Brittany, France!

Plein Air Painting in Brittany with Sennelier! June 10 - 19, 2020!  Postponed due to Covid-19! 

New Dates! Due to overwhelming response, we have scheduled TWO tours! Both groups are SOLD OUT, however we can add your name to our waiting list in case a spot opens up! 

June 8 - 17, 2022 

and

June 22 - July 1, 2022

Registration is now open for my plein air painting workshop in Brittany, France, co-hosted by Sennelier! The first group sold out quickly and we are now taking reservations for the second group (ALL GROUPS ARE NOW SOLD-OUT)! We will paint the castles and chateaus, forests and parks, and the seaside villages and beaches of the northeast coast of Brittany.

We also have an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime invitation to visit the Sennelier factories in Saint Brieuc, and the Raphael and Leonard brush factories, where we will be treated to hands-on demonstrations and given art supplies to use.

And, as the honored guests of Sennelier, we will be the featured artists at the annual Dinard Plein Air Festival! This annual plein air painting event encompasses the seaside resort of Dinard with it's picturesque squares and markets and breathtaking beaches.

UPDATE! I just found out that there will also be a Concours d'Elegance in Dinard during the plein air festival. Painting these beautiful automobiles will be a real treat for the artists!

When I was painting in Provence in few years ago, I ran into my old friend Yves-Marie Salanson, director of Sennelier. It was serendipitous, and Yves-Marie invited me to bring a group of artists to Brittany so they could visit his companies. 

Yves-Marie of Sennelier with Annie Strack in Provence

Yves-Marie and I became friends many years ago in the early days of Twitter when I was working as a Contributing Editor and Columnist for Professional Artist Magazine, and I later helped him when he was developing his new formulas for the Sennelier watercolors. I tested and reviewed paint samples for him, and I introduced other artists to him to also work on the project with us. 

It's been over a dozen years and we've been friends ever since, although we had never met in person until we ran into each other, quite by accident, while I was painting in Roussillon with my students in 2018. We made plans then and there, that I would soon bring a small group of artists to Brittany where his company is headquartered so he could show us around as his guests. 

Well, we finally got it all organized, with help from Mathieu of Provence Art Experience -- Mathieu is the world's best when it comes to organizing trips for artists, and this is shaping up to be our greatest trip. 

This trip is already half full (only ONE space remains in the second group!) so please don't wait to reserve your spot! (SOLD OUT, join our wait list). Because we are limited to a small number of guests on this trip, we are only able to accommodate artists in this group. We are not able to offer discounts to non-artists wishing to join us. 

These groups are limited to just seven artists -- that's less than half the number of people you will find in any other tour group, which means that every person on our trip is pampered with individual attention. These small intimate groups allow us to be flexible and spontaneous with our itineraries so that each person gets more than just a tour - they get the freedom to create their own personalized adventure. 

My tours are special, as I include lavish extravagances that all the other workshop artists simply can’t do because they just don’t have the resources or connections that I have. So, I only do one European tour per year, as it takes a great deal of time to plan and create these extraordinary travel experiences.

(Private concert by the Gypsy Kings on our veranda in Provence)

Lots of artists are now teaching workshops overseas, but my trips are so much more impressive than the standard, “copy and paste” itineraries that everyone else is offering. Other artists are all selling the same old cookie-cutter tours over and over again, and taking their groups to over-crowded tourist locations where hordes of artists are already staked out elbow to elbow as they all paint the exact same scene.

(Attending a wedding in the village square)

The artists who travel with me enjoy upgraded rooms in luxurious accommodations, gourmet meals prepared by award winning personal chefs, unique special events that are created exclusively for my groups, and no hidden fees or expenses (everything is included except for airfare!). Click HERE for tips on packing artist equipment and supplies for air travel.

My unique position as an Artist Ambassador for the world's most recognized brands of artist materials and my long history of working with art supply manufacturers and retailers means that my workshops are always sponsored by companies that produce fine artist materials and generously provide supplies to my participants. 

This trip is superior to all others, and provide one of a kind VIP experiences that other artists can’t even begin to offer. I take my groups to see extraordinary sights and paint at breathtaking locations that other artists don’t even know about.

Our house in Brittany!

We've secured an entire castle just a short walk from the beach for our accommodations. More photos of our Brittany house are posted here, check it out! There are five days in between, when the the first group of artists leaves on June 17, and the second group of artists arrive on June 22. So, for a small daily rate, artists in group one can add a few days on to the end of their trip, and artists in group two can add a few days onto the start of their trip. Ask Mathieu for the details. 

We have unrivaled entertainment on our tours as well, which can range from celebrity encounters, private concerts, personal tours of famous places, exclusive invitations to exciting events, and so much more. 

Travel restrictions are being loosened, be sure to keep up with the latest travel information on the official government website for travel to France. 

Many artists return year after year to take my workshops, and as a result, space is extremely limited to new attendees. Reserve your place now while there is still space available. 

To read my tips on packing light for this trip (or any plein air painting trip overseas!) click here.  

Sign up at Provence Art Experience Tours, and be sure to follow this event on Facebook to keep up with the latest updates!

Yay! Value Finders are Here!

For many years I've been telling my students about the benefits of using a Value Finder while painting. Unfortunately, these things are extremely hard to find! I finally found a great wholesale source, and now I'm offering them to my students and other artists.

4x6 Value Finders, $5 + S&H

4x6 Value Finder (red acrylic)
$5 plus $4 shipping and handling




You can save on the Shipping and Handling charges by buying direct from me at my demos and workshops, although I only bring a limited number of them with me to events so there is always the possibility that I may sell out early and there may not be enough to go around.

When you look at your painting through the Value Finder, the deep red color works as a filter to cancel out colors and show you the true values of your painting. It works equally well when you hold it up to look at your subject through it -- it will filter out the confusion of colors and allow you to easily see only the value transitions of what ever you are painting. These are ideal for plein air painters and studio painters alike, and work for every medium. 

New pens for plein air watercolor painting!

I just tried some new products for watercolor painting en plein -- opaque white gel pens. These pens are lightfast and archival, making them ideal for watercolor painters. The Uniball pen was a given to me by my dear friend, artist Deb Watson. The Sakura and Marvy pens I found in the crafts department of a fabric store chain. Both the Uniball and the Marvy are 1.0 mil wide, and the Sakura is .04 wide. The wider ones are better for watercolor. Because these are opaque, they cover very well and can be used to add whites to a watercolor painting at the end. This makes it perfect for painting en plein air, when it's inconvenient to use masking fluid. 

 In other news, my workshop in Spain next Spring is almost full! There are only a few seats left, and prices go up after November 2016 so you don't want to wait until the last minute to reserve your space!

As an added bonus, I'm giving away white gel pens, traditional sketching pens, and a special sketchbook to each artist in this workshop!

Recent demo paintings from my classes and workshops!

I've been so busy since my return from teaching a workshop in New Orleans, that I never got around to posting my demo paintings! I painted eight paintings during my 3-day workshop for the West Bank Art Guild, but I only have four paintings to show you because the other four paintings all sold during the workshop to some of my lovely students. The West Bank Art Guild purchased my primary painting from my workshop, and they will raffle it off to their members. The primary painting contained boats, water, trees, and buildings, so we worked on it a little each day of the workshop. We also did a couple or more "studies" each day, to practice the techniques for painting skies, water, reflections, values, mixing colors, using masking fluid, drawing perspective, creating textures, and tons of other great secrets and tips.

Awesome Artists hard at work in my workshop for the West Bank Art Guild!

Beach, 18x24 watercolor $195.

Beach, 18x24 watercolor $195.

Lake Road, 18x24 watercolor $195.

Marsh Sunset, 18x24 watercolor $195.

In my weekly class at the Community Arts Center, we worked on identifying cool and warm colors and optimum placement of them in compositions. We then painted a simple sunflower painting using a split primary palette system, learning how to mix all the necessary secondary and tertiary colors using a warm and a cool triad of primary colors. 

Split primary color wheels.

Sunflower, 16x12 watercolor, $95. 

Paint with me in Spain!

I've just been booked (yesterday!) to teach a watercolor workshop in Costa Brava, Spain -- and it's already selling out fast! There are only 8 spaces left! This plein air watercolor painting workshop is May 1 - 8, 2017. The itinerary includes museums, medieval villages, botanical gardens, castles, fishing villages, and the beautiful coastal seashore of the Costa Brava in northern Spain.

Sign up NOW to reserve your space, before it's all sold out! Contact Jackie at French Escapade tours for more information or to sign up!

Painting en Plein Air at Fontainebleu Park!

I just got back from a trip to New Orleans where I taught a watercolor painting workshop for the West Bank Art Guild. I had a fabulous trip, although I had to dig out from Winter Storm Jonah before I left home. I had a great group of artists in my workshop, and I'll post some photos of that next week! After the workshop, I spent some time visiting with old friends and getting in a little painting en plein air.

(Carol Hallock painting the beach  with oils at Fontainebleu.)

 I stayed at my dear friend Carol Hallock's home on Bayou Lacombe while I was down there. I used to live in Lacombe years ago, and Carol and I are old painting buddies. We both pursue the same subjects in our paintings, although she prefers to paint with oils while I usually reach for watercolors.

(Mary Monk using soft pastels to paint Fontainebleu beach.)

 It was nice to catch up with Mary Monk while I was in town! Mary is an old friend, and stayed at my house while she was painting in the Plein Air Brandywine Valley competition last year. She's always a lot of fun to hang out with!

(Carol Hallock, Mary Monk, and Annie Strack painting en plein air at Fontainebleu State Park.)

 I painted two small watercolors en plein air while we were at Fontainebleu State Park, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It was foggy when we got there, and the fog lifted and the light changed dramatically. We stayed out painting until sunset, and I shot some fantastic photos of the changing light to use for studio paintings later!

Fontainebleu Beach, 6x12 watercolor $79.

Fontainebleu Park, 6x12 watercolor $79.

It was a busy couple of weeks and I'm still not caught up with my studio paintings, new painting courses, and other work. I've also been inundated with requests for workshop proposals -- I'm getting those out as fast as I can, and so if you've just sent me a request you can expect to hear back within 2 days. I'm adding new workshops to the Calender Page of this website all the time, so be sure to check back often to see the latest listings. Workshops sell out quickly, so if you see one you like, you need to jump on it and register before it's sold out!

Do you know how to identify a good art instructor?

(Annie Strack teaching plein air painting in Spain)

My new watercolor class started yesterday at a local arts center. I started my course with the basic lessons about art materials -- I explained the different types, grades, uses, properties, and care of the various materials we use in class -- paper, paints, brushes, and more. How the materials are made, what the ingredients mean and why they are added, explanation of art and painting terms, and on and on and then moving on to drawing and design before getting into painting techniques.

(Annie Strack filming for television)

Most of my students have been taking watercolor painting classes from other art teachers at that center for years, and after the class they confided in me that everything I taught was new to them! Their previous teacher/teachers just SHOWED how she painted, but never EXPLAINED her processes -- like what makes a good composition, or why she choose certain colors, or the importance of values, or how color temperatures work, etc., -- nothing.

(Annie Strack giving the keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society)

My students lamented that their other teachers had never explained the differences between artist grade and student grade materials. Or the difference between washes and glazes. Or how to mix colors, or clean their brushes properly, or the difference between opaque and transparent colors, or, well, anything. They were so grateful to finally have an experienced professional teacher, and they eagerly soaked up knowledge. 

(Annie Strack's students at Nunez College)

Sadly, I've seen this all too often. A person can be a great artist, and at the same time, have little or no knowledge about art. There's nothing wrong with that. But being able to paint beautifully does not mean that they automatically possess the ability to teach art. I’ve watched lots of talented self-taught artists paint, and many of them have no idea how they create – they “just do it.”

(Annie Strack teaching at Delaware Watercolor Society)

Some of these artist can enjoy great success, and their paintings are featured in magazines and even win top awards in major juried exhibits. These are the idiot savants of the art world. People who were never taught how to mix colors or hold a brush, and yet they can produce a beautiful work of art through intuition -- without understanding how they did it.

(Annie Strack teaching watercolor painting techniques in New Jersey)

It’s like the people who can play an instrument “by ear,” but can’t read a note of music. Their music can sound perfect, but if they don’t know what key they used, or can’t tell you the name the chords, or show you the difference between flat and sharp, then they can’t teach you how to play the instrument.

(Annie Strack's workshop students in Mississippi)

Anyone can call themselves an artist, and any artist can call themselves an art teacher. This is why it’s so important for students to make sure that their teachers are good teachers, as well as good artists.

(Annie Strack's students at the Bayou Lacombe Art Center)

I'm seeing some of my former students are advertising that they are now teaching workshops and classes, even though they've only been painting for a short while.

(Annie Strack teaching a workshop in Ocean City, Maryland)

Although I make it look easy to my students, art and teaching both require training and practice. Someone may copy my lessons or paintings, but they can't teach from experience that they don't possess.

 (Annie Strack's students and Yves-Marie Salanson of Sennelier in France)

I have decades of training, knowledge, and experience, and spent years perfecting lessons and developing instructional materials for artists. It's better to learn my material directly from me, rather than from someone who has taken a workshop from me or just watched me demonstrate a technique.

(Annie Strack teaching at at Rowan College)

Before you sign up for an art class, make sure the instructor has demonstrated knowledge of whatever it is that she is teaching. Besides experience teaching in legitimate and prestigious venues such as schools, art centers, arts supplies stores, and artist organizations, look for teachers who have glowing references and recommendations.

(Annie Strack's workshop students in Charleston)

Most art instructors publish tutorials and lessons, and you can usually find samples online and in print. Look at their online videos and check out their DVDs. Read their tutorials that they wrote for art magazines, for art supply companies, and online blogs. You need to see evidence like these examples that prove the artist's teaching abilities. If you can't find any evidence, then it probably doesn't exist -- and that is a BIG red warning flag! 

(Annie Strack teaching artist materials at Plaza Art Stores)

The funny thing is, the bad classes are often the same price as the good classes. Would you rather spend your time and money in a class where you won’t learn anything, or would you rather spend that same time and money taking a class from a professional artist who has the knowledge, experience, references, qualifications, and credentials that prove her worth as an extraordinary teacher?

(Annie Strack teaching for the Louisiana Watercolor Society)

Don’t sign up for a class just because the artist is a remarkable painter, make sure the artist is a remarkable teacher, too! 

(Annie Strack teaching workshops at Jerry's Artarama's annual Art of the Carolinas)

Same goes for those of you who book the workshop artists and hire the art instructors – the good teachers don’t cost you any more than the bad ones, so do your homework and get the good ones!

(Annie Strack teaching for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society)

There are a lot of art teachers to chose from -- make sure you choose an artist who has a strong background in teaching art, has demonstrated her abilities by winning tons of awards, is recognized as a top artist by her many prestigious Signature Memberships, has actually studied art, and is vastly knowledgeable about artist materials and supplies. 

Annie Strack helping students learn how to make paint in Italy