Carole Watanabe is a painter and business woman whose motto and life practice is to dissolve parameters and trade the voice of fear for the voice of passion.
Carole Rae Watanabe loves the process of making her dreams into real living environments. She then invites others to immerse themselves in a very tasty, life-altering experience known as Live Art, or the process of living life as an "art form".
Her current expression of LiveArt happens at her various art studios in Collioure France, Soreze France, San Miguel De Allende Mexico and Sebastopol California where she paints, sells her art and rents her beautiful environments to others when she is not there. Collioure, the Mediterranean village where Fauvism was born is where Carole exhibits year round at her own gallery, L’Art Vivant.
Please join the creative excitement! Take your vacation at Carole’s Live Art Environments. Click on our rental links to see photos of the studios and call Gail Smith for reservations: (707) 888-3895 or email: vgailsmith@fmgirl.com
As one guest said about last summer’s vacation in France, “Before immersing myself in your creative studio and home, I saw life as a black-and-white diagram filled with judgments about survival and time management. M
y Daytimer, not my soul, was my guide. My time in your home was a trip to a new level of consciousness. Nothing looks the same now. This creative nourishment is something I amlearning to give myself daily. Your creative gifts transformed my reality.”
"Carole Rae Watanabe, master painter and colorist, has her own unique language to express the varied cultures and environments she inhabits internationally. Her spontaneity of line and gesture, her intense color palette, and her imaginative and mysterious ability to touch people deeply are signature elements of her career." Sandy Thompson - Executive Director Center for Contemporary Art Santa Fe, New Mexico
Video of Carole created by Rafael Ruiz
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Awaken the Creator Events
Watching, helping and teaching 3yr. olds paint their self-portraits, was a very challenging day for me at the Barefoot Preschool in Los Angeles. Miraculously the results were enviable as their beginner’s minds had few limits. I felt really inspired by their graceful and intense efforts.
I would welcome doing a similar 2 hour painting experience for your child’s school or birthday party, etc. My fee is $200 for 2 hours with additional materials fee.
How to create your own Art Heaven
Art heaven is an inspiring way to access and expand the creative energy that is our birthright.
The important elements of an Art Heaven are basic and don’t have to involve a huge outlay of cash:
- 1) A committed core group who need to make art for their own simple personal joy
- 2) A stable work space where members can work and store a box of materials
The first Art Heaven began in Sebastopol California in 2001 as a response to 9-11. There was angst and depression and I felt an urgent need to create a “Gate of Solace” for creative healing to occur.
An Art heaven can take any form and be anywhere. The most important part is that 2 or more people join regularly to expand the creative juice for themselves and our world.
Artists need encouragement and an inspiring place to rejuvenate their creative spirits. When you make art, you need friends who you can honestly open up with. People who notice and comment when you’ve taken a risk or made a break-through.
The basic elements beyond camaraderie and commitment are
* A meeting place with good light – garage with skylights & portable floods, a spare room, a rented warehouse space or buy an old house. |
* Work tables and easels for painting |
* No-fuss surfaces that can be splattered and dripped on (think Jackson Pollack floors and walls) |
* A minimal kitchen for heating the soup and storing the basics for group lunches |
* Still-life paraphernalia |
* One dedicated person who creates the vision and puts it out there (flyers, emails, an ad in the paper, whatever it takes to gather the group) |
* A simple reliable schedule |
* A monthly membership fee to cover expenses |
The "Original" Art Heaven in Sebastopol
At first you’ll need the person who says, “I’m going to make an Art Heavenfor my own enjoyment and growth.” You’ll need to divide the expenses for space rental,equipment etc. among the group and charge a monthly fee for membership. Ideally the access to Art Heaven should be 7 days a week with 1 or 2 
chosen days forthe committed-together time. On these 2 days the schedule could look like this: Leader arrives and sets up a still-life or puts out inspiring photos to work from etc. Members arrive, if possible at an agreed on time. The day begins with a circle where we check in with each other – just a word of intention or a group stretch or a lighting of candles on an art altar.
Art is a holistic sacred practice for me. It will all vary according to your needs and the preferences of your group.
Everyone gets their materials and begins making art – following their own inspirations. We listen to calming inspirational music, taking time out every hour or so to walk about and notice each others work. Sometimes we invite a guest teacher, but we mainly count on each other for help. If anyone needs help at any moment, they can simply say, “I need some feedback”, and the group responds.
Around noon the soup-maker puts it on to warm and others bring whatever else they want to the table and we all share a meal together. We have a wall where we hang our days work and give it some serious viewing time during lunch. Before returning to our easels, we talk about whatever positive ideas or directions we have for each painter’s work. Sometimes we paint collaboratively – meaning 5 hands all touching the same canvas – it’s a great way to loosen up and learn from each other.
We have shows together and encourage aliveness on all fronts, enjoying the process and finding the necessary support needed to persist.