Barbara Roth

Watercolor + Ink
Travel Painting & Journaling

This week long workshop at La Cascade is designed for beginning thru advanced painters. You will spend the week watercolor painting and sketching every day! Your time will be spent on a combination of activies: art instruction in the studio, exploring the area, visiting local villages and landmarks, meandering through flea markets, shops and museums. Plus painting what visions inspire you while you are out exploring. Then you return to the studio and complete your paintings from photographs you have taken earlier in the day. You can choose to keep a Watercolor Travel Journal filled with your daily scribbles, doodles, paintings, notes, observations and thoughts as we explore this inspiringly beautiful region or create paintings.

All week long you’ll be guided to find the techniques, materials, and inspiration you need to continue painting when you return home and you’ll receive instruction tailored to your level of skill. Barbara will demo lots of painting and sketching techniques whenever and where ever you need them. She has taught on a train speeding through Tuscany and shown her students how to paint a tree in the wilderness while seated in the middle of the forest. Some of the places you will venture out to explore include: the farmer’s market in Revel, the bakery and the chocolate shop in Soreze, the monastery at En Calcat which has an incredible book and postcard shop, Montolieu a village dedicated to old books, the incredible Cathedral St. Cecile and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum in Albi, a Sunday flea market a few miles away and much more. You will have the flexibility to go out and explore or spend the day at La Cascade, sketching and painting leisurely in the studio or from the terrace or meandering around the village. You will paint with watercolor + ink, gouache, ink wash, watercolor pencils and discover color mixes perfect for French subject matter. You will learn lots of methods to take the stress out of drawing and different methods and materials that allow you to paint anywhere, anytime from restaurants to airports to fields full of sunflowers.

Your instructor, Barbara Roth, has taught students of all ages and has seen from experience that everyone can learn to paint and draw if they so desire.

During the week we will dine on delicious food prepared for us by local chef, Nese Pelt. Cost for the week includes all meals except 1 lunch and 1 dinner when we dine in local restaurants, lodging in a double occupancy cozy room decorated with local furnishings by Gwen, field trips, and art instruction. Airfare is not included. Students will share the cost of the rental cars which will be approximately $200 per person.

• Cost: $1,900 per week.
  • A special 2-week rate will be available too, just email Barbara for the price if you are interested.
• Visit www.barbararothart.com to see more of Barbara's work. Check out her Blog while you're there!
• Contact Barbara at rabjsl@pacbell.net or (916) 624-7572 with questions or to reserve a space.

Nese Pelt & Dayle Doroshow

Body and Spirit:
Exploring France Thru Food, Art and Well-Being

If you like Yoga, to bike and hike, learn how to cook easy, healthy and delicious cuisine, create a handmade journal/recipe and menu book to record your food and adventures and discover this charming part of France, please accept our invitation to a very special event. For those of you who have been waiting to study cooking with Nese, the chef at La Cascade and Art Heaven, this is finally your chance!

You will reside at La Cascade- a beautifully restored house in the village of Durfort on the river Sor, one hour east ofToulouse. Durfort has been making copper since the Middle Ages and today there are copper studios, leather, glass and other artists to enjoy. The area is rich with medieval villages, working artists, flea markets and fairs, which we will explore as the week unfolds.

Nese will teach cooking classes in the kitchen at La Cascade. Using the superb organic produce of the region and other specialties, she’ll share her recipes for delicious healthy food. On Sat we’ll spend the morning at the renowned Saturday market in Revel (just five minutes away) with its visual feast of goodies and treasures for body and soul. This market has been named one of the 100 most beautiful markets in France

You will have time during these ten days to be yourself, find your center with gentle Yoga directed by Nese in her own nearby healing center, Centre Melisse. She will teach body consciousness techniques which bring you to a calm place away from the stresses and problems of our contemporary lives. Nese’s philosophy is very simple and for everyone.

Dayle will teach book arts creating a handmade recipe/menu journal and unique surface designsinspired by our ancient surroundings. We will learn a cornucopia of techniques using polymer clay, textiles, and flea market treasures to explore and create jewelry, artist books, and mixed media collage and ideas of your choice. Dayle will lead you on several field trips exploring nearby villages with plenty of time for wonderful photo-ops, including Albi with its astounding cathedral and the newly renovated Toulouse Lautrec Museum, the Sunday flea markets (Vide Greniers- literally Empty the Attic) and other adventures.

We’ll round out the week with a lake picnic and liberating bike ride DOWN from the lake (you will be driven up) and a guided hike to Berniquaut – a site high above the villages of Durfort and Soreze where you’ll find the old foundations of an ancient civilization and spectacular valley views.

All activities are optional and you are welcome to relax by the river, work in the studio, join Nese in the kitchen or explore on your own!

• Cost: $2,500
• Visit www.dayledoroshow.com for more information — and to learn more about Dayle and her work.
• Contact Dayle at dayledoroshow@hotmail.com or 707-962-9419 with questions or to reserve a space.

Nese (pronounced Nesha) studied sports science and sports medicine at the University de Goethe in Frankfurt Germany. She has taught self-healing techniques at her health center, Centre Melisse, in Soreze France since 1996. She teaches yoga and mind-body awareness in German, French, and English. “We are all magic,” says Nese. “We just forget it. Using a variety of techniques, I help you discover your own inner lamp, so you always have a light in your hand to show you the way.”

Dayle is a mixed media/ polymer clay artist and owner of design studio Zingaro, stamp of distinction. She trained in traditional ceramics in New York City and sold her pottery in Greenwich Village shops. Her work can be seen at art shows on the West Coast. Dayle enjoys teaching and sharing her techniques in workshops across the United States and summer workshops in France.

Dayle Doroshow

Capturing Ancient France:
A Mixed Media Journey

In this spirited workshop, let’s explore Artist Journals, Jewelry and small Sculptures to capture our week in the French countryside. The region is rich with medieval villages, artists, flea markets and fairs, which we will draw on for inspiration, ephemera gathering and our art work. Start the week making a multi-signature journal covered with beautiful French fabric and polymer clay elements – an idea collector to capture your inspiration and techniques. Next, we’ll create Jewelry and small artifacts that tell a story inspired by French medieval village life, the Renaissance court and your imagination.

We will learn a cornucopia of techniques using polymer clay, textiles, ephemera, and flea market treasures to explore and create ideas of your choice – jewelry, artist books, mixed media collage, and assemblage.

We'll spend instructed studio time each day in the lovely and well-equipped studio at La Cascade. Then each day we'll jump in our cars for adventure and treasure hunting that will inspire our artwork. Field trips include Montolieu, a village devoted to books, the nearby monastery En Calcat with its outstanding art bookstore, the renowned Saturday market in Revel with its visual feast of goodies and treasures for body and soul, the Sunday flea markets and Albi, home to the renovated Toulouse-Lautrec Musee, an awesome cathedral and other delights.

Open studio at night, exquisite food from our personal chef, new friendships, art-making. Live and work at La Cascade where time relaxes and creativity flows.

• Cost: $1,900 per week
• Visit www.dayledoroshow.com for more information — and to learn more about Dayle and her work.
• Contact Dayle at dayledoroshow@hotmail.com or 707-962-9419 with questions or to reserve a space.

Linda Trenholm & Deb Rumer

From Daze to Days

Explore a variety of media techniques in the creation of images of self-revelation and surprise.

Using altered book techniques, a wide range of collage skills including layering and rich patinas, and formal design principles, we will work both two and three dimensionally. Linda and Deb will be providing daily demonstrations and brain storming sessions as we create individual visual journeys in our book FROM DAZE TO DAYS. In addition we will consider creative challenges as we transform ordinary and extraordinary found objects and collected paper into curious new book formats.

La Cascade, our home for the week, is a three story 17th century house lovingly restored by owner and artist, Gwen Gibson. In addition to class time, this workshop will include delicious meals prepared by our private chef, comfortable double accommodations and the peace and charm of the copper making village of Durfort. Located about 75 minutes from Toulouse, we will be surrounded by fields of wheat and sunflowers where the nearby village of Soreze and town of Revel offer the best of French country life without the crowds. There will be visits to: a Saturday market, one or more vide greniers (literally, to clear the attic), the city of Albi to visit the Cathedral of St. Cecile and the Musee de Toulouse Lautrec.

There will also be time to read and reflect, walk the paths of the serene countryside, hum a tune in the local church known for its acoustics and enjoy the near constant music of the birds and multiple waterways that flow through Durfort. e-mail: Lindee54@aol.com or debrumer@gmail.com.

• Cost: $1,800 includes:
  • All meals, including dinner at Sel et Sucre, a popular creperie in Revel
  • Classes and 24-hour studio availability
  • a charming double occupancy room
  • Not included: Airfare and shared car rental.
• Space is limited to six participants.
• Visit www.lindytrenholm.com for more information — and to learn more about Linda and her work.
• Contact Linda at lindee54@aol.com or Deb at debrumer@gmail.com with questions or to reserve a space.

Kate McKinnon

... Check back for details

• Cost: tbd
• Visit www.katemckinnon.com for more information — and to learn more about Kate and her work.
• Contact Kate at kate@katemckinnon.com with questions or to reserve a space.

Susan Lenart Kazmer
    & Linda Larsen

Objects & Elements

Each day class begins after breakfast cooked by our own French Chef! After class and lunch on the terrace, there will be time for exploration of the French countryside. Dinner is tres gourmet with candlelight and the wonderful wines of the region.

For those who are obsessed with their creativity, the studio is open 24 hours a day. Weekend flea and farmer’s markets offer opportunity to find materials to create your very own artifacts.

Classes will incorporate all of Susan’s best classes and also techniques from her new book — Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed Media Artists.

Plan a side trip to Paris on the way home!

• Cost: $2,900
• Visit www.susanlenartkazmer.net for more information — and to learn more about Susan and her work.
• Contact linda@susanlenartkazmer.net with questions or to reserve a space.

Anna Corba

Collage in the French Countryside

Spend a week at La Cascade, allowing its charming mystique to influence and expand your creative spirit. Each day will be a thoughtful blend of art making, journal keeping, luscious food and inspirational excursions to nearby villages. This area of France is particularly rich in fodder for the collage artist...there are local shops to explore, a weekend market in Revel, the intimate and quirky Toulouse-Lautrec museum and an entire hilltop town renowned for its assortment of paper goods, including vintage books, magazines and postcards.

Over the course of the week we will explore collage making on wood and canvas in an intuitive yet directed fashion. We will work with intermingling paint and assemblage techniques along with layering methods to include the various items we are gathering along the way. We will also hand paint our own papers and create a personalized 'idea journal' to serve as an ongoing receptacle for collecting sketches, thoughts, snippets of poetry, paper ephemera and more. There will be in depth instruction on the use of beeswax, including an opportunity to make your own tinted encaustics using local herbs and spices.

Access to the studio is always available, yet in general, classes will be held each morning with afternoons left free for adventures. Evenings bring us back to dinner on the terrace with time for relaxation, a glass of wine and a gentle yoga class if desired.

Anna is passionate about all things French as evidenced by her personal work for the past twenty years. She is particularly fond of sharing insights from her book "Vintage Paper Crafts" and designs her classes to be inviting and supportive for all levels of experience.

• Cost: $1,900 includes ...
  • charming double occupancy room
  • all meals prepared by our in house chef with fresh local ingredients
  • all day access to studio and all classes
  • directed side excursions
  • evening yoga class
  • Price does not include airfare or shared rental car.
• Visit www.annacorbastudio.com for more information — and to learn more about Anna and her work.
• Contact anna@annacorbastudio.com with questions or to reserve a space.

Ronna Sarvas Weltman

Art Jewelry:   An Exploration of
Modern Primitive Aesthetics

This week-long workshop will help you find your unique artistic voice through polymer clay and wire. We will experiment, play, laugh, create and transform as we explore and expand ideas about art as adornment. Rounding out the experience will be a studio open all day and all night, forays into local villages and markets, and gourmet food prepared by our own chef.

A particular focus on creating art-quality organic art jewelry will include using and exploring polymer clay, copper, sterling and fine silver wire, and the myriad materials that are used to texture, color and adorn polymer clay and wire. Concepts and techniques will include the principles of jewelry design, working with polymer clay, wire and metal, attaching metal and polymer clay to each other, color principles, jewelry findings and hardware, and exploring the enigma of achieving sophistication and whimsy in primitive design. In each of these endeavors, we will take art seriously without taking ourselves seriously.

• Cost: $1,900
• Visit www.ronnaround.com for more information — and to learn more about Ronna and her work.
• Contact ronnaround@comcast.net with questions or to reserve a space.