Want to come create with me at a luxury boutique hotel in Central Italy… August 23-30 2024??

We will eat delicious food, tour neighboring villages and create mixed media pieces together!!! All skill levels are most welcome!!! 

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Did that just happen or was it a dream? 

Every single day on our retreat at Perigord, I asked myself several times, “how did I get to be so incredibly lucky?” From the moment we were greeted by our charming host, Harrison, at the train station in Gourdon until he dropped us at the same station 10 days later, it was pure wonder!

We arose each day and headed out to the most spectacular adventures in neighboring villages. I assigned a fun creative scavenger hunt for our daily jaunts. We looked for inspiration for varieties of line, shape, color, texture and pattern to be incorporated into the art we made during our studio time together. After filling our creative buckets to the brim every morning, we enjoyed the most delicious picnics. A beautiful lunch magically unfolded of homemade quiche, unique salads, bread… and of course… wine… served on the side of a lovely river or park.

Afterwards, we headed back and got to play in the studio. My teaching style is to share prompts and exercises that allow the personalities and interests of each individual to come through in the works. I LOVE when the unique style of each person shows in what is created during my retreats!! There was a range of art making experience in our group, which I really like. We had a newly retired woman who was an accountant and had never really made art. We also had women who have been in product development for years, but looking to try new techniques and ideas. It was a wonderful group!! We laughed a ton,  we danced to Aretha and we became life long friends while creating amazing art!

And let me tell you about the food!!! Oh my! Every evening, Katel and Paola, lovingly served up incredibly fresh and savory meals. We all ate together while sharing stories and laughing ALOT! The last night, after our champagne toast and studio exhibition, we were served a decadent 7 course meal with a different wine for each course. We toasted to our enchanting hosts, to one another and to this glorious retreat. What a perfect way to end what was a heavenly experience that I will NEVER FORGET!

When creating your abstract piece this week… you can take inspiration from…

The color palette: Pistachio, Pea, Warm Pink, Elephant Grey

The featured shape: plus sign

The featured artist: Françoise Gaime Gilot (26 November 1921 – 6 June 2023) was a French painter. Gilot was an accomplished artist, notably in ​watercolors​ and ​ceramics​, and a bestselling memoirist of the controversial Life with Picasso.

Gilot’s artwork is showcased in more than a dozen leading museums including the permanent collection of the ​Metropolitan Museum of Art​ in New York and the ​Centre Pompidou​ in Paris. In 2021 her painting Paloma à la Guitare, a 1965 portrait of her daughter, sold for $1.3 million at ​Sotheby’s​ in London.

Gilot first made her mark in the post-War milieu of artists who redefined the European artistic landscape; her career then went on to span an impressive eight decades. Delving into the realms of mythology, symbolism, and the power of memory, Gilot’s work explores complex philosophical ideas with spontaneity and freedom.

Gilot is also known for her romantic partnership with ​Pablo Picasso​ as well as marriage to ​Jonas Salk​, the American researcher who developed the first safe polio vaccine.

In an interview questioning how she came to be with two of the most influential men in the world, Gilot responded, “Lions mate with lions.”