.

Mel beginning his sketch at the Hotel Posada.