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 2024 and 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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Anne Blair Brown
Brushwork & Color: Make Your Mark!
September 18-21, 2024
9:30 am - 4 pm daily
Intermediate to Advanced
(basic plein air experience required)
$875
$250 deposit holds your spot
*To register, please click the button below.
Questions? Contact Rachel Blair rachelblair1144@gmail.com or 615/504-7201
In this plein air color and brushwork focused workshop, Anne will show you how to put a little YOU in your artwork.
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Anne will break down the painting process into a series of approachable, digestible steps that will help you quickly nail your design and values. Next, she will focus on what she believes is the key to finding your own style or voice: color & brushwork.
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Through demonstrations and exercises, you will learn to mix harmonious color and apply paint in a spontaneous and impressionistic manner. Anne will show you how to use your palette and brushes to express rather than copy.
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Anton Nowels
Fall Colors: React and Reflect
4 Days – October 16–19, 2024
9:30am–4pm
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Skill Level: All levels
Mediums: All 2-D mediums welcome (instructor will teach in oil)
$650
A deposit of $200 will reserve your spot.
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*To register, please click the button below.
Questions? Contact Rachel Blair rachelblair1144@gmail.com or 615/504-7201
In this workshop you will move between representation and abstraction under the guidance of this award-winning instructor. He will help you attain an understanding of how to integrate “color notes” collected en plein air with both representation and abstraction in the studio. Artists will discover that using memory in the painting process allows for more inventive painting. Anton will demonstrate both landscape painting en plein air and representational abstraction in the studio.
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Day 1: Plein Air - Color Notes and Form
Day 2: Plein Air - Harmony and Design
Day 3: Studio - Memory and Deconstruction
Day 4: Studio - How to know when a painting is finished
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Anton is a signature member of OPA and AIS. Recent awards include Honorable Mention for Landscape at the OPA National Exhibition at the Steamboat Art Museum. Anton is currently in a Artists in Residency Exhibition at the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, WY and teaches at Scottsdale Artist School and Winslow Art Center.
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Ann Larsen
Light & Color: Capturing the Moment
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.
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.
Haidee-Jo Summers
Painting the Light– Plein Air
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.
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.