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.
![Mood exercise, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/15168648031_365914c877.jpg)
![Calm | stress mood exercise, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/14985068878_9579b3d109.jpg)
Amazing how choices of color and line style can completely alter the feel of a sketch.
![Fish market, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3865/14985084027_315f77d7fa.jpg)
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.
![Fish-eye view sketch of Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5556/14985335447_a1b0709b28.jpg)
![View down the lane, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5593/15148632446_69d09dafaa.jpg)
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.
![Sketch from the kayak, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3890/15171273642_5fdb6bd5ec.jpg)
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.
![Fishing boat, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3922/14985074298_e6b6913407.jpg)
![Vignettes from the minivan, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3836/15171271852_6de9abffa9.jpg)
![Quick sketch from the minivan, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/15168645251_3dc498c4ef.jpg)
![Boats in the distance, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3889/14984916699_6efd891d7e.jpg)
![Sketch of Christo Redentor from the minivan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5592/14985081947_75413b39c0.jpg)
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.
![Lunch at Q Bistro Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3906/15148623516_a85227b783.jpg)
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.
![View of Chacara do Ceu favela from Sheraton, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3908/15171655875_0087c9d7bf.jpg)
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
![Mood exercise, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/15168648031_365914c877.jpg)
![Calm | stress mood exercise, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/14985068878_9579b3d109.jpg)
Amazing how choices of color and line style can completely alter the feel of a sketch.
![Fish market, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3865/14985084027_315f77d7fa.jpg)
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.
![Fish-eye view sketch of Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5556/14985335447_a1b0709b28.jpg)
![View down the lane, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5593/15148632446_69d09dafaa.jpg)
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.
![Sketch from the kayak, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3890/15171273642_5fdb6bd5ec.jpg)
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.
![Fishing boat, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3922/14985074298_e6b6913407.jpg)
![Vignettes from the minivan, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3836/15171271852_6de9abffa9.jpg)
![Quick sketch from the minivan, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/15168645251_3dc498c4ef.jpg)
![Boats in the distance, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3889/14984916699_6efd891d7e.jpg)
![Sketch of Christo Redentor from the minivan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5592/14985081947_75413b39c0.jpg)
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.
![Lunch at Q Bistro Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3906/15148623516_a85227b783.jpg)
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.
![View of Chacara do Ceu favela from Sheraton, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3908/15171655875_0087c9d7bf.jpg)
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
![Sketchwalk in the square, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5582/14985002860_d25d7ac023.jpg)
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 cobble
![Street in Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3854/14985247089_70084055dc.jpg)
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.
![At Engenho d'Ouro, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3894/15171278102_50075c613c.jpg)
![More from the cachaca distillery, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3879/14984926729_41c8cd77d0.jpg)
![Sugarcane to make cachaca, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3887/15171278952_3e399fbc05.jpg)
![Tasting and selling cachaca, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3921/14984996080_9d979008db.jpg)
When I tired of the machinery I turned my watercolors to the misty mountains beyond.
![Mist behind the cachaca distillery, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3835/15171655872_615e1f4e58.jpg)
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.
![Line over color, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/15148863846_4aa5a6c71d.jpg)
![Colored line exercise, Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/14985315788_c606939a32.jpg)
![Water, water everywhere in Paraty, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3838/15171520882_25b0a183e1.jpg)
Read Part 1 | To be continued...
![View of Ipanema from Sheraton, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3910/15168650491_c8a4a422ba.jpg)
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.
![Rita sketching at Rustico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3909/15171656675_96a2d5f504.jpg)
![View from Rustico in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5572/14985077688_bd2beb98a3.jpg)
At Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain), we stayed and gawked till the sun had set.
![Sunset at Sugar Loaf, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3848/15171657575_2718b38e50.jpg)
Dinner was at Espirito Santa, which specializes in delicious Amazonian food.
![Dinner at Espirito Santa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3835/15168653051_9f11c18e62.jpg)
The views from Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) were equally fabulous.
![View from Christo Redentor, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3860/14985000890_7b980da40b.jpg)
We skipped Copacabana and sank into the sand at Ipanema beach.
![Ipanema and Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3905/15171276042_263cc12def.jpg)
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...
![Confeitaria Colombo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3909/14985088977_cbcb881b25.jpg)
...and then I sketched a narrow slice of old Rio (Arco do Teles) as the light began to fade.
![Arco do Teles, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3901/14985089527_986f61663c.jpg)
To be continued...