Sharing my love of art in Laos

We visited Laos at the beginning of the year for a fortnight. We were in Asia as I had been asked by Patana, the British International School of Thailand, to return and to spend another week leading author and illustrator workshops with children in early years and KS1, which was incredibly fun and fulfilling!  The Laos part of the trip was full of fun and adventure - we para-motored across the vistas of Vang Vieng and took a magical hot air balloon ride (it's been a bucket list thing for me to do) but as always, painting played a huge role. I painted a lot during my time in Asia, and I loved the experiene of capturing the natural and unique unspoiled beauty of Laos with my watercolours. 

On the banks of the Mekong, in the UNESCO village of Luang Prabang, Loas, we asked a boatman to take us up river. An hour or so later he moored up on a dusty bank and we climbed up to find a village, there wasn't a soul, just chickens running around and thought we were on our own. I started to paint on the steps of a temple and out of nowhere appeared several children. They were tentative at first but eventually they gathered around until there were about 15 of them surrounding me. Captivated by the paint, I gave them a paintbrush and indicated for them to paint the colour red in my sketchbook then orange and so on, and together we learnt the colours of the rainbow. I hope it is a moment that the children won't forget, I know I won't... This, for me, is often the most rewarding part of what I do. I love to share my painting  and Goose with children, and this trip to Asia really enabled me to do this. I hope to be able to return again soon.

Loas is a beautiful county, slower paced than many of the Asian countries Dave and I have visited before, particularly in the North where we began our journey in Luang Prabang. Rich in history and hospitality it gave us both the rest-bite we needed after the busy Christmas period... well that was until Dave booked Paramotoring in the adventure capital of Vang Vieng! I found myself pulling out my sketchbook once again and getting creative, inspired by the temples and villages and the colours and beauty around me. By the end of our two weeks here I was filled up and ready to start my week of work at Patana school in Bangkok. You can read about that experience in my other blog here :)