Scotland was totally showing off when we were at Califer Hill on our first day. Gena and Tray drove us up here after dinner to help stave off jet lag, and I was like, "Ugh, I just want to go to bed." And my husband was like, "Don't be lame." And Scotland was like, "Ta-da!"

The trip included talks and demonstrations from three local-ish painters. I'm so glad the first one was Ginny Elston, who gave us a workshop on greens. Summer in the Scottish countryside is incredibly green, and her lesson was just what we all needed at the start of our trip.

After an indoor lesson in mixing greens with various yellows, blues, and purples, we sat outside to make some little paintings on scraps of primed paper she had prepared for us. Mine is covered in burnt sienna, which is such a pretty warm complement to my cool greens (and blues).