Painting Fields of Flowers with Betty Krause

In August, I spent an inspiring weekend in Los Gatos, CA painting flowers with Betty Krause, one of my favorite abstract artists. If you’ve never seen Betty’s work or watched one of her videos, drop everything RIGHT NOW and jump on over to her Instagram or her YouTube channel to behold her GORGEOUS work! She’s a wildly successful abstract artist and a big-time wonder on social media, yet she is about as down-to-earth as the flowers that she paints. The two-day class covered some of Betty’s favorite tips and techniques, plus lots of personal anecdotes about her artistic journey. I came back with a fresh, new outlook on my own journey and a renewed creative spirit (plus, I met some AMAZING artist friends!). Here are some highlights of the weekend…

Arriving at the New Museum in Los Gatos with a suitcase full of art supplies

Color mixing using a unified palette

First layer mark-making with Neocolor crayons and china marker pencil. Looks like a bunch of scribbles but…wait for it…

Playing with lines, shapes and clusters of dots. This is what we affectionately call the ‘Messy’ stage.

More color, shapes lines—and more mess!

Finished! Lots more layers, scratching and lines. Can you see those first layers of neo-color crayons under there?

A quick pic with Betty before I had to leave early to catch my flight!

So honored to be in the company of so many talented artists!