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Landscape Painting in Provence, France (Summer 2022)

Please note that this workshop was rescheduled from 2020.

The information below is our original itinerary from 2020. We are working closely with Provence Art Experience to give us the best experience we can in 2022. Details may differ slightly from 2020 but the spirit and intention is the same.

10-Day Travel Workshop, Provence, France

July 20-29, 2022

How would you like to spend ten days painting the inimitable light of Provence, in the footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne, while not worrying about the details?

Studio Thibodeaux is pleased to partner with Provence Art Experience to offer a 10-day all-inclusive painting trip to Provence, France, in July 2022. Provence Art Experience takes care of all the hospitality in France--all transportation, lodging, meals, events--while painting instructor Sarah Griffin Thibodeaux leads the daily classes in plein-air oil painting.

Our host Mathieu Brousses will meet you at the airport and take it from there. You just need to pack your brushes and get yourself to Marseilles Airport. The rest will be taken care of. Brousses will drive us to all the locations in a 9-passenger van. We will paint in the mornings--enjoy instructor demonstrations, see the sights and enjoy lunch in the area, then paint in the afternoon or see the sights, depending on your preference.

We will all be staying together in one location, so in the evenings, the chef will prepare our dinner and we can enjoy conversation about the day. The meals together are always heartwarming and special moments, breakfasts at the guest house with fresh croissants and anything you might like with it, lunches at small cafes in the most beautiful typical villages or gourmet dinners with our talented and friendly chef at the guest house or in a delicious restaurant.

Arrival in Arles

Welcome to Provence Art Experience!

Will pick you up at the Marseilles Provence Airport (MRS) and drive everyone to the guest house. You will feel instantly at home in a quiet and very French family atmosphere. Our arrival we will settle in with a magnifique rose or white wine with Sarah, Mathieu and our dear chef friend. Depending on the time we will have lunch then we will visit the surrounding commodities and enjoy a stroll around all. Then we will have our first gourmet dinner by our chef in the evening!

Les Arènes

The two-tiered Roman amphitheater (Les Arenes) sits in the town center of hours. It was used 2,000 years ago for chariot races and gladiator battles. Nowadays you can enjoy plays and summer concerts for bullfighting and bull races. The sight is most often called an amphitheater. However we are using the term Roman arena to reduce the confusion with the nearby Roman theater.

Arles

Arles is surrounded by an environment of exceptional beauty: the banks of the Rhone river, the arid planes of Crau, the Alpilles, and the untamed land of Camargues. The lights and colors go fine here are the reason a famous Vincent made it his adaptive town.

Saint Rémy de Provence et Saint Paul de Mausolé

Van Gogh mental house sublime garden and cloister

The breakfast will be served at the guest house. Then we will spend the day in Saint Rémy de Provence. The morning will be dedicated to painting in Saint Paul de Mausolé. The beautiful and famous Van Gogh's Asylum. For lunch we will rest on the quiet terrace of a local restaurant. The afternoon will be devoted to visiting the town of St. Rémy. You will find all the charm of a typically Provencal way of life. You’ll soon be strolling along the boulevard under the shade of century old plain trees. And the evening we will have a gourmet dinner at the guest house for a chef will be waiting for us starving artists!

A masterpiece of Provençal Romanesque art, the 11th and 12th century cloister backs onto the chapel and pure Romanesque style. The garden is a gem of beauty and simplicity. Irises and poppies in early May. The quintessence of picturesque.

The monastery is best known for the fact that Vincent van Gogh stayed from May 1889 to May 1890. During this period he painted 140 oil paintings and more than 100 drawings--to name a few, "Irises," “Starry Night,” “Olive orchard," "Wheat Field with Cypress.”

While wandering through the narrow winding streets he will discover fantastic old fountains, shady squares, picturesque restaurants, and elegant boutiques.

Meet Our Host

Host Mathieu Brousses is a native of Arles, France. He is known for his hospitality ( "Is your folding chair ok?" "Do you have enough shade?" "Would you like a bottle of water?" "Would you like some more wine?!" "Our mini-van is a bit high to step in? Let me put this little stool here!") He has been taking artists through Provence since 2015.

The Provence Art Experience is nothing like a crowded tour bus. Nobody will impatiently tap their wrist-watch to tell you to hurry and run because the bus is leaving. You will not be an anonymous number in a crowd of 50 people. You will be a part of an all-inclusive tailored private experience with 7 artists maximum and your artist instructor. He likes to host small groups so you get to discover French culture and art de vivre with someone born in Provence, in love with Provence, and eager to share it with you.

Meet Our Instructor

Sarah Griffin Thibodeaux is a contemporary realist artist living in New Orleans. She studied at the New Orleans Academy of Art, the Art Students League, and Florence Academy of Art. She has taught portrait painting, still life painting, and plein air painting since 2009, both at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, the Capital Hill Arts Workshop (in Washington, D.C.) and in her atelier, Studio Thibodeaux, where she offers digital classes, travel workshops (such as this one), local workshops, and portrait commissions.

She loves to share the process of alla prima painting--the deliberate application of brush strokes to give the painting the feeling of life, of spontaneity, of the buzzing of life all around us. An avid francophone, Sarah is looking forward to sharing this experience of painting in the shadow of Van Gogh and Cezanne with you.

A few original works by Sarah Griffin Thibodeaux:

The pricing of our painting workshops you can easily compare with other offers is more than reasonable for an all-inclusive private tailored journey in Provence. We aim to offer you a memorable journey you will remember dearly --a unique artistic, cultural, gastronomic and immersive experience.

Your Provence Art Experience includes:

your lodging in one of the carefully chosen beautiful guest houses we work with in Arles or in the Luberon Area (check the itineraries)
All your meals with beverages: breakfasts, lunches and gourmet dinners by our chef or in local restaurants
All airport transfers as well as everyday local transportation
The organization of the plein-air sessions
All lessons by the artist instructor
The outdoor activities
The wine tastings
The tickets for the latest events, art museums and must-sees on the itinerary
Mathieu Brousses's 24/7 attentive and considerate presence as your host, driver, interpret, guide and provider of all you might need

It does not include:

The airfare tickets
Your travel and airfare ticket insurances

Class is limited to 7 participants.

Price includes instruction and some materials, use of outdoor easels, chairs, palettes: transportation from Marseilles airport: private en suite bedroom (cleaned daily) in home with lovely gardens and swimming pool; dinner/drinks on day of arrival, three meals per day* (includes table wine and beer, * with the exception of two lunches out), breakfast on day of departure, transportation to painting sites. (ages 21+) Airfare not included. Ages 21+ *not included are traveler's insurance (highly recommended) and airfare. Refunds not available unless your space is filled by someone on the waiting list. (traveler's insurance recommended for trip cancellation); laundry service not included, customary tips for housecleaners and driver not included.

Pricing: ALL INCLUSIVE

4,500 EUROS per student for a single occupancy room

or

4000 EUROS per student for a double occupancy room.

Learn More at our Live Webinar

Join host Mathieu Brousses and instructor Sarah Griffin Thibodeaux for a live online Q and A session! We will talk about everything about traveling and painting in France in 2022!

Join us Thursday April 7, 2022 at noon CT!

Register now!

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