Hello!
Today is DAY 5 since I got home from Morocco. I’m counting the days because I know by DAY 7, I should feel better. Jet lag, and honestly just being away for over three weeks, isn’t easy.
I was fine when we were at the amazing Atlas Kasbah teaching two back to back workshops with three days off in between. I jogged every morning before our wonderful 8 am yoga class, and the food was delicious and easy to keep healthy. Jennifer Orkin Lewis and I are a great teaching team and watching the students bloom with confidence over the week is such a joy!
Being a vegan traveler is a different story. Even though there are plenty of places to eat good vegan food in Marrakech and Essaouira, into week three I found myself yearning for home and a big bowl of brown rice, tofu and kale!
My first morning home, after getting in at midnight following 17 hours of travel, I found myself at the ER with my husband, who had a scratched cornea. He’s fine :)
Somehow the next day I had a ton of energy and finished these sketchbook pages. Energy went downhill after that :(
Above is my “how to paint water” demo. The right side is a very creative interpretation of a photo I took of one of our students. (The pots weren’t actually there, but they’re all over the Kasbah.) The surfer is one of our student’s grandsons!
Below is a painting from a photo I took on the beach in Essaouira.
The video below of my sketchbook shows how I figure out what I want to paint larger. I print out all the photos I love in black and white, then sketch them roughly in my sketchbook. Then I can see which ones spark joy and make me want to paint!
I am headed to NYC tomorrow -not top of my list to leave again so soon- but I cannot miss the festivities for this new book! And I’m dying to see my kids and granddaughters.
The New Yorker: Cover to Cover, is Françoise Mouly’s gorgeous new book. It features hundreds of iconic covers from the magazine’s history, organized decade by decade, and I’m thrilled that my very first cover, June Brides, is in it.
If you look VERY closely on the opening page photo you will see a face with red lips pinned on the wall - that’s mine! Liked enough to be pinned up, but didn’t happen.
We were all asked to draw a self portrait for our bios. They are such fun to read- and to find out exactly how many covers everyone has had!
Did you know that I got my first cover from entering a contest? Françoise the art director ran a weekly contest called Blown Covers, a companion to her book Blown Covers: Covers You Were Never Meant to See. Every Monday she posted a topic, and every Friday she chose her top 10 and a “winner.” I got hooked fast, and a wonderful community formed around it.
When the gay marriage topic came up, I made the Brides image. When she received it, she asked if she could hold it back to be considered for TNY. ( In case you didn’t know -TNY will not publish any art that has been shown elsewhere. Or at least they stick to this rule most of the time) I ran screaming over to my husbands studio to tell him the news and after what felt like months of torturous waiting, I had my first cover.
PORTUGAL Sept. 18 - 25, 2027
Jennifer Orkin Lewis and I have a few spots left for our September 18-25, 2027 retreat in gorgeous Northern Portugal. And we’re so happy to bring yogi/goddess/healer Chloe Ward with us again.
The venue and landscape are stunning.
The food is amazing.
I took some photos there that turned into the girl in the striped dress, painted when I got home. She might be one of my favorite paintings I’ve ever made. The whole experience was incredibly inspiring, and honestly, very magical for me.
Maybe now is your time to hang out with us for a week and let us help you uncover a side of your creative self that you want to reclaim. Or discover. Maybe you used to have an art practice but gave it up. Maybe you’re a pro who just wants unlimited time among like-minded people to draw and paint. Maybe you’ve never drawn or painted in your life, but you’ve always wanted to. You’ll make wonderful new friends, and you’ll probably have a life-changing experience.
Can you imagine yourself in our group photo next year?
If any of this sounds interesting to you, click HERE.
As always, I love hearing from you. And if you have special tips on getting over jet lag faster, send them my way!
XO
Gayle
Update: I wrote this last night. I slept! I feel like a new person today. :)
