Star Island Artist in Residence
Star Island is located 10 miles off the coast of Portsmouth NH. It is right on the boarder between New Hampshire and Maine. The island is about 40 acers; you can see the ocean from almost everywhere on the island. I used to work as a environmental services and facilities technician on the island, so I was already comfortable with where everything was and how things worked. I even had friends working on the island during my stay - it was wonderful to spend some time with them.
It is incredibly beautiful and I had an amazing week of painting. My schedule was relaxed. I spent most of my time painting outside; it was a dream! There was a watercolor conference going on while I was there, so I dropped in on some of their workshops. As the resident artist, I led a workshop for folks on the island who wanted to join. My workshop was called "Mindful Sketching." The goal of the workshop was for people to feel present on location and to create a sketch that transports them back to that moment when they look at it in the future. I had about six people join me for it. I also had a porch hour each day where I painted on the porch and answered visitors questions. Most people were unaware that the island had an artist in residence program. The organization of the program was poor, so it was very helpful that I was already familiar with the island, or I would have been very confused!