The Benefits of an Art Retreat
Every year I try to push myself to learn something new. To get away. To stretch myself beyond what I think I’m comfortable with.
This year it was an art retreat. In the middle of nowhere. Blackall, Queensland a small country town.
I chose this retreat because the artist host, John Lovett has worldwide reputation, as both an artist and a nice human being. I had been on another retreat a few years ago with an artist I will not name, who was isolated from the group and only showed up for the painting sessions. This has put me off going on any more. But a friend of mine who had gone away with John Lovett said that he and his wife were very generous with their knowledge and time, and made the group feel like family.
So I decided to book the retreat.
The other thing I was nervous about was, it was a small country town. Would the food be any good? Would I get on with the other artist students? And two flights from Melbourne, one on a small plane, never a great experience from my point of view.
Also I am an abstract artist, fluid art, I pour, I twirl, I don’t make it a practice to paint realistically. And to me, watercolor requires a special type of attention to detail and patience for achieving a certain look that I have never been successful at. I have attempted many times, but I can name only two or three teeny tiny watercolors that I have actually kept, and guess what, they’re abstract!
But I still went ahead a paid the balance, a week before the retreat!
There was a list of supplies to bring for the art workshop. So with them all packed into my check in luggage (craft knife especially) and layered clothing for the warm days and cool nights I set off.
On the flights, I got out my iPad and painted the sky which totally distracted me from the flying as I am always amazed at the beauty of the natural world, and the structure and the patterns of the clouds, land and rivers. Arriving uneventfully at Blackall airport I was greeted by Lisa our local host for the week and immediately hit it off with one of the other talented artists attending the retreat who had arrived on the plane as well, Patty. If you’re on Instagram look them up as they both have beautiful work.
I was immediately made to feel at home, as Lisa, who wears many hats, talked about the town of Blackall, we learnt that the phrase “beyond the black stump” originated there, and we could see the black stump, a block away from our accommodation. Also in its heyday Blackall had been the center of merino sheep farming in the world.
So began a wonderful week of culture - we were taken to the weekly stockyard sales, where the auctioneers sold groups of cattle in record time, herding the sold cattle quickly through Temple Grandin style gates. We saw the Roly Poly sculpture at sunset, swam in the natural hot artesian waters at the aquatic center, showered in the natural hot water, and drank the water that had been cooled to room temperature. We toured a renovated Blackall Masonic Temple, and visited the largest wool scour in the Southern Hemisphere - renovated and in working order for tourism. And one evening we enjoyed the touring show “Babushka Cabaret- Book Club” in the local community hall. So many surprises during the whole week, and proudly shown to us by different members of the local community.
And the food….The first morning tea, classic Australian foods - Sausage rolls, Lamingtons, Anzacs and more, all beautifully displayed with a locally picked pink gum blossom flower arrangement. All courtesy of local caterer and story-teller extraordinaire @marmaladiescatering. It just got better from there, and I returned home with the spare snacks I had packed untouched in my backpack.
Such a feeling of Community. When we arrived, John Lovett and his wife were already there, and we spent time catching up and shared our stories over the week. John and Diane travel in a custom truck/van that is self contained and very compact and when he is teaching or capturing photographs, they travel from remote place to place in this truck. As more artists arrived our little group grew. We spent many hours together during breaks, at meal times and after dinner, just talking. All of us. About many diverse subjects. From the benefits of plein air painting and urban sketching to the relevance of abstract versus figurative art to the legality of using other people’s photos to create your own art. Great topics for my future blog posts!
Finally the painting! Watercolor! We started at 8.30 daily and basically created a painting each morning and afternoon. Each session we would all work off a photo that John had chosen from his personal library of photos. He would demo and we would create our own version. John has simplified the paint and brush situation and his techniques are easily understandable, so a few light bulbs went off for me. I was immediately thinking of ways I could translate these ideas to my fluid art! As well as creating some watercolor paintings I actually liked, I had a few new ideas to try back in my studio!
It was a retreat that exceeded my expectations. I had travelled almost beyond the black stump, to a remote area in West Queensland, away from all my usual daily interruptions, switched off from TV and news, and focused on exploring art and the community around me.
As we said our goodbyes I was sad to be leaving, but invigorated and ready to get back home to my art studio to create some new work.
A magic week, that I will remember forever.