It turns out I was using watercolors all wrong…

But if you’ve been around here a while, that likely won’t surprise you. Because I work digitally for my designs, I don’t mind bending the rules when it comes to my painting style. My main concern is to create a mark that will translate well into Adobe Illustrator.

However, a couple of weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of spending a Saturday afternoon at Lakewold Gardens learning watercolor from THE Mint Gardener, Sarah Simons. The setting was perfect – the location felt like a European villa. The gardens were blooming, the afternoon was warm but overcast, and as a bonus, the wisteria above the patio bloomed early just for us! All photos in this post are by Matthew Sumi.

I haven’t taken an art class since college, so this workshop was a treat! The last class I took was a drawing class during my first year at community college. Since then, I’ve been exploring and making up my own rules.

But there is something magical about learning from a true artist who shares her art as ‘letting the paint dance’. I don’t dance, and my paint therefore does not know how to dance either, but I loved looking at it in this poetic way.

The watercolor workshop was an event to celebrate Sarah’s new book, Flowers, Feathers & Animal Friends. It’s brand new and available here! We worked together on one page of the book – the geraniums and butterflies. If you’re new to watercolors (or not new but looking for more techniques to incorporate in your work, the book has step-by-step instructions for water-coloring (properly, ahem), including which paint color to use and what order to approach the different elements of the design.

This beautiful watercolor palette is by Pottery by Eleni – someday I would love to have one in my studio! And the paintbrushes are by Princeton – these happen to be my favorite paintbrushes! (One thing I’m doing right 🙂

All in all, it was a fun afternoon painting, exploring the gardens, meeting other creatives – including Flora Forager, and learning a few new techniques to bring home and incorporate into my work.

I mean – look at that setting! The wisteria! It was beautiful!

The event included a flower bar to build your own bouquet, charcuterie skewers that I still dream about by Cutting Edge Foods Tacoma and wine by Sant’Angelus.

All photos are courtesy of Matthew Sumi and they’re gorgeous! The event was organized by Jordan Moll Events. Thank you all so much for a beautiful day I enjoyed so much!