Scenes from the painting workshop

The painting workshop was at the Dalvaro Painting Holiday where we had three meals every day with wine, an assortment of fresh food prepared by Loli and her Sous chef Carlos who was going to school and learning under the tutelage of Loli Dalvaro. The venue was called "Las Orquideas" (the Orchid). As soon as we entered their beautifully landscaped and floral property, we were met by Loli and her husband Harold and their two dogs. There was Grumpy, who was a very friendly but sad looking mutt and Shreck whose underbite made him look like he was always smiling. The dogs had their own outdoor dog houses and weren't allowed into the house. The weather is so temperate the flowers never freeze or die so there was always the need to prune and keep them in check. That was the job of Harold who designed the landscaping.

We always ate together with the guest artist, Michal Jasiewicz at a square table the comfortably sat 9 people. Loli had made a round turntable for the center that was used to pass around food condiments and items like the three types of wine. The chef Carlos, Loli and Harold ate at a separate table. Cisco was our driver of the van for the week and took us to the different pleinair locations. Cisco's wife was expecting his first baby any day and we were the fortunate ones that she didn't have to go to the hospital when we were there

Here's a few pictures of the dogs, gardens and the table we ate at every day:

This is Loli, Harold and Carlos

The garden where nothing freezes and just keeps growing

And Shreck and Grumpy and Shreck's hacienda fit for a king...and sad faced Grumpy whose name should be Sweetie just because he was a sweet dog with a good attitude.