We’re sitting across the kitchen island sketching each other’s portraits. It's 1:37 a.m. This is the first time I've had my portrait drawn. I’ve had a lot of firsts this past week.

Our second week in Arizona went by really fast. We spent almost every night sitting around the dining room table working on our Art History book project and painting almost everyday.

Going with European (Southwest) Art program has been the best decision of my entire Proctor career so far. Ten of us, Beth, Caroline, Dave, Jules, Jen, Maeve, Maxx, Stella, Toby, and I, all live in a beautiful house where the magnificent landscape is right on our doorsteps.

This last week of the European/Southwest art classroom has been bitter sweet. We kicked off the week by going to Santa Fe, New Mexico, knowing that once the trip ended we would all be going home, but that did not stop us from having fun.

As I reflect on this week I instead reflect on the whole experience here in Arizona. This past week in our town Casa Grande, has been chock-full of lasts. When we returned home from Sedona awhile back, it hit all of us that soon we would be leaving our sweet home.

This week was spent in Sedona, AZ  and although we have had great previous excursions while in Arizona, this one was by far our favorite.

After returning home from a week in Sonoita, we spent the week back home in Casa Grande. Monday was a normal day, with classes in the morning and studio time in the afternoon. On Tuesday, we spent the day in the Ironwood National Park, painting. 

This week was our first 5 day trip away from our home, Casa Grande. On Monday the 25th we left for our adventure, loading up the van with our painting supplies, bags, crazy creeks, and Carnets (sketchbooks) in hand.