This class with instruction by Alice Meyer Wallace will focus on classic watercolor techniques-Sargeant, Homer, Rodin, Nolde, and particularly Charles Demuth, from Lancaster, PA. Come enjoy this fun and relaxed class! The class will work predominantly from still life but on occasion, the instructor will lead the class in painting from the model (2 times) and there will be an option of experimenting with watercolor and collage.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Alice Meyer-Wallace
Cost: $285
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

This dynamic course invites artists of all skill levels to explore the limitless possibilities of mixed media. Students will learn to create richly layered artworks that express their unique artistic vision by combining various materials and techniques. Class sessions will cover a range of media, including acrylics, collage, ink, cut and torn paper, found objects, and more; while emphasizing principles of composition, texture, and color theory. Students will engage in hands-on experimentation, guided exercises, and individual projects, discovering how to merge different art forms into cohesive pieces. Whether you’re a beginner eager to try something new or an experienced artist seeking fresh inspiration, this course fosters creativity, self-expression, and an appreciation for the unexpected beauty of mixed media art.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Heidi Techner
Cost: $285
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Expand your artist’s eye by learning different ways of seeing, loosen your grip on realism, and move into an exploration of essence. In this workshop, you’ll interpret your observations of the surrounding natural environment to create abstract art that is wholly your own. With an iterative approach, you’ll lean into different mediums, including watercolor, graphite, oil pastel and cut paper, to distill the characteristics of landscape. Along the way, creative process insights are shared that can free your hand and strengthen your visual voice. This workshop is appropriate for all levels of students.
 
Location: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Instructor: Meg Kaczyk
Cost: $350
Sponsor: Art League of Hilton Head
Website, email, (843) 842-5738

This workshop will focus on helping students transform their works on paper, including drawings, paintings and prints into mixed media pieces, with a focus on collage. Students are encouraged to bring in previous work that they consider unfinished or unsuccessful as a starting point for their mixed media experiments and creations. Students will have access to the etching press and printing inks to make new prints to add to their pieces. Instruction will be based on a student’s individual interests and skills and thus is appropriate for beginners through advanced level. See materials list for detailed information on supplies.
 
Location: Wayne, Pennsylvania
Instructor: Christine Stoughton
Cost: $285
Sponsor: Wayne Art Center
Website, email, 610-688-3553

Come & have an amazing time creating a beautiful fabric punch wreath with your favorite colors! Join us for a glass, or two, of vino as Art League Academy's very own, Amy Wehrman-Jones walks participants step-by-step through designing and executing their very own fabric punch-wreath. Whether you need a girl's night out, or a date night with a special someone, this session requires zero experience and is guaranteed to be a blast! All supplies are included in the cost of this workshop. We will have limited complementary wine for attendees age 21+, but you're welcome to BYOB if you prefer something different.
 
Location: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Instructor: Amy Wehrman-Jones
Cost: $50
Sponsor: Art League of Hilton Head
Website, email, (843) 842-5738

Join award-winning artist Kathie George for this fun mixed media class. Day 1 – Watercolor Batik with wax and watercolor. Put the two together on textured rice paper and wow! You get a look you cannot achieve any other way. Kathie will lead you step-by-step through the process, teaching all the important skills you need. No watercolor skills are necessary. Day 2 – Sunflower Mixed Media Collage. We begin by building a beautiful background with colorful art tissue papers. You will learn how to stain your own papers, too. Then we’ll dig in and have a blast learning collage, “pulling” our subject from the background. Then work along with Kathie step-by-step as she demos how to paint the beautiful Sunflower.
 
Location: Bryan, Texas
Instructor: Kathie George
Cost: $310
Sponsor: Degallery
Website, email, +1(979)704-3090

Join us for the Squirrel Brain, Chickadee Soul Retreat, a transformative getaway designed to help you recharge, reconnect, and rediscover your creativity. Held in the peaceful mountains of Marshall, North Carolina, just 30 minutes from Asheville, this retreat offers workshops in intuitive painting, somatic movement, and meditation. Stay in unique accommodations like a cozy treehouse or barn/gallery with a wood-fired sauna. Enjoy open studio time, walking trails, and nourishing meals cooked in a wood-fired bread oven. Whether you’re an artist, writer, or simply someone craving inspiration, this retreat provides the perfect blend of rest, creativity, and connection. No experience required—just bring an open heart and a willingness to explore. Your creative reset awaits!
 
Location: Marshall, North Carolina
Instructor: Amanda Jeanne
Cost: $350-$1200
Sponsor: Amanda Jeanne Artworks
Website, email

This course is taught by local artist Joan Moreau McKeever, who is here to teach you how to create your very own realistic or abstract collages using washi tape! Washi Tape is a not-very-sticky masking tape made from rice paper. It comes in rolls of solid colors, as well as patterns, and provides adherence to a variety of surfaces. Washi Tape is primarily used for crafting, but in this workshop, we are going to take it to a whole new level! Students will learn the technique of creating with this new art form. Landscapes, Flowers, People, Abstracts.... No limit! No experience necessary! Students should bring $30 cash to pay for materials, all of which will be provided for you.
 
Location: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Instructor: Joan Moreau McKeever
Cost: $150
Sponsor: Art League of Hilton Head
Website, email, (843) 842-5738

Want more expressive art? Want more confidence in yourself and your art? Want to have a transformative experience with like-minded people? This class will take you beyond predictable painting methods. We will experiment with innovative techniques and a mindset of relaxed awareness, which have been designed to cultivate curiosity and self-confidence. Inspiring demos, lots of time to paint, and group critiques will reinforce design and mindset objectives. Critiques will model how to discuss paintings with non-judgmental language that educates you to “see” more and to appreciate whatever might show up so that you and your art will flourish. Discussions will address confidence, procrastination, vulnerability, curiosity, courage, inspiration, and more! All levels of experience are encouraged to attend.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Joan Fullerton
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

On canvas, you'll create a wonderful sunflower or flower of your choice! We will be achieving textures with many layers of paint and media. We will experiment with torn papers, string, napkins, stenciling, glue, paint, glitter and a variety of other interesting materials. Come let your creativity loose and have fun making this 3-Dimensional piece of art! Students should bring $20 cash to pay instructor for materials, which will all be provided for you.
 
Location: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Instructor: Julie Schroeder
Cost: $60
Sponsor: Art League of Hilton Head
Website, email, (843) 842-5738

A mixed media workshop discovering your language though materials, process and observation. This workshop is based on demonstrations of a variety of materials, prompts and exercises to get to the core of personal meaning. The focus is on exploration, intuition, and pushing out of your comfort zone. Directives include formal elements such as line, shape, space, color, and composition with fast-paced timing based on discovery rather than finished products. Techniques will focus on markmaking, layering, collaging, excavating, combining materials, and more. Materials include: dirt, coffee, natural materials, inks, acrylic mediums and paint plus cold wax and R&F Pigment Sticks. Participants will create many small works to let go of the "precious" mentality. Freedom of expression is emphasized!
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Lisa Pressman
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

During this exciting retreat, you will learn to paint florals, looking at colour, composition and techniques and how to approach flower painting creatively with a focus on the process rather than the outcome. Victoria will demonstrate a wide variety of materials and show you how to be explorative and experimental, letting go of the fear of making mistakes. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced level artist, you’ll develop the confidence and skills to creatively loosen up, be more spontaneous, and let go of self-doubt. You’ll be provided with a huge array of gorgeous flowers as inspiration. Quick and easy exercises will introduce you to collage and mixed media techniques. Victoria will be on hand, offering support and advice.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Victoria Johnson
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

In this exciting and inspiring art adventure for budding artists, teens will tap into their creativity as they learn to express themselves through art. Receive one-on-one customized art instruction with professional artists. Explore a variety of painting, drawing and mixed-media art projects, materials and technique. Explore acrylic paint on canvas, oil pastels, charcoal, mixed-media expression, ink, portraiture and more! Learn artistic techniques such as line quality, composition, shading, texture, personal expression, color, art history, realism, abstraction and more! Celebrate with a group art exhibition of artwork created. Classes are offered on Mondays and Saturdays.
 
Location: Bryan, Texas
Cost: $35 per class or $95/month
Sponsor: Degallery
Website, email, +1(979)704-3090

Why flowers? I have always been drawn to painting flowers in my work. To me, flowers represent the healing power of beauty. I believe that the world could use a little more beauty (and art). I am delighted to share my love of flowers and my process of painting with all of you! Come arrange, sketch and paint flowers with me. During this five-day intensive workshop, we will explore shape, line, and color through a variety of expressions, including sketching, collage, and painting. We will use mixed media techniques to layer and create beautiful expressive florals. I will be walking artists through exercises to loosen up their process, create from a place of joy, play with color, and explore composition.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Wendy Brightbill
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

I am constantly in awe and inspired by nature and I believe she’s our best teacher! I cannot wait to lead you in this exploratory workshop where we will use and study elements from nature to create a wide variety of beautiful art. From watercolor and stamped flowers, pressed elements and mark making in sketchbooks and journals, to mixed media, collage work and pattern play… it will be a wonderful, creative time together!! Whether you haven’t picked up a paintbrush since elementary school or you create art daily, I love teaching new techniques, sharing my process and favorite materials and I promise you will learn a lot, love what you create, and have fun and be inspired by nature!
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Caroline Simas
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

Join me and immerse yourself in the creative process. The experience begins the moment you register as you source, find, and gather your own personal collection of papers, fibers, ephemera, and other bits & pieces that will become the basis of your creation. As the workshop begins and unfolds, we will gather together, both within the workshop space at The Connecticut River Valley Inn and at some special, local locations. You will spend your time transforming your treasures into a series of what might loosely be called artist books. Instruction will cover the range of techniques used in mixed media: surface designing, using paints and inks, hand stitching, book binding, rusting, dyeing, embossing, mark making, gel printing, collaging, creative layering, and more.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Seth Apter
Cost: $975 + Materials fee & CT Sales Tax
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

Learn a non-traditional approach to oil painting or explore oils for the first time. Cold wax medium is an additive that thickens oil paint, speeds up the drying time (a bit), and neutralizes the paint so there’s no concern about “fat over lean” rules. We will be using R&F’s Pigment Sticks (compressed oil paints) along with tube oils to create paintings without brushes or smelly solvents. You will discover new tools and methods for creating rich and authentic small works on paper and Ampersand’s Gessoboard. With Arches oil paper as our primary substrate, you’ll have several paintings going at once. This workshop is fun, a bit messy, and will change the way you think about oil painting.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Julie Snidle
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

Open to students of all artistic levels, Paper and Book Artistry is for those who are ready to ditch perfection, get messy, and play with no rules. Roben-Marie’s teaching style is friendly and easy going with a focus on having fun and playing with supplies in non-traditional ways. Join Roben-Marie in a lovely historic inn located in The Connecticut River Valley for an inspiring and joyful workshop designed to help you with creative play, building up a stash of amazing art papers, and exploring the mixing of different mediums and journal making. Paper and Book Artistry is more than creative time…it’s time brimming with togetherness and friendship.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Roben Marie Smith
Cost: $975 + Materials fee & CT Sales Tax
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389

Jodi Ohl, the artist and author of “Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink,” will guide you through a variety of inspiring chats, comprehensive demonstrations, and provide personal guidance daily as you immerse yourself in the creative process of abstract painting with elements of collage and mixed media. Students who have a desire to find their own personal voice and style, will find many opportunities to flourish in this robust workshop. Students can expect to work on multiple pieces on both paper and canvas (or hardboard) as they learn to build stronger compositions and incorporate design principles.
 
Location: Glastonbury, Connecticut
Instructor: Jodi Ohl
Cost: $1144 + Materials fee
Sponsor: Artists Rising Creativity Retreats
Website, email, 860-781-4389