ART LABORATORY WITH CARLA: DRAWING, COLLAGING, GELLI PLATING & MORE!
San Miguel de Allende
February 18-26, 2023
Carla is returning to San Miguel with another fabulously packed creative workshop. This truly is a mixed media laboratory that will meet even the most discerning artist’s requirements. There is so much jammed into this workshop that the week in beautiful colonial San Miguel de Allende will fly by and you will wonder where did the time go.
Welcome to a week of Creative Exploration with an emphasis on having fun and letting go of imperfection!
In this 5-day workshop we will focus on LIVING things — real and imaginary — and create one giant artist book filled with animals, flowers and your favorite people!
We’ll spend the week in our art laboratory drawing, painting, printing, stamping, collaging and sewing!
We will create a beautiful GRANDE book using papers found, purchased and brought from home. We will bind our colorful books together with washi tape and a unique knotting process that allows the book to life flat.
We might also make paper dolls and popups, and will expand beyond 2D with buttons, feathers, feathers, twine, string, milagros, and ephemera found on the streets of San Miguel de Allende.
Each day we will follow a routine:
Creativity Check-In: Work in our “box journal” workbooks together where we will write a bit and do several drawing exercises together. This is both a warmup for the day and a check-in with ourselves… and over the five days will cover all of my classic drawing exercises including cheater blinds, haiku drawings, scribbly drawings and more. We will draw from from things found in Mexico… stuffed animals, flowers, and even each other!
Main Project-of-the-Day Demo. Some of our projects this week include Mixed-Media Family Portraits, Alcohol Ink Drawings, a slew of Gelli Plate printing techniques and binding our Grande Artist Book!
Afternoon Work Sessions. You’ve had a full morning of learning and the afternoons are the time to set yourself free to explore the ideas and techniques that excite you the most! Carla will be working alongside with you and check in with you regularly to answer questions or help you through a piece.
Schedule
Day One, Sat. Feb. 18. We will meet for introductions, appetizers and a margarita or agua fresca.
Day Two, Sun. Feb. 19. Breakfast is served in the beautiful courtyard or inside if it’s a little bit chilly. We will meet at 9:30 in the studio to go over the week’s schedule. Comida will be around 1:00, preceded by a short walking tour to help orient you to San Miguel. We will return to the studio to continue working with Carla. You will have some free time before we meet this evening for dinner at one of the many beautiful restaurants in the city.
Day Three, Mon. Feb. 20. Breakfast, class, break for comida, then return to the studio. Free time and then dinner.
Day Four, Tues. Feb. 21. After breakfast, we will continue working on our projects with Carla. Then you will have free time and lunch on your own until we meet at 3:30 back at la Noche. We will walk to our class with one of our favorite San Miguel artists, mojiganga master Hermes Arroyo at his home/studio. Afterward, we will go out to eat near the jardin.
Day 5, Wed. Feb. 22, Breakfast, class with Carla, comida and return to the studio. This evening dinner is on your own.
Day 6, Thurs. Feb. 23. Breakfast, class, comida, studio. This evening will be a cooking class (really, it’s about eating) with mi amiga, Ane Elena Martinez who is a pastry chef from Puebla, Mexico.
Day 7, Fri. Feb. 24. Breakfast, class with Carla, comida, return to the studio and break around 4:30 for some free time before we head out for dinner.
Day 8, Saturday, Feb. 25. Breakfast, and then back in the studio to finish our books. Comida is on your own and you will have the afternoon free to finish shopping or continue working in the studio on your own. You should pack this afternoon before we head over to our friend chef Paco Cardenas’s beautiful home. He makes the most amazing dinner for us and you will love his kitchen and him. Guarantee it. Shown below is his outdoor kitchen.
Day 9. Sunday February 26. Have breakfast and then we are off to the airport.
This workshop is full.
COVID
You must be vaccinated in order to attend this workshop and you will need to take a rapid test at least two days prior to the workshop. Your card and negative test will need to be shown to Bellissima Art Escapes in order to join the workshop. Thank you for your cooperation and for considering your fellow artists.
This Escape Includes
8 nights accommodation, double occupancy at Casa de la Noche
beautiful studio to create in
airport pickup/drop off at designated time at Leon airport
five days of workshops with Carla
all meals except for two lunches and one dinner
Special class with local mojigangas master (the large puppets)
farewell celebration
two cooking classes
private Facebook page
new art tribe
Price: $3,500, limited to 12 people based on double occupancy. A limited number of single rooms are available for an additional $500.
Price does not include airfare to/from Mexico
Airport: Leon International Airport, Guanajuato, Mexico. Code: BJX United's Flight 2183 is a direct flight from Houston that leaves at 12:26 p.m. and arrives in Guanajuato at 2:42 pm. We will have a driver pick you up and deliver you to the hotel which will take about 1.5 hours.
Return: We will leave at 9 a.m. on February 26 for the 12:50 pm United flight 1072 to Houston.
Casa de la Noche, a former bordello is owned by Barbara Poole, also an artist who supports the arts in San Miguel de Allende. Her beautifully renovated B&B is five minutes from the Jardin.
We will provide
acrylic paint
some alcohol inks
additional watercolor paper and other papers
book binding thread and needles
paper towels
Carla’s stash of beads and decorative threads, buttons, etc.
Lots of supplies to share including markers, washi tape, collage ephemera, etc.
Supplies to Bring
a sheet of your favorite watercolor paper (can fold to fit in your suitcase)
small colored pencil set
small watercolor set
brushes of your choice (I like a #12 round)
an 8”x10” Gelli Plate
1 brayer
at least three small bottles of alcohol inks, colors of your choice
a small selection of alcohol-ink based markers (like Sharpies or Copics)
small buttons, ribbons, fabric or collage ephemera
scissors
glue stick
needle and thread
ballpoint pen, pencil
Just one of the many street murals you will see in SMA
One of the many doors Carla and I found on a walk
This itinerary may change due to weather, new opportunities or the whim of the group.
Carla Sonheim is a painter, illustrator and creativity workshop instructor known for her fun and innovative projects and techniques designed to help adult students recover a more spontaneous, playful approach to creating. She is the author of three instructional art books, including Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun; Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals; and The Art of Silliness: A Creativity Book for Everyone. She and her husband, Steve, produce online classes via www.carlasonheim.com in drawing, painting and mixed-media with over 20 wonderful instructors.