Turn Your Travels into ART in MEXICO

Here are a few ideas. I’m thinking about as we start getting closer to our amazing adventure. I will try and impart as much travel wisdom as I can and I hope you will feel free to ask questions any time.

1. Don’t expect the new place to be like home

Be open to new experiences, new ways of doing things. After all, you have inserted yourself into a new culture. Of course things are going to be different! That's why we travel--to see something new. Ask yourself, what new thing can I learn from the people in this place? Then keep your eyes open and you may be surprised. I have found the Mexican people to be very kind, generous, accommodating, and willing to help you as much as they can.

2. Learn a few words of the local language

"Hello, thank you, please, have a good day"--that and a smile will put you in the good books of shopkeepers and hotel staff and make everything go a lot smoother for you. The thing I miss when i return home… EVERYONE … nods and says Hola… or Buenos Dias…

or often shortened to  “d-ah” ….

3. Shun the North American style restaurants.

Make it your goal to eat only the local food. Why travel to Mexico and eat at a ‘North American style” restaurant … ? The food in Mexico is usually fresh, tasty and not often roaring hot like  we’ve been told “everything is spicy”. I can say that the prices aren’t overly cheap but it’s not more expensive than home. breakfast is a pretty similar experience to here with eggs and bacon and ham and toast and all that sort of thing.

4. Think about travelling with carry-on only

Eliminate the chance of you becoming separated from your suitcase. It's pretty tough to feel relaxed and ready to learn if you have to scramble to shop for new clothes or art materials on the day you arrive. You should check with your airline and make sure what you can and cannot take on board as carry-on. I have never had any difficulty bringing my watercolor paints or books or pens aboard. Do empty out your water containers. That’s all. You won’t need a lot of clothes. No place that we are going is looking for you to be dressed up fancy most evenings on the coast You don’t even need a jacket or a sweater. You probably will need a jacket or a light sweater when we go up in the Morelia butterfly area.

5. Pare your sketching kit down

Pare your sketching kit down to only what was listed on the workshop materials list. There are no yaks included in this trip to carry your supplies. I prefer a backpack style sketch kit so my hands are free. You don't need that wooden French easel that’s as heavy as a coffee table. You don't need that fancy porcelain watercolor palette. Refill your paint trays before you leave …..at least a week before so you give paint time to dry and harden… then the paint doesn’t run. I still put it in a plastic bag though. You will not need to bring extra paint tubes.  You don't need that ginormous Arches watercolour block. Maybe bring a smaller one.Bring materials that are portable and suitable for urban sketching work. You may want to bring some paper that you can separate as opposed to just one sketch book but don’t bring a ton of painting supplies. A few pens, I always bring a few as they tend to dry out or fall in the sand that sort of thing. What you might consider is a very small folding seat that is easy to pack, easy to carry, lightweight. If you are the type that would like to sit while you paint. And try all this out before you head out.

6. Have reasonable expectations of your work

You are learning new skills and techniques. It takes time and practice to acquire this new knowledge. (Practicing ahead of time really helps as well ) We are here to record our adventure in a sketchbook, not prepare something to hang on the wall of some fancy museum. These are your books. These are your memories. This is your work. It’s all about you for a change. And don’t forget there are many ways to record this adventure. We can use paint. We can use our inks and pens. You can buy stickers. You can glue in memorabilia from restaurants and tickets that all help to tell your story. So it doesn’t have to just be about sketching and painting. You can draw one butterfly write some notes about it as opposed to trying to paint the entire Sierra Madre mountain range.

7. Stay with the group

If you strike out on your own you may miss out on impromptu opportunities to paint. If you're on your own you may end up wasting a lot of time finding the group or finding your way back to the hotel. Our tour guide Daniel has a wealth of knowledge of each and every place we go. He also hires local guides to explain lots of what we’re seeing so it may be beneficial for us to stick together.We will assign a place to return to and a time to return to in case you do happen to get lost or wander off. Be sure to pick up a card or something that has the name and address of the hotel will be staying in in case you need to take a taxi back to the hotel.Both Deb and I will be using the very popular WhatsApp to communicate with while we are away so it would be beneficial to download that app and be able to use that to stay in contact. We will make a group WhatsApp chat for us to communicate with before we head out on the bus. If you don’t want to sit and paint with us, please let Deb or Carla know so that we’re not hunting for you.

8. Arrive a day or two early

As has been noted in the original outline, you can fly into Manzanillo. As has been noted in the original outline, you can fly into Manzanillo. Take a half hour taxi ride to Melaque. When we flew, we would go Westjetfrom Comox to Calgary , Calgary to Manzanillo all in one day starting at 5:30 in the morning and being on the beach at 5:30 that night. You may like a day or two early to recover from jet lag. As well as acclimatize to the very vast change in temperature that most of us will experience. It's very difficult to concentrate on new techniques if your head is 5 time zones behind. You need time to rest before the start of your workshop so that you will be fresh and able to absorb new material. We will be leaving early in the morning of our first day from the town of Melaque so you need to have stayed at least the night before so you can join us. Deb and I will have been in this area for a few months, so we are well acquainted with the area and would be delighted to spend a day or two ahead of the trip sketching with you if you do come ahead of time.

9. Extend your stay by a few days or a week

We will return to Melaque very late on the last night of our trip so you need to have a hotel to return to. If you have extra luggage, you don’t want to take on the trip. You can leave it in our RV spot and pick it up when you return. Why leave on the day after the end of the workshop? You've come all this way! Flights are expensive! Why not add on a few days or a week to the end of your workshop so that you can explore on your own this new place and practice the techniques you just learned while they are still fresh in your mind. I would like to offer at least two days more of sketching in this small town and showing you around at the end of our bus portion of the trip.

10. Put on your explorer hat

Don't be a tourist. Be an explorer. Explore with your paint and paintbrush. Eat where the locals eat. Smile at those people encourage them to look at your sketches. Include them in your adventure. Take a picture with them when you finish sketching. Shop where the locals shop. Don’t be afraid to ask what that is. Get your translator out from your phone and play that game. Everybody laughs and has fun with it. Learn the history of the place. Be curious. Embrace your new environment.

OHHHH this is gonna be fun!