Description
Anne and Florence will introduce you to the joys of travel sketching, combining watercolor painting with hikes through the valleys. This workshop is open to both beginners and experienced artists.
Put on your sneakers and grab your paintbrushes!
Anne Brisse and Florence Schaeffer invite you to join a workshop combining short hikes and watercolor sketching in Ariège, within the Ax Valleys Natural Park. We are two applied arts instructors who specialize in outdoor watercolor sketching. We’ll explore the market in Ax-les-Thermes and the villages of Ignaux, Sorgeat, Ascou, and Orgeix, taking time to paint and sketch on-site. Our three-day program will introduce you to watercolor painting and give you the chance to practice this technique. We’ll hike from one village to another and sketch various natural landscapes, buildings, and people... We’ll offer you a variety of vantage points for your sketches: hikes at 1,000 m, hikes at 1,400 m.
Here is our program:
Day 1: Welcome at the Chalet d’Ignaux, welcome drink, introductory theory class on color, sketching hike through the villages of Ignaux, Sorgeat, and Ascou. Techniques for colored sketches and basic drawing fundamentals. A review at the end of the day.
Day 2: Sitting at a café terrace, we’ll paint in Ax-les-Thermes: its market, its stalls, and the colorful facades of the market square. Then a hike along the Oriège torrent will take us to the pretty village of Orgeix with its flower-bedecked houses, stone bridges, and Mérens horses. At the end of the day, a review.
Day 3: A hike on the Chioula plateau, and an ascent to the refuge. An easy-level day with breathtaking scenery. At the end of the day, a review.
You will need to bring one picnic lunch per day and some cash to pay for drinks at the cafés, the Orgeix open-air café, and the mountain hut.
Regarding supplies: participants must purchase
-1 sketchbook with 200g or 300g watercolor paper, A5 landscape (horizontal) format
-2 Davinci Petit Gris Dalbe watercolor brushes: one fine 3/0 and one thicker 2/0
-1 box of fine watercolors (12 pans) by Sennelier, Winsor, or Pébéo
-2 drawing clips to secure the sketchbook pages in case of wind
-1 plastic palette suitable for watercolors, if the lid of your paint box is too small
-1 water container + 1 water bottle
-absorbent cloths, tissues
-1 box of 12-color colored pencils (Polychromos or another brand)
-1 fine black felt-tip pen (005)
-1 mechanical pencil (007 lead)
-1 eraser
-1 ballpoint pen
