I love to travel.  I love art.  I adore France.  So imagine putting all three of those things together and then putting it out there to share with others…  and yes, this is actually happening.  From September 24-October 3 of 2020, this is indeed actually happening.

Several months ago I was approached by a friend who also happens to be an amazing artist, Kirsten Stingle, who also happens to be an amazing artist who loves teaching.  Starting in Rome, she has been working on creating a worksop series that combines  projects in the studio with site tours to the area’s art treasures and hidden gems.  And there is no place, in my opinion at least, that has more hidden gems that spark creativity than France; thus was born the idea of holding an art workshop in southern France.  After many months of searching and planning and emailing and planning some more, we have just gone live with open registration and are ready to start signing people up!

And what a workshop it’s going to be! All that planning and research?  Well, let me just tell you about what we’ve found: We will be holding the workshop in a house that, according to local lore, is where Vincent van Gogh lived and painted his famous “Haystacks” painting.  What’s certainly NOT just local lore is that Vincent’s life happened all over this area.  The workshop will take place a few miles from Arles, which is where he painted “Cafe de Nuit,” and not far from one of my absolute favorite towns in Provence, St. Remy de Provence.  And the list of amazing things to see and do goes on and on:  Isle sur la Sorgue for antiques markets, Fontaine de Vaucluse, Abbaye de Senanque, Les Baux, Roussillon, and more.  I’ll be posting information about all these places over the following weeks, as well as links to Kirsten’s website as well as Lynn Leahy’s website (did I mention that you get to learn from not just one artist but TWO?).  And my part in all this?  Well, this is the part of France where I lived while I worked for the US Air Force as an interpreter.  I know it pretty well, and you get to benefit from that knowledge and enjoy a variety of tours interspersed between workshop days.

It’s what I’ve been working towards, really, for years.

And it’s going to be amazing.

Kirsten Stingle’s website: https://www.kirstenstingle.com

Lynn Leahy’s website: http://www.lynnleahy.com