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A Week in Costa Rica with Jan Hart
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In January of this year my wife and I had the great pleasure of attending an intensive watercolor (and writing) workshop in Costa Rica at the home of Jan Hart. Jan is both a painter and a writer! This was a perfect fit for me and my wife, since I paint and my wife, Carla, is writing a book for young adults. Our experience was so fabulous I hardly know where to start, but I guess first things first…getting to Jan’s.
We arrived in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica and spent the night in a charming little Bed and Breakfast near the airport called “The Melrost”. The next morning we met with our driver from Eco Tico Tours and headed for the town of San Isidro where Jan lives. The trip involved driving over ‘El Cerro de la Muerte’, otherwise known as the mountain of death. Hmmm….interesting name for a nice drive through the forest. As it turns out, this mountain is the highest point on the Costa Rican section of the Inter-American highway and got its name from the travelers in years past that attempted it on horse back and perished from the cold. For us it was an introduction to the staggering beauty of Costa Rica.
This blog is not about Costa Rica, per se, but it cannot go unsaid that Costa Rica is a bountiful paradise for nature lovers…both flora and fauna are as diverse, abundant, and resplendent as any I have ever seen. It is an absolute gold mine for nature lovers and painters too!
We met Jan at a restaurant near her home town of San Isidro. Jan warmly greeted us, myself, my wife and a third artist, Jeannie who rounded out the team for the week long intensive. After five minutes of introduction we all knew that it was going to be a terrific week. Not only did we all love art, but we enjoyed talking about all things going on around us, controversial and otherwise. It was to be a great week, immersed in painting, writing and mutual interests in the world around us.
A few words about the intensive workshop! We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, and the workshop extended from Monday through Friday at Jan’s home. She has a fabulous outdoor studio with an unparalleled view of the San Isidro valley. Jan has ‘cabinas’ for house guests, and it is all of 30 feet from the cabina to the studio. We started each day with a wonderful ‘tico’ (Costa Rican style) breakfast of fruit, ‘Gallo Pinto’, fried roots and Costa Rican coffee! Whoo hoo! Wonderful. After breakfast, we dove into art class with topics extending from lectures on color to exercises in painting. For example, we all painted a white cow to study light and shadow. Here’s my humble cow! It is entitled ‘Holy Cow’.
Our task was to paint this fellow with rose madder genuine, nickel azo, cobalt blue and quinacridone sienna. Notice the cooler shadows vs. the warmer reflected light on the belly. Our week progressed far too quickly with lectures and painting followed by a dinner out and then conversation on the terrace looking out over the lights of San Isidro. Does it get any better than that?
I am including a link to Jan’s site here http://www.janhart.com so that you may hop over and enjoy her work. For me her paintings are wonderfully colorful and luminous. They are filled with movement and energy, often exploding off the page. The featured image above, entitled ‘Tree Heart’ is just one of my many favorites.
Feature image published with the permission of the artist.
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