A weekend to unfold the next chapter in your artistic life
Friday November 7, 2025, 6:30 pm to Monday morning November 10, 2025
Val Marie, Saskatchewan
Would you love to spend a weekend expanding your skills and creativity in supportive and comfortable surroundings, as you learn, or learn more, about the beautiful and forgiving medium of artists’ oil colours and how they can be both non-toxic and safe?
And about how they’re meant to be used in as many ways as there are artists?
All levels of painting experience are welcome.
Welcome to creativity and peace and acres of sky. Welcome to two and a half days of retreat to revive your creativity and expand your skills in supportive and comfortable surroundings. Welcome to inspiration, connection, spark. Welcome to the joy and and confidence of oil colours.
What’s in a name?
Artists’ oil paint gets a bad rap. Maybe it’s an idea we have about the name.
“Oil paint” used to be applied on woodwork and baseboards; it has mainly been phased out because it contains VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency warns may have adverse health effects. “Oil paint” is on airline banned-substance lists because of its extreme flammability. “Oil paint” needs to be thinned and cleaned with poisonous solvents and it’s an all-round baddy.
But in fact, artists’ oil colours are something else entirely. Artists’ oil colours are made of pigment in vegetable oil, and can be used without a thinning medium and cleaned with specialized soap instead of solvents.
What’s in a history?
Or maybe it’s an idea we have about tradition.
Oil paint is for masters only and therefore impossible for artists who aren’t masters, which is almost everybody. It’s slow to dry, meaning you have to wait between the application of layers. It has too many rules.
The thing is, none of this is true. Or it doesn’t have to be. If you’re an artist who’s interested in trying or working more with this this beautiful medium, please read on!
Because wouldn’t it be great to spend two and a half days finding out how you can add artists’ oils to your repertoire or learn more about a medium you already use? Let me show you how enjoyable this artistic material can be, and how much richer you will feel with it on your side.
Retreat, paint and learn with experienced artist/instructor Laureen Marchand (see more below), November 7 – 10 in the Village of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, gateway to the beautiful Grasslands hills. Paint during both structured and free workshop sessions, meet and talk with other artists, eat good food, walk in Grasslands National Park or through the safe and quiet Village streets if you choose.
Rest at night in the tranquil atmosphere of the Convent Country Inn, a restored historic building with atmosphere to spare. Learn or learn more about your materials, or try something entirely new. Have fun! All levels of experience are welcome.
When: Friday suppertime to Monday late morning, November 7 -10, 2025
Where: Val Marie, Saskatchewan, Gateway to Grasslands National Park. This is an extraordinary landscape of rolling hills, dry coulees, flat-topped buttes, a river valley, starry skies, and dramatic weather. Though the late fall Saskatchewan climate will keep us indoors for studio work, the beautiful hills are usually still accessible in November for hiking, photography, and inspiring views. Val Marie is located 120 km south of Swift Current, 400 km west and south of Saskatoon, or 365 km west and south of Regina. More detailed directions will be provided on registration.
The schedule:
* 6:30 pm, Friday November 7: Meet at 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 November 8: In both structured and free workshop sessions, relax in a creative indoor environment and be led through a process of finding out what artists’ oil colours are and can be, and how you can learn new skills and enhance those you already have. Break for lunch around 12:00 noon.
* 6:30 pm, Saturday November 8: Gather for a family-style two course dinner in Laureen’s home/studio to honour your accomplishment so far.
* 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, Sunday November 9: Enjoy accompanied travel into Grasslands National Park to engage with and absorb this one-of-a-kind scenic environment. (Weather permitting.)
* 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm, Sunday November 9: Meet back in our indoor location first for lunch, then another workshop session where you may choose to apply your new skills to the creation of an artwork based in your morning experience. Photo printing equipment will be available (maximum three images per person).
* 6:30 pm, Sunday November 10: Celebrate your work and your time here with a private, professionally catered dinner in the new Event Space at The Crossing at Grasslands, Val Marie’s elegant vacation suites on the edge of Grasslands National Park.
* 9:30 am, Monday November 10: A last workshop session to review your learning and successes of the weekend before your departure for home.
Included:
* All workshop content, instruction, assistance, encouragement, gentle and supportive critique, and suggestions for your future directions, as well as a concluding morning review.
* A wide-ranging selection of tools and materials from Laureen’s own studio to enhance and complement those you bring with you from a short but complete list that will be provided.
* A $15 voucher for dinner in the Val Marie Hotel dining room, Friday evening.
* Picnic-style lunch on Saturday and Sunday, brought to our location.
* Two course family-style dinner on Saturday evening (BYOB).
* Final celebratory private professionally catered dinner at The Crossing at Grasslands on Sunday evening (BYOB).
(If you have special dietary needs, please advise when registering. Please also note that Val Marie is small and remote and while we will do our best to accommodate these needs, this may not be possible if they are very specific. A fridge will be supplied in our creative room to store small amounts of food.)
Not included:
* Your basic materials. A list will be supplied when you register.
* Three nights 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: Early bird rate $465 if you complete full registration by October 1. Fee after October 1: $525. Registration closes October 25. Fee will be fully refunded if we cancel the workshop for any reason.
To book: Email laureenartist@gmail.com and you’ll be sent an invoice, payable by e-transfer.
Accommodation (breakfast included) is available at the Convent Inn, where we will be the only guests. Rooms and bathrooms are sparkling clean and you will enjoy a delicious home-cooked breakfast. Each room is different, and rooms will be assigned on a first-registered, first-served basis. Some rooms have two beds – if you’re attending with someone else, you may book these at a reduced per-person rate. You will be given the option to state room preferences when you register. 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 off-season, reservations are available by emailing conventinn@sasktel.net. Please say you are with this workshop.
About Laureen Marchand: “In addition to living my life as an working artist, 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, operated Saskatchewan’s only fully online professional commercial art gallery, 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.”
Reviews of past workshops:|
“What a fabulous weekend of art, friendship, delicious meals, and perfect accommodations in the restored Convent in Val Marie, Saskatchewan. (I feel blessed!) Thank you, Laureen Marchand, for leading us astray in the stunning vistas of Grasslands National Park and for keeping us on track in our daily drawing activities. This was the perfect art retreat/holiday.” – Miranda Jones
Spent my weekend with a group of wonderful artists! Thank you @laureenartist for not only leading us through valuable art activities but also feeding us and providing us with a wonderful networking weekend with art colleagues from all over the province. – Blanche Johnston
“Laureen, thank you for offering the Drawing as Seeing Workshop. You’re an excellent teacher & I really enjoyed myself. It was wonderful to learn in such a unique location surrounded by amazing people. Everything was taken care of so well, even the weather worked its magic.” – Brenda Vine
Questions? Email laureenartist@gmail.com
Want more about more about painting with oils before you register? Click here and here.
We look forward to working with you!