Dreaming of Painting in Southern France?

My good friend Kelley Aitken  and I are excited about offering two weeks of painting classes in lovely Espedaillac in the Mid-Pyrenees region of France (nearest city, Toulouse). **This year's France classes are now full. We plan to offer this again next year. Stay tuned!

Painting in Midi-Pyrénées, France

with Alison Watt and Kelley Aitken

Week 1: June 16-24 Week 2: June 24-July 1, 2012

Espedaillac is a charming village set in an area known for its natural and architectural gems, prehistoric sites, fortified towns and villages, hiking trails, Romanesque art, cheese, wine and typical markets.

We are getting excited about next June’s painting weeks, as details fall into place. Our objective is to combine indoor studies of drawing and painting fundamentals as well as outdoor plein-air among scenic villages and fields, working with dry media as well as watercolour and acyrlic.

But most of all we plan to have FUN, painting, eating, drinking (if you are so inclined), and exploring this beautiful part of the world!  We hope you can join us.

Kelley and I first met at the Banff Centre of the Arts in 1999, where we were both participating in Banff’s “Writing Studio,” a five week retreat where twenty-five writers have the chance work on manuscripts under the editorial eye of some of Canada’s best writers. Within hours of meeting we discovered that we had much in common: we had both travelled extensively and worked in South America and we were both visual artists.

Since that first meeting we have always inspired and often cheered each other on as we navigated a life between writing and painting. In addition we have also both developed busy teaching lives. An “art school” in Espedaillac, France is a dream we have been talking about for a long time. Kelley has spent time in this part of France and has a friend who lives there full time, (Viviane) who will be a facilitator for our arrangements before and after we arrive.

We have tentatively arranged for three gites (the holiday homes, which are commonly rented to tourists). They are charming and simple accommodation, with, between them, a combination of rooms for couples and for doubles (which can also be reserved for singles).

In recognition of the fact that this is our test run year we have tried to keep costs down. Yet students will have the benefit of two instructors, as Kelley and I will both teach both weeks. In general, Kelley will handle the dry media (conte, chalk pastel, pencil, pen and ink, and charcoal). I will be available to teach watercolour and acrylic, as well as illustrated journalling.

Cost: $140 per day (7 nights of accommodation and 6 days of instruction)= $840 a week

 Food will be left up to individuals. There are cooking facilities in each gite. If students want to cook communally they may want to use one of the bigger gite kitchens. We will facilitate travel to local markets to pick up groceries. In general you can expect to pay about another $200 for food (excluding wine), including a couple of dinners out at local restaurants. In addition you may expect to budget another $60-$80 or so for local transportation to and from local stations or for field trips. (There are some interesting cultural sites nearby).

Non-painting spouses will pay $420 a week. A single supplement will be $120.

 More information on how to get there, what to bring, details on accommodations etc. will be sent on registering. Deposits will be due on January 15, 2012.

 

Kelley Aitken is an author and artist. She has exhibited in Canada and Ecuador and has work in many private collections and is represented in the Canada Council Art Bank collection. Her work can be seen at www.kelleyaitken.ca

 Love in a Warm Climate, The Porcupine’s Quill, 1998 was nominated for Best First Book, the Commonwealth Prize. She co-edited First Writes, Banff Press, 2003. Current writing projects include a novel Dreaming of Tom Thomson, and a manuscript of essays, images and poetry about art, Drawing and Love.

Kelley has taught art for over 25 years, offering private classes and workshops, and running art programs for community-based agencies serving newcomers to Canada and women experiencing long-term poverty. She currently teaches surface design at Sheridan College and drawing in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

In Sept 2009 and 2010, she facilitated two popular public readings: “Ekphrasis at the AGO.” Poems from the first event were published in ARC Poetry Annual 2011 and audio-casts are available on ART MATTERS, the AGO blog. Listen to Kelley’s poem at http://artmatters.ca/wp/2010/04/kelley-aitken-on-kathe-kollwitz-audio/

 With Anna Payne Krzyzanowski, she runs a small web-based illustration subscription service, Visible Spirit: www.visiblespirit.com

She lives in Toronto with her partner, the teacher and environmentalist Frank de Jong.

Drawing in Espedaillac

Relative to much of what we do, drawing is a slow act. The process of drawing requires attention and sensual observation. Time slows, we experience an intense focus and absorption. In drawing, we are creating a dialogue with the world around us; we develop and express that relationship between ourselves and our subject matter. Drawing is about learning to see, replacing what we know or assume about objects, figures and spaces with what our eyes tell us. A drawing is a reflection of a subject but it is also about us, our point of view and interpretation.

Through a series of short exercises, demonstrations and lots of plein-air sketching we’ll work on the building blocks of drawing. Our subject matter will range from landscape/townscape to figurative/animal drawing and still life. We’ll work in sketchbooks and on rag paper.  We’ll learn to select, simplify and compose while developing an understanding of approaches. We’ll experiment with viewpoint and scale, focus and framing. We’ll explore the creation of mood and atmosphere through mark-making in various media, including conte, chalk pastel, pencil, pen and ink, and charcoal. 

Additional instruction in papercut, scratchboard, and a variety of surface design techniques will be offered. 

 

Alison Watt is an author and visual artist. Her paintings have been exhibited in Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo, her work appears as illustrations in her books as well as in private collections in Canada and the United States. She teaches painting in her studio on Protection Island as well as at other venues, from the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden to coastal ecotour cruises under sail and motor.

Her first book, set on a remote seabird colony, is a memoir about life and death in the human and natural world; The Last Island – a Naturalist’s Sojourn on Triangle Island won the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-fiction in 2002. Her book of poetry, Circadia, was published in 2005. She has also worked as an ecotour leader in Honduras, Galapagos, and under sail, on the coast of British Columbia. She lives on Protection Island, near Nanaimo, BC, where she has raised two children with her husband Kim Waterman.

Her work can be seen at www.alisonwatt.ca

 Painting in Espedaillac

The setting of the charming village of Espedaillac, in Midi-Pyrenees, France, lends itself to plein-air.

But where do you start when you find yourself trying to draw what you see around you. What do you leave in? Take out? Can you move things around? Taking charge of the painting means making decisions every step of the way. We will make those decisions easier, examining the tools of composition, value, and colour. We will explore basic watercolour* technique like washes, wet in wet, lifting, masking, and glazing. And we will spend lots of time in the field. Students can work on traditional watercolour papers, or in an illustrated journal, using watercolour and pen, and integrating text.

*Students may also choose to work in acrylic.

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