These courses are suitable for all levels. Some flexibility of content is possible, to accommodate individual needs and interests – and to take account of the weather!- but the following timetable has been found to work well:

Sunday: Arrive afternoon or early evening. Tour the garden and choose some art books and DVDs from the library and take them to your room for inspiration. Enjoy an aperitif in the garden (weather permitting) and a sumptuous 3- course evening meal with wines and a glass of Baileys or Calvados to finish.

Monday: Tutor Demonstration: different strategies for composing a picture; we compare different ways of tackling the wonderful stone barns, houses and churches that fill the Normandy landscape. Choose your subject from among the many barns and houses nearby.

Tuesday: Tutor Demonstration: sketching figures on the move and painting crowd scenes. Visit colourful local market at Villedieu and sketch the passers-by while sitting in our favourite cafe. Quick visit to a couple of local art galleries and lunch in a nearby brasserie.
p.m. Choose your subject from among the many sculptures and vistas in the gardens.

Wednesday: Tutor Demonstration: painting the bocage. How to use atmospheric perspective to paint the rolling hills, the patchwork of small fields and hedgerows studded with oak and ash that give this region of Normandy an appearance that has, alas, all but vanished from much of the UK. Find your subject in the view from the gardens, or in the nearby valleys.

Thursday Tutor Demonstration: painting water and cloud effects in watercolour.
Visit the Gorges of the River Vire for a full day’s painting of river scenes. Packed lunch provided for riverside picnic or lunch at local brasserie.

Friday: Tutor Demonstration: How to enhance your best pictures using an image editing programme such as Photoshop and turn them into prints. (A series of articles on this topic has been commissioned from me by Leisure Painter magazine and will appear from January.) We make prints from your favourite pieces produced during the week.

Nb Artists of limited mobility will have transport provided to painting sites close to car parking.
In the event of bad weather, alternative interior locations will be provided.

Saturday: Departure after breakfast.

FEES FOR 2009.....

Inclusive course fee per person for six nights accommodation and evening meals and five days tuition and lunches (excluding brasserie drinks Tuesday and Thursday.) Prices based on two people sharing room.
White Room: ………………………………………660 euros
Luxury Red Room ……………………................... 792 euros
Single person supplement in White Room……. .........132 euros