Watercolor is a wild medium often taught as a slow process, but it doesn’t need to be! Sometimes it is hard to choose between sitting still and painting and taking the time to move your body! Both are wonderful ways to connect with a landscape and feel present. Come explore the landscape around Toklat and the upper Castle Creek Valley with artist and long-distance hiker, Nika Meyers, through watercolors, drawing, and hiking. We will explore what it means to not just look but really see, develop plein air painting techniques, find unique ways of expression, and share in the magic that the landscape has to offer

About the Instructor: Nika Meyers is a watercolor, plein air and mixed media artist living and working in Aspen, Colorado. Her current body of work is inspired by moments that are full of magic, change, wild silliness, and demanding challenges. Many of her current pieces are inspired by over 10,000+ miles of hiking across the United States connecting communities, landscapes and ecosystems. Through mixed media pieces, primarily combining watercolor, ink and thread, she juxtaposes landscapes and uses detailed line drawings to create visual connections that allow space to reflect on how we view landscapes in relation to each other. She is a resident artist just next door to ACES at the Red Brick Center for the Arts. In 2019, Nika lived up at Toklat as an educator and naturalist for ACES. It was one of the most magical places she ever lived full of wild beauty, history, and friendships.