The course is both suitable for beginners as well as for professionals. Do you well know your way with paint but do you like to broaden your painting horizon? Or are you a beginner with no clue what your horizon in paint could even look like? No worries. You both will be supported with the help you need. After years of painting experience, Carolien knows the do's and dont's when it comes to paint. We will paint en plein air, just like the old masters did. Being outside, soaking up the vibe of the beautifull enviroment, you will notice paiting isn't easy, but once you get the hang of it you will apreciate it even more.

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Our aim is to set everyone on a journey through art in nature, sending you off with lasting memories and the energy to kickstart your creative engine and drive it all the way back home and beyond.

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‘The aim of art is not te represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.’ (Aristotle)

Sunday:

Arrival late afternoon or evening, apéro and dinner for the earlybirds.

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Monday till Friday:

Breakfast Let’s start the day with a little suprise every morning. There will be croissants bien sûr! Home-made jams and granola, fruit-juice from the neighbors orchard, surprising Turkish egg’s one day and a Dutch baby with pine syrup another.

Morning course by Carolien. Learning the basic acrylic painting skills, how to improve them and let's not forget to play along the way! Scroll down to see the course set up day by day.

Lunch Salades, soups, quiche, sandwiches. A balanced and well-paired array to energize you for the rest of the day.

Afternoon Free to continue working on your artwork or explore more and join one of our creativity activities, jump into a hammock or river, it’s all up to you.

Evening: After a great day of painting and exploring, you will enjoy dinner made by our chef Vanessa, whose fabulous meals will astound you. Cooking is in her genes. She has found herself in paradise with all the fine local products, French cuisine mixed with her worldly style of creating meals. Meat is on the menu but don’t know worry if you are a vegetarian, Vanessa won’t disappoint you!

Saturday:

Departure after breakfast

Course

During the morning artist-in-residence Carolien will teach you technical skills; like how to set up a painting in a structured way. Along the way it becomes important to derail the technical process and jump to another creative level, where there is more freedom to roam and paint will start to speak for itself. Enjoy mistakes and when needed, kill your darlings. Then painting is an adventure that can’t go wrong. Carolien has a very individual approach in which there is space for beginners as well as for experienced artists. Scroll down to see the course set up day by day.

Activities

Like to explore some different creative skills? Let’s go foraging in the area with Vanessa for edible flowers and other ingredients that we can use for dinner. Do you like to let your muscles work? Let’s do some forest maintenance with Jeroen, he will explain the tools and tricks he uses to take down dead trees. Making our own charcoal and ink is also on the list. Prefer a more quiet afternoon? You can go for a swim in the river (20 min. walk downhill), read a book in the hammock in the backyard or wonder around the beautiful Ardeche-Vert area.

Dates:

week 1: 16 - 22 July

week 2: 23 - 29 July

Places available : min. 7 to max. 10 participants per week

Location: Maison du Ruisseau de Prêle, Arlebosc, France

Price:

Painting Course by artist-in-residence Carolien Wissing, all meals, non alcoholic drinks, activities and painting materials included €725,-

* Partners not participating in the painting course will be deducted 300,-

Weekly accommodation options

Prices per room/ tent:
* Bring your own tent or campervan (3 spots available) €60,-

* Shared 'glamping' tent incl. 2 real beds, linens, chairs ect. (2 available) €200,-

* Small room with 140cm bed and shared bathroom, perfect for partners. (2 available) €220,-

* Spacious luxury room with 2 singles or one king size bed, shared bathroom (1 available) €350,-
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*Please don't hesitate to contact us at jeroschi@gmail.com to discuss the best suited accomodation for your situation.

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The price does not include travel costs. You can travel by TGV to Valence (one hour driving from Arlebosc) or Fly to Lyon (2 hours from Arlebosc) We can offer a shuttle service for a reasonable price. Coming by car is possible as well of course.

The house where you will be staying is situated in an old farm and  the home base for Art Sauvage. It was bought in 2015 by Vanessa and Jeroen who fell in love with the charm of it. It is an accumulation of buildings on a mountain-slope surrounded by secret gardens, wild forest, a small creak in winter and many fruit trees. The last 7 years have been about building and restoring every summer. Since the summer of 2022 Vanessa and Jeroen live here permanently with their little kids and dog. From a dilapidated farmhouse with several collapsed roofs they are well on their way to create a beautiful maison.

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'We are not there yet and will certainly continue to build and renovate in the coming years. During the painting weeks, however, we will stop the work so that the picturesque surroundings can be enjoyed in peace. We hope you will enjoy the charme of the old French vibe in the original parts as well as what we added to it as much as we do!'

Maison de Ruisseau de Presle in Wintertime

Day 1 – Part 1. (1 hour) Technical session with coffee in the backyard: what are the ingredients for an interesting landscape painting? What are your own preferences? Make a color scheme that you like to work with today.

Part 2. (3 hours) Plein Air time: choose a spot and set up a landscape with a dry brush and finish it with your preferred colors. You will be making 3 painting, one every hour. That’s a lot! But perfect to get your creative engine started.

Day 2. Marché du Matin! In the morning we will go to the market in Lamastre to pick up the best local delicacies and have some coffee (or Ricard) as we share our market trophies. After the market we head back to Arlebosc for lunch and we’ll start working with natural colors.

Part 1. (1 hour) Technical session in the backyard: How do you work with natural ink? We’ll set up a painting with walnut ink.

Part 2. (3 hours) We’ll stay in the backyard and make our own natural inks. What gives off a nice color? We’ll make a natural color scheme and make an artwork with what we have found.

Day 3 Part 1. (1 hour) Technical session with coffee in the backyard: what are the difficulties you ran into the first day? How to solve these matters? What are the things that went well?

Part 2. (3 hours) Pick one painting to finish. Take your time if you want to. Are you done fast? Choose a contrary size and color scheme and do it again. What do you prefer more and why?

Day 4. Part 1. (1 hour) Technical session with coffee in the backyard: working with charcoal we made ourselves the night before: what are the benefits? Time for some charcoal on paper exercises, making different tones and textures.

Part 2. (3 hours) Plein Air time: we will go for a change of scenery and choose a spot by the river Doux. We’ll work on paper with our own charcoal, trying different sizes both big and small.

Day 5. Part 1. (1 hour) Technical session with coffee in the backyard: time to perpetuate newly learned methods: choose and pack up your preferred materials, paint, charcoal or natural ink and let's go for a hike. You choose your spot for your last artwork of the week.

Part 2. (3 hours) Let nature kick in for the last time this week using the skills gathered in the past day’s. No need to feel any pressure on your shoulders. Just remember: Enjoy mistakes, then painting will be an adventure that can’t go wrong!