“Alvaro’s demos were very worthwhile. He is a gifted artist. The meals at the inn were extraordinary! It was an excellent experience.” – Nancy
Alvaro Castagnet was here last week teaching a 5 day plain air watercolor workshop. He was here at the right time to catch all the fall colors at the peak! 
Even though one day was on the rainy side, this intrepid group still went out to a local farm to paint for the day and only had to escape to inside a barn for a short period of time. It was a great opportunity for Alvaro to do an interiors demo! 
On another day the group went down to paint riverside by the Hudson River in the town of Athens. Lots of great subject matter and they also enjoyed discovering the local brewery, Crossroad Brewing Company, for lunch. 
A floor “gallery” of the maestro’s paintings both during the class demos, and well as on location at many of Alvaro’s international travel spots. 
A merry and spirited time was always had around the dinner table every night, but the final dinner on Friday night was especially festive. There were toasts, speeches, singing, and dancing. 
Do miss your opportunity to discover this experience next year when Alvaro returns to teach a 3 day workshop in July.
There was a wide range of media used by the students. 
This is also a group that knows how to let loose and have some fun in the after hours studio time! 
The perfect Fall weather made the back lawns of the inn a great place to take a break and stretch you legs. 
If you missed your chance at coming to this years workshop, Elizabeth will be back again in June of 2018!
Richard had loads of information and guidance for all the students, as well as plenty of great stories that only a traveling art teacher can have! Here he was regaling the group with some rattlesnake stories from his workshops out west. 
The class spent a full day at 
Enjoying the delivered picnic lunch! 
Richard McKinley is one of our most popular instructors, so about half the class signed up for his 2018 class before they left this year’s class. If you want to get in on the fun in 2018, but sign up fast!
Dinner with Mel was always a jolly time. In fact on the final night he had them tapping a rhythm while he sang for them. 
Following the week with Mel, Margaret Evans arrived on the scene to teach Pastels Unleash! The weather that week was a bit on the hot side, but Margaret always found some nice shady areas for painting her demo. 
This is Troy up close and personal! 
There are two other inn dogs, in case you didn’t know, Hudson, a dalmatian, and Bree, a ridgeback, who mostly get out and about while the class is in session. They have their own room on the 3rd floor of the Main Inn.
Here is everyone taking their turns shoot photos of the two models in various set ups around the front parlor of the inn. 
Here you can see the two models in kimonos posing on the antique furniture. 
Now the work begins, first with a background, then sketching in the shapes. 
The weather was so beautiful (and the studio so full of easels) that we decided to have our “coming attractions” (workshops for the rest of 2016 and also a preview of 2017) presentation on the front porch of the inn after dinner. 
This year’s dinner menu theme is “Best Of” as suggested by the students who have come to the workshops over the past 11 years. One of the dishes submitted as a favorite was the Lion’s Head Meatball from last year. It is a tender pork meatball Shanghi-style, served with baby bok choy and rice noodles. Freshly made vegetable spring rolls are also served, filled with mushrooms, carrots, and bean sprouts. (We very happy accommodate dietary restrictions. So if there is a particular thing that you do not eat, let us know when you sign up and we will prepare a delicious alternate!) 
Having a picnic lunch at K & K! Such a beautiful setting. 
Besides the fun in the workshop, we got a nice shipment of new art supplies and tools for our shop. 
There were also plenty of lovely sights around the inn grounds. It is peony season at the moment. 
The weather during the week was also lovely and the back lawns were a great place to stretch your legs during breaks from class. 
Here is the joyful crew posing for a class photo on the final day. 
More of Bob’s morning demos. 
More rope tricks by Bob! 
It was sad to see such a happy group leave at the end of the week, but Bob will be back again next year in June. Before Bob left, he and Mark had their heads together quietly scheming about an even more elaborate after-dinner show for next year! Don’t miss it, sign up now.
Koo always supplies the fresh eggs for mixing the paints (egg yolks and pigment). 
Koo will be returning again in 2019! Plan ahead.
All sorts of stamps and recycled materials were available for making marks on the paintings. 
Here you see an assembled abstract landscapes coming together made with strips of painted canvas. 
Throughout the days, Katie would introduce new techniques for adding interest, texture, form and line to the painted canvases. This is a drip technique use to good effect. 
A composition by Cindy Heath. 
An amazing landscape by Kathy Nurge. 
A great composition by Sherry Shine. 
Katie also showed the group how to put together a fun abstract floral still life. This one is also by Sherry Shine. 
Here is Katie’s still life arrangement. 
Next Katie brought out the power tools. She showed the group how to construct their own frames for the stitched paintings. 
One the frame was assembled, Katie demonstrated how to attach the stitched painting to the frame. 
These are book covers that Katie showed everyone how to make with the painted canvases. 
Another thing to do with the painted canvases was to create mini zippered bags for holding stuff! So if you didn’t like the way your painted canvas turned out, Katie showed the group that there were lots of ways to make use of them. 
On the final day of class every one put all the work on display and we all went around the studio on a tour. This is the work of Sherry Shine. 
This is what it looked like to the person standing next to their art work and talking about it. The paparazzi in action! 
This is the work of Kim LaPolla. 
This is the work of Jane Pinchuck. 
A fun landscape by Alison Chandler. 
The work of Manon Boisvert. 
The work of Kathy Nurge. 
The work of Donna Dynes. 
The work of Cindy Heath. 
Earlier in the year, Katie also taught her Log Cabin Abstracts workshop and Alison also attended that workshop and brought back her finished piece to show to everyone. 
It was such a fun workshop that the group formed a “Painting Monday” challenge to motivate everyone to keep on painting! Katie will be back again teaching in 2017 and will teach her fabulous Fractured Landscapes class. Don’t miss it!
One of the morning exercises was simple figures, working with just one color plus black and white. 
This was a fun class and a great group of artists. If you missed your chance, Bob Burridge will be back again in the 
This is one of Skip’s demo paintings. 
Skip will be back next year, as usual, and it is not too early to start thinking of signing up for this popular workshop, as many of the people in this year’s class has already signed up for next year.
If you didn’t have the chance to get into this popular workshop, don’t worry, Fran will be back in 2017.
Before he left, Tony enriched our art reference library with a copy of his book, the “Watercolor Fix-it Book,” and five of his DVDs. These are available for guests to view at any time during their stay. 
If you missed your chance to get into this class, don’t worry – Tony will be back again in 2017.
If you missed getting into this year’s class, Kim English will be back in 2017.
David Daniels will be back to teach another workshop with us in 2017.
Susan’s was our final pastel workshop for this year, but we have lots more coming up next year. Our 
If you were on the wait list for this class or are now thoroughly intrigued about taking a workshop with David Daniels, as luck would have it David is stepping into to teach a 
Paul’s demo done in watercolors. 
This is Paul’s demo done in oil. 
This is Christine, one our housekeepers, who was kind enough to pitch in as a model when the one we had scheduled called in sick. She did a great job as a model. 
It was quite colorful outside around the grounds, too. As the climatis on the flowering fence are starting to put on their annual display. 
