Art & Wellness Spring Retreat - Dwellingup

Art & Wellness Spring Retreat

Retreat Overview:

Join artist, Louise Collier, for a wonderful weekend art intensive with a focus on relaxing, rejuvenating and creating at the beautiful Redgum Retreat in Dwellingup - an absolute hidden gem, just over an hour’s drive from Perth located next to the Wine Tree Cidery. The perfect place to relax and create!

Includes two nights accommodation, welcome drink and nibbles, delicious catering (all meals included), 12 hours of art sessions with a focus on painting forest landscapes, sound healing, lunch and cider tasting at the Wine Tree Cidery all whilst enjoying the beautiful surrounds of the peaceful Redgum Retreat.

Redgum Retreat is a magnificent rammed earth building showcasing local Jarrah and Marri (Redgum) timbers located in the beautiful timber town of Dwellingup, just over an hour south east of Perth. Sharing the same property as the  Wine Tree Cidery, the Retreat sits alongside the Bibbulmun track, less than a kilometre from town, overlooking the orchard and surrounding state forest.

Learn new skills, meet new likeminded friends, enjoy great food, relaxation and create your own art piece to take home with you.

Arrive on Friday evening for welcome drinks and nibbles whilst enjoying the surroundings, and the opportunity to meet everyone. This is followed by a delicious two course dinner (main and dessert) catered by Wild Thyme Gourmet (local caterers). After dinner, we will have a short intro session on planning your art work with a look at composition and design. On Saturday morning, after breakfast, we commence our art session with a look at the essentials (supports, brushes, paints, mediums etc), basic preparation techniques for preparing your canvas, followed by a look at perspective, tone and a colour mixing session. From here you will commence the underpainting and blocking in stages. Morning tea will be provided by Wild Thyme Gourmet. By late lunch time you will be well underway with the preliminary layers of your painting and at 1.30pm, we head across the orchard to the Wine Tree Cidery to enjoy lunch platter and tasting paddle. From 3pm to 5pm, continue building your painting, applying the middle/modelling layers of your artwork.

At 5.30pm you are in for a treat! A wonderful therapeutic sound healing session. Holistic Wellness Community sound healings bring balance to the nervous system through guided meditation and sound immersion. Aimed to help you experience deep relaxation, bringing peace to the body and mind by bathing in the sounds of crystal sound bowls, gonging, pan drums, medicine drums Native American flute and chimes.

After the sound healing session, enjoy a complimentary beverage and nibbles followed by a two course dinner (main and dessert).

After breakfast on Sunday, finalise your artwork, applying the top layers of your painting from 8.30am to 12.30pm with a break for morning tea catered by Wild Thyme Gourmet.

12.30pm Finish. If you’re not in a rush to get home, you may like to eat lunch in Dwellingup (Blue Wren Cafe is a local favourite), take a walk or explore the area.

At the Art and Wellness Spring Retreat, you can indulge yourself with:

• Lunch and tastings at the beautiful Wine Tree Cidery on Saturday.

• Enjoy delicious evening meals and morning teas catered by Wild Thyme Gourmet and continental breakfasts, and nibbles and drink each day are also provided.

• Sound Healing to reset the nervous system (with the Holistic Wellness Community, who will provide a session for us on Saturday evening at Redgum).

And then there’s the art:

• 12 hours of art sessions, working in depth with acrylics and through the stages of creating your art work - focus on forest landscapes but you are welcome to paint whatever you please.

• Guided step-by-step instruction and expert tuition from artist Louise Collier.

• Getting started, what to paint?!

• Development of your concept and composition - made easy!

• Brushes, supports, paints, mediums - what to use?!

• How to prepare and gesso your painting surface like a professional!

• Underpainting.

• Building your layers.

• Perspective.

• Tone.

• Colour mixing - learn how to mix just the right colour!

• Various acrylic painting techniques.

• Developing your personal style.

• All art materials and equipment provided (16 x 20” canvas with frame - larger available for an extra cost - once you’ve booked we will be in touch to discuss).