**WATERCOLOR**
&
**THE**
**OAXACAN**
**TABLE**

(WAITLIST)
If you are interested in being a part of this trip, please send us an email to add your name to our waitlist. If we get enough people interested, we will gladly do this trip again.
*In partnership with Jan Heaton*

OVERVIEW

Oaxaca City is bursting with energy, color, and life, best appreciated at its markets: women dressed in colorful traditional gowns offering chapulines (grasshoppers) of different sizes; boxes of aromatic herbs unknown to the untrained eye; giant tortillas both soft and crunchy piled up; aguas frescas and sorbets in every color and flavor imaginable; the earthy leather smell coming from the shoe isles selling huaraches and belts, and the divine smokiness guiding you to the chiles and spices, the heart of Oaxacan food. In short, it is the perfect backdrop to inspire your creativity, especially when you’re being guided by artist Jan Heaton and chef Iliana de la Vega.

During our art and food filled week, we will venture into the heart of Oaxacan culture in a way only locals know how, dining at both high-end restaurants, markets, and street stands to experience everything the region has to offer. We will also visit some of the smaller surrounding towns for a closer look at traditions untainted by modernity, allowing us to marvel at the local arts and crafts, testimony of the dexterity and talent of artisans who have, generation after generation, inherited and perfected techniques to make textiles, ceramics from various clays, jewelry, and alebrijes, all of which is meant to inspire your own creations.

The three painting sessions will follow the themes of nature, color, and food, focusing on painting what you see and feel with watercolor, learning to simplify a subject matter with a broad spectrum of techniques, creating bold and colorful works on paper. The colors of Oaxaca and its imagery will stretch your preconceived ideas of these elements, while painting a graphic language of line, form, and value in watercolor. In the classroom, Jan believes all students are individuals with their own personal library of talent, stories, and inspiration. She teaches with the belief that everyone learns and makes art in their own way. The watercolor sessions are intended to be fun and encourage self-expression!

And since we want to make sure you experience the food of the city and the ingredients as close as possible, we will explore several markets, while getting to know the spices, chiles, and everything in between. One of our trip’s highlights will be our cooking session with James Beard Award winning chef Iliana de la Vega. During this session, which will take place at the gorgeous house and kitchen of world-renowned photographer Marcela Taboada, we will learn about traditional ingredients, understand how to use them, and partake in a cheese demonstration led by Rosa María, who comes from a long line of cheesemakers.

TRIP ITINERARY

After arriving in Oaxaca City, our driver will meet you at the airport and take you to the hotel. Take some time to settle before we meet for a welcome mezcal at our hotel's rooftop.
We will then head out for dinner at one of the finest restaurants in the city, where we'll sample modern interpretations of Oaxacan cuisine using local ingredients and toast to the wonderful week ahead of us.
Our day begins with breakfast at a lovely terrace overlooking the city, where we’ll enjoy coffee and hot chocolate alongside traditional Oaxacan dishes, fruit, and pan dulce. After this, we’ll make our way to our first painting location, a beautiful local house in the the outskirts of the city, overlooking the surrounding mountains. Here, in this serene backdrop, we will be learning the basics of watercolor from Jan Heaton: brushes, tools, and paper, and warming up our painting skills by creating abstract bold marks and testing color mixes.
For lunch, we're off to eat at the celebrated restaurant of a woman chef who serves a mix of traditional dishes and her own amazing creations. Then, take the rest of the afternoon to rest or explore the city.
We'll meet again this evening for a variety of appetizers, which include a memorable suckling pig taco, while we enjoy panoramic views of the city at the terrace of an upscale restaurant.
On our way to the Sunday open-air market of Tlacolula is the town of Santa María del Tule, home to the widest tree on earth. There, we will kick-off our day with a traditional Oaxacan breakfast at a popular eatery that serves incredible chilaquiles, huevos rancheros and enchiladas before visiting El Tule tree. Afterwards, we’ll drive to the village of Tlacolula where all kinds of vendors from all over Oaxaca come to sell everything from live turkeys and fresh produce to fabrics and bootlegged dvd's. We'll spend some time there, exploring and shopping before we make our way to the town of Teotitlán del Valle, a small town where we’ll visit the house of a family known for their beautiful beeswax candle creations. For lunch, we'll enjoy a traditional Zapotec feast at the private home of a cocinera tradicional (traditional cook).
After lunch, we’ll return to the hotel so you can enjoy some well-deserved rest. Once again, we'll reconvene later in the evening and head out to sample a true Oaxacan street food: tlayudas (a tlayuda is a 12” round semi-crispy tortilla with various toppings or fillings) at a very local and lively street stand.
Our day will start with breakfast at one of our favorite market stands, where we’ll enjoy a variety of Oaxacan comfort dishes like enfrijoladas, entomatadas, salsa de huevo, and empanadas de flor. Then, we'll make our way back to Teotitlán del Valle for our second painting session with Jan Heaton. Our location will be the house of a renowned rug-weaving family, where we’ll also learn about their art and natural dyes. Using the natural Oaxacan palette as inspiration, our second painting session will focus on creating repetitive abstract patterns that reflect the colors we experience. The group will further explore color mixing and create small studies with bold, rich pigments and a minimum palette.
Later, we will enjoy an incredible homemade lunch in the garden of our painting location, lovingly prepared by the rug-weaving family who so warmly shared their beautiful house with us to paint. After a full day of painting and food, we’ll make our way back to the hotel. The rest of the evening will be yours to rest or explore the city at your own pace, maybe with a mezcal cocktail (or two) at a rooftop bar.
Today will be all about Oaxacan ingredients, learning about them, and understanding how to use them not only in your own cooking back at home, but as creative inspiration. Our day will start with breakfast at a popular eatery that specializes in all things corn, including their beverages, where everything is made to order using heirloom varieties of corn. We'll then make our way to a residential market nearby to shop for ingredients for our cooking session. Our culinary workshop will be led by James Beard Award winning chef Iliana de la Vega at the gorgeous home and kitchen of world-renowned photographer Marcela Taboada. While our lunch is cooking, we'll also learn how to make traditional Oaxacan cheeses guided by Rosa María, who comes from a family of cheesemakers.
After lunch, we’ll return to the hotel, which will serve as our third and final painting location. Using their beautiful nature-filled courtyard as our relaxing background and inspired by the delicious food we cooked together, we will paint impressions of the fruits and vegetables of Oaxaca. We will also summarize all we have learned from this color journey.
After a full day of activities, we will relax with a candlelit mezcal tasting following our painting session and finish our day with a variety of traditional Oaxacan tamales, from mole to salsa verde and even a dessert tamal, from our favorite local street cart.
Our last day will begin with breakfast at the tranquil courtyard of a boutique hotel. Then, we will visit some surrounding villages to explore a few local arts and crafts of Oaxaca. We'll first stop by an alebrije workshop in the town of San Martin Tilcajete, where an artisan will show us the process of bringing the wooden figurines to life. Next stop will be Santo Tomás Jalieza to visit a family of women weavers who use the backstrap looms to create gorgeous, intricate pieces like table runners. Our last stop before lunch will be in San Bartolo Coyotepec to see the unique black pottery original from this town.
Then, we’ll return to the city for a lunch of traditional food from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec—a completely different cuisine from another one of the eight regions of Oaxaca—at the private home of a local cook. After lunch, you'll have some time to relax or enjoy your last day in Oaxaca on your own before we meet again for our farewell dinner.
Our final dinner will be at the gorgeous modern space of two incredible and world-renowned chefs who are putting their minds together to create new flavors using traditional Oaxacan ingredients.
After a week of exploring and eating your way through Oaxaca, it's time to head back home with a head full of memories and perhaps a couple of bottles of mezcal. Our driver will pick you up from the hotel and take you to the airport. You may depart early in the morning or enjoy breakfast at the hotel beforehand.

*Please keep in mind that this is a sample itinerary and it is subject to change. We expect to do everything listed, but the order may change depending on local conditions and availability.

Jan Heaton is a professional painter and teacher. Her watercolors on paper celebrate nature, abstractly reaching beyond the obvious. Her work is represented by art dealers and galleries in Austin, San Francisco, San Antonio, and Atlanta. She teaches workshops at Anderson Ranch - Snowmass, Colorado, The Contemporary Austin Art School, and the Peninsula School of Art in Wisconsin.