My goal is to take a week every year to focus 100% on painting. This year I was fortunate to have the opportunity to paint with dear friends, Melissa and Julie (@melissathatchercolton. @stonebrakerart) at a friend's barn property in the Berkshires, Massachusetts. It was classic fall weather and there is no better place to experience (and paint) Fall than Massachusetts! The experience of taking a week off the routine of helping everybody else, and solely helping myself to develop my professional skills and ideas--has been incredibly useful. Not just for my art spirit (obviously), but for every other aspect of my life.
I have been talking to a lot of friends about these trips I have been on and I have sensed the need that many people have to experience something similar. The need to re-set, the need to connect and collaborate with new friends and like-minded people, and the desire to develop ones-self creatively. Developing ones-self is an often neglected aspect of people who spend most of their adult lives making money or raising families. It's not easy when there are other priorities on the radar! But I believe that when you take the time to do so, things can align and magic can happen in your life. I think of it as a business trip that yields incalculable benefits!
So, here's the deal. For a few years some of my artist friends and I have been cooking up an idea to take non-professional artists (i.e. intermediate artists or people interested in learning to paint for the first time) to some of the same places I have traveled to on my art trips for the last few years. So, is anyone interested in going to a castle in France? How about an ancient monastery in Italy? With a chef? A manor in the rolling sheep country of England? Anyone? We'll take 8 spots. Stay tuned for more information next year!
Here are some more photos of our trip, and below that, a gallery of photos of some previous art trips in France, England and Italy