A Morning at Divi Carina Bay Beach Resort

We really lucked out this morning! Not only was the sun shining brightly and the vistas clear but there was also a great breeze to keep us cool! I had arrived early and after walking around to see what there was to see, I decided to paint on the dock on the western end of the beach where I could see some pelicans diving for breakfast. I've painted pelicans before and was in the mood to do something different with this painting. First off, I had fun experimenting with my palette knife. I soon learned that it helped me get my paint on the canvas pretty quickly...important because painting wet on wet is always a challenge. It also came in handy for establishing the sun's reflections on the moving turquoise water. I also decided to esperiment with my color palette. By the time I finished getting my basics on the canvas, it was already 9:25. I was surprised that I'd not seen anybody else yet! So, while giving my painting some drying time, I wandered over to the restaurant area to see if anyone else had arrived. Sure enough I found Mary, Jan, Leslie and Sondra! They were still trying to decide what to paint. The problem with Divi is that although it has a pristine beach and a good number of palm trees, there is little shade. There was really good shade, however, under a tent erected near some gigantic chess pieces and also in the restaurant area. I had good shade out on the dock too because it has a second level and I was painting on the bottom one. After a quick chat I returned to my painting and the morning quickly passed. Mary found me before she left so I could get a good photo of her artwork.. and that's when I learned that everyone else but Sondra had left early! Show and tell was kinda sad: Sondra showed me her painting and I showed her mine :^) We followed our great painting morning with a very pleasant lunch!

Paper mache clay workshop

With TS Isaac headed our way and the weather prediction for Friday including a 70% chance of rain, I knew that painting plein air was out. Just the previous week, at lunch, some of the artists had been discussing doing a paper clay workshop with Laura Ballard. So I contacted Laura to see if she could do one for us on short notice, Friday morning, contacted the museum to see if we could use their clay room, and sent out an email to our members. Eight of us wanted to participate, so the workshop was on!

We had so much fun when we met in the clay room at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts to take the workshop showing us how to have fun with paper mache clay. Instructor Laura Ballard took us through the steps of preparing our own clay, molding a leaf, and then making more free-form objects: can you recognize our star, starfish, heart and bowl?

The workshop fee included the provision of all materials. The workshop space was ideal for the 8 of us to learn the craft. We all enjoyed our morning so much that we agreed that we'd like to do once a month workshops from now on.

Sandcastle on the Beach

The beach at Sandcastle on the Beach seems endless. Looking left, you feel like you could walk all the way to Sandy Point! Looking right, you feel like the beach would take you to Frederiksted town itself! We love it! The pristine beach and calm waters attracts swimmers as well as sun worshippers. Snorkelers delight in the underwater world they can discover just a few feet from shore. The beachfront dining area catches the sea breezes, so and we always enjoy ending our painting morning with lunch there. Friday was no exception!