Guest Workshops at Bluebird Hill Retreat
Anne Blair Brown and guest artists from around the U.S. host day-long and mutli-day painting workshops at our beautiful venue.
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To view our 2025 list of guest instructors, please scroll down.
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Interested in taking a course with Anne Blair Brown? Check out in-person sessions and online workshops on Anne’s website.
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Interested in hosting your own workshop or retreat? Reach out to Anne for booking details and availability.
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Ann Larsen
May 1- 3, 2025
Cost: $595
(A deposit of $200 will secure your spot.)
Any medium is acceptable.
Ann will teach primarily in oil and acrylic.
Light & Color:
Capturing the Moment
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL.
Please email
anne@anneblairbrown to be placed
on the waitlist.
This workshop is designed to help students have a bold and fearless approach to their blank canvas, and to loosen their style while capturing the emotional moment in their paintings. Emphasis will be placed on concept, composition, value, color and edges. We will focus on building texture, large mass simplification, seeing color and color temperature and how to mix the right color. The use of thick paint and brushwork to make a dynamic statement will be practiced and reinforced. Each afternoon will end with a helpful critique of the day’s paintings.
“Students always bring a wealth of information to my workshops, and we always enjoy lively exchanges of ideas and knowledge about painting, art history and the art life in general.”
Impressionism: “A style or movement in painting characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and color. Seeking to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction.”
The beginning painter, as well as the more advanced painter, will benefit from the understanding of how light, color, edges and brushwork are used in creating paintings that speak to you and your viewers.
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Solvent-free Painting: Exploring Gouache, Acrylics, and
Water Soluble Oils
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Wednesday, May 7, 2025 - Friday, May 9, 2025
$650 (a $200 deposit reserves your spot)
Skill level: Intermediate to Advanced
Anne Blair Brown & Trey Finney
Step away from toxic chemicals, long drying times, and messy clean up! Discover the wonders of painting with Gouache, Acrylics, and Water Soluble Oils. Anne & Trey will show you the flexibility and versatility of using any or all of these three mediums in your painting practice, how they can enhance your creativity and “playtime” in and out of the studio (solvent-free!), and how they can inform all genres of painting. They will discuss and demonstrate the unique features of each medium, elaborate on brushwork and paint layering, and show you just how darn easy these mediums are to work with (and travel with!).
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FOR DETAILS OR TO REGISTER
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW
Trey Finney (Acrylic)
Anne Blair Brown (Water Soluble Oils)
Haidee-Jo Summers
Painting the Light– Plein Air
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL. PLEASE EMAIL anne@anneblairbrown.com to be placed on waitlist.
4 Days – September 17-20, 2025
9:30am–4pm
$975
A deposit of $300 will reserve your spot.
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Haidee-Jo will teach primarily in Oil.
A light filled painting is a delight to behold, making our spirits soar. What tools can we use as painters to portray a convincing sense of light in our work? Using these tools effectively not only gives our paintings a believable three dimensionality and impact, but can also allow us to elevate an ordinary everyday subject into something approaching a spiritual experience.
In this workshop we’ll explore ways to use shape, value, colour, brushmarks and edges to our advantage in creating compelling, light filled paintings.
Haidee-Jo Summers
Painting the Light– Plein Air
September 24-26, 2025
(This is a 3 day workshop)
9:30am–4pm
$795
A deposit of $300 will reserve your spot. ​​
Haidee-Jo will teach primarily in Oil.
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A light filled painting is a delight to behold, making our spirits soar. What tools can we use as painters to portray a convincing sense of light in our work? Using these tools effectively not only gives our paintings a believable three dimensionality and impact, but can also allow us to elevate an ordinary everyday subject into something approaching a spiritual experience.In this workshop we’ll explore ways to use shape, value, colour, brushmarks and edges to our advantage in creating compelling, light filled paintings.
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To register, email Anne at anne@anneblairbrown.com
Howard Friedland
Finding Patterns in the Landscape
October 8-11, 2025 - $795.00
($300 deposit will reserve your spot)
In this workshop you will learn how to choose a subject, compose, determine a color palette, find value patterns and how to approach the painting process. Howard will share techniques, both mental and physical to help you determine your best choices.
The hardest thing when you are searching for a subject in an unfamiliar location is settling on what you will want to paint. It is said that nature provides us with a vast “property room”, and it is up to us to chose which props we want to use to make a strong and lively painting.
The strong impulse to get set up and get the brushes moving must be tempered. It is crucial that we check out the lay of the land and discover our options.
This can make the difference between a so-so painting and one that you will be proud of.
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All levels of experience are welcome to join in.
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9am - 4pm daily
Beth Bathe
Tonal Tenacity:
Painting With the Limited Palette
4 day plein air workshop
Oct 22-25, 2025
​Reductive painting technique using water mixable oil paint & a limited tonal palette
$795
(+$60 materials fee, payable to Beth)
A deposit of $250 will reserve your spot.
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Known for blurring the line between watercolor and oil painting, Beth Bathe's use of water mixable oils and her unparalleled style evokes feelings of nostalgia, like an old sepia-toned photograph. Along with her brushes, Beth uses unconventional tools including squeegees and Q-tips to achieve her recognizable works.
During this 4-day intensive workshop, Beth will demonstrate her unique technique with students who can expect
to come away with a strengthened understanding of how to relay their vision through the use of value,
composition and drawing rather than color application. Beth will do daily demos and will provide easel side
assistance to students as they work from life en plein air.
Students are encouraged to use water mixable oils to get the most out of the workshop. Beth will have paint
for her students to try as well as one of her prepared painting panels, brushes and other supplies for you to use
during the workshop.
Suitable for beginners through advanced students.