I was in Cleveland again for work a few weeks ago. This was the view from the Aloft Hotel in the Flats - East Bank, before a day full of meetings.

Can you guess the mood? Nina Johansson had us channeling stress and calm and sadness and joy in her workshop and interpreting those emotions in our marks and our colors.





Amazing how choices of color and line style can completely alter the feel of a sketch.



Paul Heaston taught us about wide angles, challenging us to cram everything we could see from ear to ear into a fisheye rendering of the world.





Our lovely B&B, Pousada Pontal Gardens, had a two-person kayak for guest use. So we carried it to the beach and bobbed along the water. As M. paddled, I held on for dear life (it reinforced my dislike of sit-on-top kayaks) and sketched the view, leaning over to dip my brush in the water.



Too soon it was time to leave. I kept a pen and sketchbook handy from sunrise at Pontal Beach to day's end in Rio, so I could capture little vignettes from the transport van.











We spent the last two days relaxing at the Sheraton Rio, listening to the hypnotic crash of the waves on the beach. We had fabulous food in Leblon, especially at Q Bistro Brasileiro.



Before heading to the airport, I sat in the Sheraton Club Lounge and drew the Chacara do Ceu favela on the hillside. Interesting to sketch, to be sure, but heartbreaking -- when the rains come in the summer, we were told, the sirens sound for evacuation as it's not safe for the residents to stay lest there be a landslide.



I miss you already, Brazil -- and now I see why you make us get a 10-year visa: we can't resist your lures for long.

Read Part 1 | Part 2

Paraty, halfway between Rio and Sao Paulo, is a time capsule colonial town that seems to hold a different festival or conference every week. There are horse carts and cobblestonesboulders and pousadas with questionable plumbing. And hummingbirds, and tiny birds that sip greedily from cut watermelon slices (who knew?). Walking involves carefully choosing your steps, except when the tide comes and you have to wade, ankle-deep.



In Simonetta Capecchi's workshop at the Engenho d'Ouro distillery, we chronicled the making of cachaca, the famed sugarcane liquor found in the caipirinha.









When I tired of the machinery I turned my watercolors to the misty mountains beyond.



With Lynne Chapman we splashed color and drew lines and used mixed media to get over the fright of making marks on a blank page.







Read Part 1 | To be continued...

As of a few weeks ago my passport has a stamp from a new continent: South America. I admit I was skeptical when the venue for this year's symposium was announced. But I fell hard for Rio, and Paraty was charming in its way. I see now why Rio is called the "cidade maravilhosa" (marvelous city).

Before heading to Paraty, we stayed a few days at Casa Beleza, a lovely and quiet B&B in the hilly, artsy Rio neighborhood called Santa Teresa. On our first day, we ran into fellow sketcher Rita Sabler lunching at Rustico.





At Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain), we stayed and gawked till the sun had set.



Dinner was at Espirito Santa, which specializes in delicious Amazonian food.



The views from Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) were equally fabulous.



We skipped Copacabana and sank into the sand at Ipanema beach.



In the business district of Centro, we made the requisite stop at Confeitaria Colombo, the art nouveau cafe with its lavishly decorated mirrors and floor-to-ceiling displays of decorative plates...



...and then I sketched a narrow slice of old Rio (Arco do Teles) as the light began to fade.



To be continued...