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Open a Door in Your Creative Life
Friday April 26, 2024, 6:30 pm to Sunday April 28, 2024, 4:00 pm
Val Marie, Saskatchewan
Drawing as Seeing isn’t about learning to draw, exactly. It’s about learning to see with your eyes and with your hand. And it’s for anyone who wants to see better. Whether you write, think, paint, work with ideas or people, draw or think you can’t draw – if you want to learn about seeing the world more clearly, this is for you. Excellent accommodations, creative surroundings, all materials supplied.
Why not draw?
* I can’t draw a stick person.
* Drawing is for artists. Or for kids.
* I am an artist but I paint/sculpt/make pots. I don’t need to draw.
* I am an artist but I don’t need to learn more about drawing.
* I work with words; I don’t need to draw.
* I feel self-conscious, like people will judge what I do.
* I don’t have the time.
* I’m afraid to fail.
Why draw?
* Drawing uses both sides of our brain, the right for creativity and the left for logical thinking. This strengthens both, and helps develop the ability to focus and think strategically.
* Drawing improves memory by incorporating multiple ways of representing information.
* Drawing improves visual perception by teaching the brain to judge attributes like size, shape and colour.
* Drawing develops fine motor skills of the hand.
* Drawing increases the ability to evaluate and combine ideas.
* Drawing improves critical thinking because its process of observation and study helps show us how to see and analyze the world around us more closely.
* Drawing aids in relaxation and stress relief by allowing us to pay attention to details in the environment, which mimics the experience of meditation.
* Drawing engages your creative mind, enhancing your ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagining new ways to communicate.
* Drawing can relieve stress, aid communication, and help arrest cognitive decline.
Given all this, wouldn’t it be great to spend two days finding out how you can learn to see, or to see better? And how you really can’t do this wrong? Let me show you how generous and forgiving drawing is. How many ways there are to see the world around you. And how much richer you will feel once you start.
Welcome to peace and supportive surroundings. Welcome to two days of creativity in Val Marie, Saskatchewan, near Grasslands National Park, connecting with your own vision and where it can take you.
Workshop leader: Laureen Marchand (for more information, see below).
The schedule:
* 6:30 pm, Friday April 26: Gather for dinner at the Val Marie Hotel to get to know each other and talk about what we want this weekend to be like.
* 9:30 am to 4:00 pm, Saturday April 27: Using a variety of materials, approaches, and subjects, relax in a creative indoor environment and be led through a process of finding out what drawing is and can be, and how you can learn new skills and enhance those you already have.
* 6:30 pm, Saturday April 27: Gather for a family-style three course dinner (location TBA) to celebrate your accomplishment.
* 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, Sunday April 28: Travel into Grasslands National Park to take advantage of drawing in this one-of-a-kind scenic environment.
* 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm, Sunday April 28: Gather back in our indoor location to revise and review.
NOTE: Class schedule may be altered depending on weather.
Included:
* All instruction.
* Materials. Note that these are not kits to be taken home, but a wide range of supplies to be used on-site so you have a chance to find out how different materials create different results. If you have materials on hand that you would love to try out, feel free to bring them along.
* Picnic-style lunch on both days, brought to our location.
* A $15 voucher for the Val Marie Hotel dining room, Friday evening.
* Three course family-style dinner on Saturday evening (BYOB)
(Note that we can cater for vegetarians if advised and will supply a fridge in our creative room to store small amounts of food.)
Not included:
* Accommodation (see below).
* Travel (you will need a car, shared or your own, for our morning in the park).
Class size: Registration is limited. Please book early.
Fee: $375 (all-inclusive except accommodation and travel). A non-refundable deposit of $75 will secure your place. The remainder is due by April 15.
To book: Email laureenartist@gmail.com and you’ll be sent an invoice, payable by major credit card or e-transfer.
Val Marie, Saskatchewan, Gateway to Grasslands National Park, is set in an extraordinary landscape of rolling hills, dry coulees, flat-topped buttes, a river valley, starry skies, and dramatic weather. We will work both indoors and outdoors, weather permitting, and the beautiful hills are usually accessible in April for hiking, drawing, and inspiring views. Val Marie is 120 km south of Swift Current, 400 km west and south of Saskatoon, and 365 km west and south of Regina.
Accommodation (including breakfast) is available at the Convent Inn, where we will be the only guests. Rooms and bathrooms are sparkling clean and a delicious home-cooked breakfast is included. Each room has a sink and bathrooms are shared, with sufficient bathrooms to make this easy. Please make your own booking at https://convent.ca. Note that during the winter, reservations are available by email only (not by phone) at conventinn@sasktel.net. Please say that you are with this workshop.
About Laureen Marchand: “In addition to living my life as an working artist and as the owner of Grasslands Gallery Online, I have taught studio classes at the university level, led a variety of artist retreat workshops both in Canada and Ireland, offered art class teaching on contract in many settings, taught in my home studio, acted as a mentor to other artists in the development of their careers, and led artist career workshops, for over 35 years. More than anything, I believe that each of us sees from our own personality and our own experience. My role as a workshop leader is to help develop what is unique about you.”
And to help you enjoy your experience of travelling for art, I’m delighted to offer Travelling for Art Retreats: Why and How, a guide to exactly that. Please click here and it’s yours.