Workshops at
Bluebird Hill Retreat
Anne Blair Brown and Trey Finney offer day-long and mutli-day painting workshops at our beautiful venue.
To view our 2027 schedule, please scroll down.
Interested in taking an online course with Anne Blair Brown? Please go to Anne’s website.
Anne Blair Brown & Trey Finney
Visual Language: Awaken Your Creativity
May 5-8, 2027
Cost: $975
A deposit of $300 will secure your spot.
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced painters with some plein air experience.
Finding deeper meaning in your art lies in the relationship between what you choose to paint, how you paint it, and when to be “finished”. Expressive painting is not just about rendering a subject; it is the transformation of perception and experience into a visual language.
In this 4-day plein air workshop, Anne and Trey will help you push beyond copying your subject and help you move toward a more expressive, painterly style driven by inspiration and intuition. They will work closely with you in the field to find a subject, understand the “big idea”, and use that idea to drive the design of your paintings. Over the course of the workshop, you will have “playtime” creating small studies fueled by sketches, note-taking, and color exploration with emphasis placed on brushwork and mark-making. Anne and Trey will encourage you to focus on how you are painting not just what you are painting. They will help you explore, discover, and experiment from a place of joy and confidence.
Join Anne and Trey on this creative journey in the beautiful Tennessee countryside here at Bluebird Hill Retreat, where inspiration abounds and nature will allow you to concentrate your efforts into something unexpected. Come away with a sketchbook full of paintable ideas, lots of new and fresh painting studies, and an exciting painting process that will move you forward into the land of painterly painting!
•This workshop is suitable for intermediate to advanced painters.
•Class size limited to 10 students.
•All paint mediums welcome. Demonstrations will be in Oil, Acrylic, and Gouache.
Cost: $975
A deposit of $300 will reserve your spot.
Questions? Contact anne@anneblairbrown.com
"At Bluebird Hill Retreat I am able to quiet my mind and focus on painiting."
Anne Blair Brown
Becoming a Painterly Painter: An Impressionist Approach
May 12–14, 2027
Cost: $750
A deposit of $250 will secure your spot.
Oil and Acrylic painters welcome
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced with some plein air painting experience.
Anne Blair Brown (Acrylic & Water Soluble Oils)
In this workshop, you will learn to see color in a new light!
Join Anne to explore how various elements in nature change the color you see (or expect to see) such as time of day, weather conditions, and general surroundings. These elements can drastically affect the local color of every aspect of your scene. I will show you how to handle these variables and harness the light and atmosphere to create convincing (and expressive!) paintings. You will also learn how to set yourself up for success from the beginning to achieve color harmony and to mix colors that reflect your individual style.
Other topics we will cover include seeing values, loosening up your brushwork, finding inspiration, and expanding your artistic interpretation. I will also share important painting fundamentals and habits that can help give you more confidence in the field as well as in the studio.
A typical workshop day will include lively discussions, dynamic painting demos, and personalized instruction tailored to your current level of ability.
Advanced beginners to intermediate/advanced painters welcome.
Anne will demonstrate in oil, but acrylic painters welcome, too!