Painting holidays for a welcome escape from the pressures of work

Painting holidays are in vogue, during the summer month’s country houses in Andalucia, Tuscany, the Languedoc and various Aegean Islands offer quality residential courses to inspire artists to paint new panoramas. As the weather in Europe turns chilly,organisers of painting holidays focus on land or seascapesand offer the climates and comforts of Dubai, Sri Lanka and Thailand.  The words “painting holiday” suggest quite a difference from “painting course”; a holiday invitesartists and non-painting partners alike, suggesting that a partner who does not paint would be welcome to enjoy some of the other attractions available, such as delicious food and yoga or golf.Sometime beginners have a go only to find they appreciate the exclusive concentration of painting, which gives a welcome escape from the pressures of work.Typically painting holidays appeal to women,accomplished artists and not so accomplished painters who are anxious to hone their skill in a non-judgemental environment.

Typically painting holidays appeal to women,accomplished artists and not so accomplished painters who are anxious to hone their skill in a non-judgemental environment.

This reporter has just hosted another painting holiday in Kenya on the shores of the Indian ocean, our guests have been an eclectic mix of the professional and successful oil painter looking for new horizons, the novice hoping for a friendly introduction to watercolour and everybody in between. Nature provided us with a beautiful setting exploding with colour. We provided home-cooked vegetarian and Swahili cuisine and optional massage. Our painting teacher turned out to be not only a charming gentleman but probably the most helpful instructor the students had ever experienced, not only is he a renowned painter but also blessed with superb teaching skills . It was a joy to watch over a period of six days how they mastered their craft, their paintings transforming literally into works of art worthy of exhibitions.

As shadows come from the sky, we planned an experimental session painting at night, it was so successful that one artiste had to be dragged away from her easel at 1am before she dropped with exhaustion, she had just completed a 12 hour painting day. Each day began with a talk about technique, our instructor explained that colours are like your family, you have to know and understand them well, if you treat them with restraint and faith then you will achieve harmony; interestingly an experienced artist with just six basic colours can mix 95% of all colours. Early morning talks centeredaround proportion, perspective, balance and cropping, with lots of q&a; sometimes students digressed into more academic arenas about Gwen John and James Tissot being influenced by James Whistler or Paul Gaugin’s use of sombre colour in an exotic environment. Our instructor had all the answers and shared many delightful insights including “every boundary has a line which isn’t actually there, it is your own head that puts it in.” Really painting is so like life.