You don't want to miss this!! - 10 Day Artist retreat in Greece

Ok...so I am just a bit excited!!!

If you have been following me for a while you will know that I have been working with the amazing Gillian from Artable for quite a few years now. We have held some awesome workshops and retreats together all over Australia. Well, now that the world is opening up again Gillian is bringing back what she does best and what Artable is most known for....overseas creative retreats!

I am super stoked to be one of her teachers for the first series of luxury art retreats in 2023 and we are heading to the beautiful Skopelos Island.

Skopelos is a very special island full of artistic inspiration and colour everywhere you look. There is the most incredible turquoise coloured sea nestled behind spectacular white-washed villages with multi-coloured rooves. Combine that with the brilliance of the local bougainvillea, lemon and olive trees and you have an artists' haven.

I have never been there before but Gillian has spent a lot of time there and knows exactly what we need to see. She has put together an incredible 10 day retreat full of food, inspiration, relaxation and art.

PLACES ARE LIMITED SO SECURE YOUR SPOT WITH A DEPOSIT ASAP

Each day will involve a new painting location where you will work with me, I will demonstrate some useful techniques before tackling your own artworks with plenty of down time to shop, swim in the crystal clear waters and enjoy the Greek hospitality.

We will be using mostly watercolour and gouache so that we can keep things nice and portable, with a strong focus on capturing the colour and mood of the locations we visit. We can work in sketchbooks as well as loose sheets of paper. I will show you how to work loose and fast to capture the essence of the island without getting bogged down in details. 

In addition to daily instruction from me and staying in gorgeous water view accommodation, you will also be enjoying:

- Dinners with a local Greek grandmother cooking & George's homemade pastries and incredible fresh Greek breakfast each morning

- A sailing trip to soak in the incredible turquoise waters surrounding the island with painting in the old village on Alonyses

- A Day trip to see St Johns Church made famous in the movie Mama Mia

- Visits to local tapas bars & restaurants

- Visits to local beaches where you can swim between painting sessions

- Plenty of shopping time for authentic Greek ceramics and more

The full package includes accommodation, art classes and some planned tours. Breakfast is also included each morning with some lunches and some dinners included in the price (others allow you to choose & pay for your own meals at a variety of restaurants and tapas bars). Flights are not included in the package which gives you the flexibility to plan a longer visit if you would like.

This workshop is open to anyone worldwide so if you are based in Europe or the US and you have always wanted to join in on my workshops then this is a great opportunity to learn from me.

Artists will have painting sessions with me either morning or afternoon and you can choose how much or how little painting you do each day. (Non-painting partners are welcome to join us at a discounted rate as well and will have plenty to do).
 

What if I'm just a beginner?
You don't need to feel as though you are a good painter to do this trip, I have taught many beginner painters before and what better place to be inspired and learn the basics than the Greek Islands.

Watercolour and Gouache are very easy art mediums to pick up and learn for beginners. And a lot of techniques used with gouache are very similar to how I use acrylic paint, so you can transfer what you learn at the retreat over to acrylic paint when you get back home. 

What if I don't have someone to go with?
No arty friends? no worries! Based on past experiences with these retreats I know that by the end everyone is great friends. You will be with a group of creative people that are just as excited as you are to talk about paints, materials, techniques and more. The accommodation is based on twin share rooms and Gillian will match you up with another single traveller. 

More questions??

Feel free to contact Gillian at Artable (INFO@ARTABLE.COM.AU) to answer any of the questions you may have regarding the retreat itself, if you have any art-related questions or concerns about the trip then you can contact me and I'd be happy to answer as best I can.

Online Classes - Which is better? Skillshare or Teachable

If you are an artist and you are interested in learning some of the techniques that I use to create my paintings then I do have a number of online classes available on both Skillshare and also through Teachable.

I often have people ask me what the difference between the two platforms are and whether they are the same. The answers is yes and no.

The classes and content available on Skillshare and Teachable are the same (with only one exception). Same videos, same information, same format etc. The difference is that for Skillshare you need to pay a monthly membership to get access to the classes and you need to continue that membership if you want to rewatch or revisit any of the lessons. On Teachable, you pay a one off fee for each class that you want to watch and you only have to pay once. After that you can rewatch anytime as often as you like (even months later).

Which platform you choose is totally up to you and both come with positives and negatives. Skillshare is a monthly subscription, however you also get access to all the other content that is available on the platform (including all my classes and every other class created by other teachers). So you do get a lot of content for your monthly subscription.

Teachable is good for those that don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription, or maybe you are only interested in watching one particular class. You can also watch one class on Teachable, see if you like my style of teaching or not. If you do, then it might be benifitial to eventually subscribe to skillshare and watch them there instead.

You can view my Skillshare profile here and visit my Teachable website here