Watercolor Sketching Workshops in Giverny with Shari Blaukopf: Aug 25-Sept 1 and Sept 1-8, 2023- (one spot open)
Watercolor Sketching Workshops in Giverny with Shari Blaukopf: Aug 25-Sept 1 and Sept 1-8, 2023- (one spot open)
From the moment I first saw Claude Monet’s magnificent water lily paintings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, I’ve dreamed of visiting Giverny to view the garden that inspired them. And now, here’s my chance.
Join me for this week-long sketching workshop, where I’ll finally fulfill my dream — and, perhaps, yours. Join me as we visit Monet’s house, studio, gardens and ponds. Join me for a wonderful week entirely devoted to filling our sketchbooks with the very scenes that inspired the greatest Impressionists: not just Monet, but also Renoir, Pissarro and Cezanne. And, finally, join me as we crown this glorious week with a day at Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh spent his final days.
And what better way to record this memorable week than in our sketchbooks? I’ll share my techniques for capturing the texture and colour of the Normandy Region’s storybook villages and narrow lanes. We’ll sketch gardens and ponds, romantic scenes along the Seine River, and a charming medieval mill. In true travel sketching tradition, we’ll be packing light. Simply bring a small bag for art essentials, and we’ll provide a folding stool.
I’ve designed this workshop to give you confidence sketching wherever you happen to be, whether it’s a busy street in a medieval village or a shadowy garden in the gathering dusk. As we work spontaneously, I’ll show you how to keep your watercolour sketches loose, fresh and vibrant. We’ll begin each day with a short demo and end with a critique, leaving plenty of in-between time to work on your own sketches. As part of a small group, you’ll get plenty of individual attention and feedback, as we work on value studies, vignettes and composition — the essentials to simplifying a scene and capturing its essence. Most important, we’ll make sure to have fun as we sketch, recording our daily impressions as we move from café to hilltop, from riverbank to garden to cathedral. At the end of the week, my goal is that you’ll return home with a fat book filled with fresh, colourful sketches — and memories.
Shari Blaukopf is a Montreal-based workshop instructor, watercolor painter and sketch blogger. She loves to teach, travel and fill sketchbooks with her observations — skills she’s channeled into creating online sketching courses at Learn.shariblaukopf.com.
Shari is also the author of The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working with Color. She’s been active in the Urban Sketchers community since 2012 and has given many watercolor workshops both on her own and internationally through the Urban Sketchers Workshop Program. Her watercolors are in corporate, government and private collections in North America and abroad, and she’s a signature member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.
You can follow her sketches on her blog at shariblaukopf.com or on Instagram @sharisketcher.
Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny is probably the most famous garden in France. Monet painted some of his most famous paintings whilst living at Giverny. Each day we’ll enjoy artistic and cultural experiences: we’ll explore Monet’s house and gardens, paint the church in Auvers sur Oise where Van Gogh painted his final piece, visit the auberge where he lived his final days…and much more!
We will pick you up a the Paris CDG airport and drive you to our beautiful location for the week.
The beautiful place is like a “tiny Giverny”. It is a converted mill surrounded by parkland of 7 acre, with a river going under the B&B, a little bridge and a lot of space.
After you had time to settle in, we will have our welcome/orientation meeting followed by a gourmet dinner.
In the morning, we will start the day with a painting session either in the lovely studio with sliding doors overlooking the garden or directly in the garden.
In the afternoon, we will head towards Giverny and paint away from the crowd in the lovely colorful garden of hotel Baudy.
The hotel has welcomed in its time Renoir, Pissaro, Rodin, Cezanne buth its first guests were American painters. It was a popular hang-out, center of art and the go-to-place for Monet’s guests. You can even visit their painting studio
Leader of the movement and father of modern painting, Claude Monet is perhaps one of the best known Impressionists and certainly a major character in Normandy’s artistic heritage. The picturesque little village of Giverny offers many typical views for you to paint: traditional stone houses, narrow streets and flowery gardens, and the famous Baudy hotel where many artists stayed.
We will of course visit Monet’s house and studio, and stroll around his gardens. His house and gardens in Giverny are much visited for their beauty, their water lilies and ponds, as well as for their importance to Monet’s artistic inspiration.
Vernon offers also a few old streets with medieval buildings with half-timbered and carved facades and eaves.
There are also remains of houses built over the river. An ideal place to relax by the Seine river, eat a picnic and paint away!
We will spend some time in Auvers where Van Gogh lived his last days at the Ravoux Auberge. We will visit his room in the inn that is still a traditional restaurant.
You will be able to paint the same church he painted and visit the cemetery where hs is buried next to his brother, Theo.
We will stay on the property for the last day, giving you plenty of time to finish up some painting and to have one-on-one help from the teacher.
At the end of the day, we will have our little “vernissage” so you can enjoy everyone’s painting from the week, followed by a gourmet dinner.
After our last breakfast together, we will drive you to the Paris airport
Dates:
– Aug 25-Sept 1, 2023: Full
– Sept 1-8, 2023: Full
The trips are limited to 13 Participants
Price: US$ 3,590 pp for a shared room
+ US$ 550 for a single room with ensuite bathroom
Non Painters: Same price (due to limited space)
– Pick-up at 2:30pm at Paris CDG airport
– Drop-off at 11am at Paris CDG airport
– A welcome reception
– All nights at the hotel
– All breakfasts, 2 lunches and 5 dinners (incl. wine)
– All art classes
– The use of folding chairs
– Transporation in a A/C van to painting sites
– A personal bilingual chauffeur/guide throughout the week
– Entrance fees to all sites on the tour
– A free Paris planner for a self guided visit in Paris
if you decide to extend your trip: suggestions of hotels,
restaurants and places to visit.
– Flights to Paris
– 4 lunches and 2 dinners
– Art Supplies
– Tour leader(s) tipping
If you cancel the trip: | Cancellation Fee per Person |
---|---|
More than 120 days before departure | The $600 deposit is forfeited (however $300 can be transferred to another trip with a departure date within 1 year of cancelation date) |
61-120 days before departure | 50% of total cost forfeited |
31-60 days before departure | 75% of total cost forfeited |
0-30 days before departure | 100% of total cost forfeited |
If French Escapade cancels | You get a full refund |
Due to a last minute cancelation, we do have one spot open for Sept 1-8, 2023. Please email us at contact@frenchescapade.com to make sure the spot is still open and we will send you the link to the online form.