Sandy Delehanty lives in California.  She  had a dream that one day she could live from her art work.  And guess what, it happened.   It did not happen over night, but it happened!   A recognised and respected artist and teacher of art, she can sell her pictures for decent sums of $$$.  And a cool aside; she brings people on painting trips to far away beautiful locations.
See below if you agree, that this is one nice  ´dream come true´. 
Have a happy, sunny and safe day dear reader!  - And don´t forget to peruse some of Sandy´s art work and travel adventures below.  
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/305659/f2738eab91/1227000884/dfd63cf2aa/
    
 
  
   
  
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    In this THE TRAVEL EDITION of my newsletter: you will find: 
tips for choosing the right workshop 
tips for planning your own painting trip, 
tips to keep you safe  and packing ideas, 
2016 Lake Como Italy trip, 2017 Cinque Terre Italy trip, 
 
and PLEASE VOTE for your dream workshop destination for 2018. 
 
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 Semi-Regular Art Stuff Newsletter 
 2016 TRAVEL EDITION 
 
 
    Sandy Delehanty CWA 
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    Monet's garden at Giverny, a journal page created by Margaret Wheaton, May 2016
     Note
 the ticket in the left corner signed by Jackie our tour guide (owner of
 French Escapade) and myself.  Margaret's Watercolor Journals are a 
treasure.  She has done them for years all over the world, they are 
filled with charming sketches and stories. Consider doing this on your 
travels... 
 
    
      
    2016 - My next Travel Workshop is coming up fast...Lake Como, Italy October 5 - 12
     We have eight travelers signed up which means that there is still room for a couple more,  IF
 the hotel has any rooms left.  If you want to give it a shot here is 
the website with the dates, prices, details, photos, hotel, itinerary 
and enrollment form.   www.toscanaamericana.com/sandydlakecomo.html. 
  
However,
 before sending your deposit I suggest you email send and email to 
infotuscany@aol.com to ensure that space is still availabe.
 
  
 
    
      
    2017 - We are off to Italy again, this time to the Cinque Terre
     May 24 - May 31, 2017 
  
Toscana
 Americana small group tour company and I will be returning to my 
favorite five villages in all of Italy!  As always the tour price will 
be all-inclusive, lodging, meals, transportation, instruction every 
thing except the air fare.   Watch my newsletter and the Toscana 
Americana website for more details as the trip gets closer. www.toscanaamericana.com 
 
    
      
    2018 - Which of these FRENCH ESCAPADE trips would be your dream painting trip?  
     This
 past May my students and I enjoyed a fabulous painting trip organized 
by the small group tour company French Escapade in Giverny and Normandy 
France.  That's us painting in Monet's Garden one evening, just us 
artists, no public allowed so no crowds!  So special. 
  
  
Here are the choices, where would you wish to go?  Please reply to this email with your vote, thanks. 
  
 
    
      
    France: Provence
    
      
    Spain:  Barcelona & Costa Brava
    
      
    France:  Hill Towns of Southern France (French Riviera region)
    
      
    France:  Castles and Gardens in the Loire Valley
    
      
    France:  Lakes & Villages in the French Alps
    
      
    Belgium:  (Bruges) and Holland
    
      
    France:  Monet's Garden in Giverny and Honfluer in Normandy
    
      
    Please vote
    Reply to this email and and let me know which trip 
would be your dream destination  The trip with the most votes, wins that
 is where I will do my French Escapade workshop in May 2018.
  
 
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    My packing and security tips for travelers
    Here ae some of my ideas learned over many years of travel.  
  
If
 you have a tip to share please reply to this email and describe your 
idea.  I will include it in the next newsletter for all to read, and 
thank you. 
  
ART
 SUPPLIES TIP:  Practice carrying your supplies out in the field an 
using them.  Too heavy, to awkward to carry then repack and try again.
  
I
 recommend one small to medium sized roller bag and 1 light weight 
backpack (not bulky, more like a "day bag").  Backpacks are preferable 
to shoulder bags because you have both hands free to drag your roller 
bag up steep stairs or hold on to a hand rail.   The backpack becomes my
 art supply bag in the field each day.  I put small TSA locks on the 
zippers to keep them from coming open as I walk. 
  
Pack
 at least 3 or 4 days ahead and then practice.  Can you manage your 
luggage up and down a flight of stairs BY YOURSELF?  Remember, train 
stations often have 25 cement stairs leading under the tracks!   
 
  
Travel
 stores sell space savers like vacuum bags and tiny laundry kits 
that contain a twist clothesline, a sink stopper and envelopes of 
Woolite soap. 
 
  
SECURITY TIP:  Take two of everything and don't put all your eggs in one basket. 
  
SECURITY TIP 2:  Buy a money belt and USE IT! 
 
  
Your
 passport travels in your money belt around your waist hidden under your
 clothes and gets locked in the room safe when you arrive and stays 
there until you depart.  A color copy of your passport gets packed in 
your backpack (carry-on luggage).  Write down your passport number, 
issue date and expiration date and keep it in a separate location.  My 
travel buddies and I exchange color copies of our passports and stash 
them in our carry-on luggage. 
  
Second ID - 
 bring your driver's license and keep it in your money belt.  It will be
 handy if you have to replace a lost or stollen passport.  
  
AVOID
 THIS EXPENSIVE BOO BOO:  Ensure that your credit card company does not 
charge a fee for using it overseas (some are as high as 4 percent!)  If 
so replace it, many companies no longer charge these fees. 
  
ANOTHER EXPENSIVE
 BOO BOO TO AVOID:  Contact your cell phone carrier and lean your 
options for avoiding a bill that can run many hundreds of dollars if you
 use your cell phone overseas like you do at home. 
   
Credit
 cards with PIN numbers, I bring two from two different banks.  One 
stays in my money belt, one in my carry-on and that one gets locked in 
my room safe.  Always call the credit card companies 
before you leave home and alert them that you will be traveling, give 
the dates and countries you will visit. 
  
ATM 
cards are your main source of cash when traveling these days.  Bring two
 from separate accounts, one in your money belt and one in your 
carry-on. 
  
Cash, take from ATM machines as you 
go, keep extra in the safe.  Always carry cash in you money belt, keep 
enough for lunch or gelato in a pocket or backpack.  Go to an ATM 
machine with a buddy who can watch your back, if alone look for a 
machine inside a bank lobby. 
  
 
Good jewelry
 should be left at home.  I take fun inexpensive earrings and put them 
in and old eye glasses case thinking no one once my glasses. 
  
 
 
 
    
      
    OK so I know this is the travel edition, but I just could not resist announcing this...
     I am honored that my watercolor  "PETAL TO THE METAL" has
 been juried into the prestigious show AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS 2016 
NATIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION to be held September 23 through November 13, 
at the Bennington Center for the Arts in Vermont. 
  
AMA
 is an organization of women artists that works for equal opportunities 
for women artists in museum and major gallery shows.  PLEASE consider 
joining this worthwhile organization. www.americanwomenartists.org 
  
 
    
      
    
    GALLERIES SHOWING MY PAINTINGS
 Art Obsessions Gallery, Truckee, CA  and a new second location in Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe CA www.artobsessions.com
 
    
      
    Keep up with the latest art stuff in-between newsletters, just 
follow my Facebook page Sandy Delehanty's Art, or on Instagram follow 
@SandyDelehanty.  
     
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    Dreaming of traveling to some beautiful far away place to paint or sketch?
     What are your options:  
  
1.  sign up for a workshop with an instructor operated by a professional tour company  
  
2.  sign up for a workshop planned and run by the instructor 
  
3.  go alone or with an artist friend 
  
4.  or take your art supplies with you when traveling with family or friends on a non-painting trip.  
  
 
 
    Option 1:  Sign up for a workshop with an instructor
     My students and I painting in Giverny this past May. 
  
A workshop professionally planned by a tour company
  means all the hard work of planning and running the workshop is done 
for you by people who know what they are doing and speak the local 
language.   
  
A good tour operator does their 
homework.  They visit the hotels, try the restaurants, find the best 
painting sites plan all the transportation,  understand the local 
language and customs and have "Plan B" for any unforeseen problem that 
may occur.  
  
TIP:
  When choosing a workshop count the number of students in the group 
photos on the company website.   Most companies that promote travel 
workshops have 20 to 25 students...too many! 
  
(The
 photo above is my "class" on my recent workshop with French Escapade 
small group tour company.  I had 9 students and 2 non-painters). 
  
Look for trips with a maximum of 12 students, like French Escapade tours our ToscanaAmericana tours  for more individual attention from the instructor.  
  
 
    Option 2: a workshop run by the instructor
    I do not recommend this option.  Too many things can go wrong.   
  
For
 example a student wakes in the night with heart attack symptoms. 
Someone needs to call an ambulance, be able to ride in the ambulance and
 act as translator for the EMT's and later for the doctors in the 
hospital.   My guide Jackie has done this, but could an American 
Workshop Instructor do this? 
  
And from 
experience I know that being the Instructor and being the Tour Guide are
 two separate and very busy jobs.  One person just cannot do a good job 
of both simultaneously.   
  
 
    Option 3:  go alone or with an artist friend
     My travel buddy Sylvia with a large lady we found while exploring and sketching in Venice.
  
Traveling
 with an artist buddy can be great fun if you are the adventurous type 
and you do meticulous homework before you leave.  
  
I often combine a week or so of personal travel painting  with a good friend before or after my workshops in Europe.  
  
TIP:  "See" before you go watch a Rick Steves video. 
  
Watch a video of your destination from the PBS series Rick Steves' Europe.  You can check them out at your local library. 
  Planning can be time consuming so split the work with your travel companion.   
  
I
 search for possible flights using search engines kayak.com and google 
flights.  However, I book directly with the airline talking to a real 
live person on the phone.  It costs an extra $25. or so but it is worth 
it  because they know what is available at that moment and often have 
good tips and ideas that the airline website cannot tell you. 
  
FLIGHTS TIP:  2 hour layovers (maybe 3 at Paris) are the safe way to go at this time of heighten security. 
  
Since
 the Brussels Airpot bombing I have encountered tighter airport security
 resulting in long slow lines  both in US and European airports.  Global
 Entry available through TSA saves time, but TSA pre-check only helps in
 US Airports. 
  
TRAIN
 TRAVEL TIP:  Before you leave the US, print all the possible options 
for your trip off the website raileurope.com so you have all you choices
 in English.  
  
If
 you miss a train or there is a strike you will need to come up with a 
plan B quick, so have the schedule with all the options in English in 
your pocket.    
  
I
 always go 2nd class on trains because with first class you have to find
 that exact seat on the correct train car.  I do not want the hassle 
of trying to get on the right car and find my exact seat in the short 
time (often 4 minutes) before the train leaves the station.  I have 
never encountered a full train in Europe, so I just jump on any 2nd 
class car and take any empty seat. 
  
Car rental:  sorry no sources here I use public transport only in Europe. 
  
LODGING TIP:  Apartment rentals are less expensive and give you more of the "local experience" than hotels. 
  
Bobbi
 and I are spending 6 nights in Venice this fall and we booked an 
apartment on Air B and B.  The website has tuns of selections, reviews 
and booking was simple.  We have not stayed in the apartment yet, 
however...  
  
HOTEL TIP:  Read lots of reviews!   
  
I
 start with Rick Steves guide book recommendations, choose 
the neighborhood then the hotel and then I go on Trip Advisor.com.  I 
also book using the hotels own website not an in-between company, 
less hassle if I need to cancel. 
  
 
 
 
    Option 4:  taking your art supplies when traveling with family or friends
     Monet's
 Garden sketch done in 20 minutes in my Watercolor Journal standing on 
the edge of the sidewalk while the Sunday crowds passed by me. 
  
If
 your travel companions are good at finding something they want to do on
 their own you can get in a couple hours here and their for you art.  If
 they insist you are with them all the time, quick sketching in a 
journal or sketchbook is about your only option.  See my sketch above 
for an example of what can be done when you only have a few minutes. 
  
A good source for learning to sketch quickly and what to pack is Marc Taro Holmes book  Urban Sketching here is link to Marc's website and excellent blog  www.citizen sketcher.com.  
  
 
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    Tel: (916) 652-4624 Email:  sandydelehanty@yahoo.com  
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