As seen the ferry to Whidbey Island where I taught in early October.
Getting to the Pacific Northwest Art School is a days-long trip from Cleveland, Ohio to Seattle, then must hop a shuttle to take a 2-3 hour drive including a ferry ride all the way to Coupeville, on Whidbey Island, WA. Where the sun was shining when I arrived!
Coupeville, WA
Pacific Northwest Art School
My friend, Caryn Freidlander came down from Bellingham to stay 2 days before my classes began. She helped me set up my classroom and then we were off to explore.
We found a super cute cafe
And Caryn recalled shopping here once, so we went.
Caryn, in her inside out jacket from Maiwa
Jan McGregor owns a fabulous shop in Coupeville, She imports items directly from Japan and lived there for quite a while when she studied making pottery herself. Now she travels to Kyoto about twice yearly to bring new goods into the states. She has a lust-worthy variety of Japanese fabrics since she herself used to design clothes. You can imagine I added to my stash.
My friend, Caryn lived in Kyoto for 3 years and had just been again this year. Now I’m plotting to go with Caryn. The soonest I can imagine would be 2020.
Note: Click on any photos in this entire post to enlarge.
Some images looking at Penn Cove, near the Inn where I stayed. I secretly called it the “murder” hotel because it felt like I would see Angela Lansbury rounding the corner looking for a suspect in “Murder She Wrote”. What this means is that it was quaint, and old fashioned, clean and tidy, just a little dated. That said, the folks who where at the Inn were terrific, and I was also steps away from 2 of the best small restaurants I’ve eaten at lately.
Here are a series of small works participants stitched while I was there. I taught 2 workshops. A two-day and a 3-day, some folks stayed for all 5 days.
It was one of the most memorable experiences for me to teach there. The women in both sessions were serious, funny, warm, engaging and talented.
I cannot even tell you how generous each person was with sharing their process and thoughts along the way.
After the final session, I took a second ferry with the hard-working Nita Webster, my assistant for the week, who escorted me to my next destination. She made sure we boarded the ferry to Port Townsend, WA and delivered me to my friends mom’s house where I had a breathtaking view of trees and water and visited the small Victorian town where I want to be again.
A rainy vista of Port Townsend ahead from the ferry deck.
Don’t let that photo fool you. I had sunshine every day that followed.
My friend, Tracey Wickline Appleton and me.
