Tailored courses

Tailor-made Creative Holidays

Join me for a week of creativity in this fabulously unspoilt corner of Greece. Feed your creative spirit whilst learning new skills in beautiful surroundings in a traditional Greek seaside village.

The focus is on you

The Art Experience differs from a regular art course in that you pretty much get to choose your own syllabus! What we cover during your stay will be completely tailored to your specific interests; where you are at with your art and what you most want to get out of your time here.

Individual attention

The Art Experience is for one person – you. Or, even better, it’s for you plus one – bring along your best friend/daughter/sister/mother/husband/wife/granny so you will have a partner in crime for the non-art hours and someone to share your creative journey with. Or bring two or three friends along if you prefer your own mini-group. Either way – this is just for you – you will not be joined by other course participants – it is your private party!

Fully Flexible dates

You choose your preferred holiday dates and day of departure; the length of your stay and the time of year. There are no fixed course dates. If I am available on your preferred dates – you have your art holiday. If not, we can look together at other options – simple as that! Kalamata airport now benefits from an increased International flight schedule so there are several options per week in season. You could even plan a two-centre holiday and do your own thing for a few days before or after the art break – I can recommend some great places to visit and advise on the logistics of your trip.

Local knowledge

As well as art tuition, a big part of what I bring to your Koroni Art Experience is local knowledge. I can help you discover the real, off the beaten track Greece rarely glimpsed by tourists and help you enjoy a creative immersion in both art and Greek culture.

Learning

I am a qualified adult education tutor with tons of experience teaching both art, and in a previous life, cookery! My teaching style is very practical – I demonstrate techniques in stages and am very happy to start wherever you are at. I’ll happily acquaint you with the very basics of pen, paper and paint if you have no previous experience. If you are more experienced, I provide support, encouragement and constructive feedback and can suggest new methods and techniques to try. I aim to encourage personal expression, creativity, and experimentation at the same time as introducing new skills. My students say I am very patient!

Choose your own course content

You can choose to concentrate on mixed media techniques, working mainly in my home-studio and walled garden. Or you may prefer to go out and about each day to draw and paint ‘On Location’, visiting my favourite sketching haunts. Alternatively you may chose a combination of both, spending some time in the studio and some time working on location.

Basically, I am very happy to teach you anything I know and am passionate about. If you like my artwork then I can teach you the techniques I use. What I won’t do is attempt to teach you something that isn’t within my particular area of interest or expertise  – such as oil painting or advanced watercolour technique.

The kind of subjects available:

  • An Introduction to drawing
  • Drawing and painting On Location
  • Watercolour Basics
  • Mixed media sketchbook
  • Getting to know acrylics
  • Kitchen sink printmaking and handmade stamps
  • Collage – Mosaic background/transparent foreground
  • Collage – Torn and cut paper
  • Collage – Incorporating your drawings
  • Collage – Found Imagery
  • Translucent Collage
  • Transfer print techniques
  • Monoprint and geli print

Daily Activities

From experience, I find that art holidays in a mediterranean climate work best when most of the activity takes place in the mornings. I suggest therefore that we follow the lead of the locals, who work in the cool of the mornings and rest in the heat of the afternoon. If we are out and about during the morning, you get to pick my art brain over a lunchtime snack in a local cafe or taverna, before I drop you back at your accommodation in the afternoon. The rest of the day is then yours to sleep, digest, beach, swim, walk, sketch, paint, read  – whatever you like.

I like to offer an optional early evening meet up session in a Koroni cafe or at your accommodation, a couple of times during the week, to go over anything arising from the  morning art sessions. ‘Homework’ is completely optional during your stay – some people like to have a project they can work on during their leisure hours and bring it to the evening sessions. If you want this I will happily include it.

The Location

Koroni is a pretty little year-round harbour town in the south-west corner of the Peloponnese. The seafront has a good sprinkling of tavernas, cafes and traditional ouzeries and boasts an active fishing fleet. Koroni has a splendid castle with an active monastery plus a fabulous, 4km long sandy beach, making it a popular summer escape for Athenians and for week-ending city dwellers from Kalamata. Koroni is a fabulous base for a holiday in Messinia, especially for artists and photographers. My home-studio is in Harakopio – an agricultural village about four kilometres (10 minutes drive) from Koroni.

Transport

The nearest airport is Kalamata, which is 55 minutes drive. If you stay in Koroni you won’t need a car for the duration of the art break. I will either collect you from your accommodation each day, or send a taxi.  If you want to bring more than 3 people, and want to go out and about sketching in the mornings, a hire car would be necessary.

Accommodation

You are free to choose your own accommodation in Koroni. There is a wide choice available online, to suit every budget. Some of the properties listed, however, are not actually in Koroni itself, but are in more rural parts of the Koroni area – some requiring a car or even an off road vehicle! It’s best to double-check with me before booking anything. I can also send you a list of properties.

What’s Included    [based on a 7-night Art Break]

  • Orientation session with optional guided walk around town
  • Welcome dinner with wine
  • Five days individually tailored art tuition  – minimum 4 hours tuition time per morning (plus lunch time and traveling)
  • Morning coffee each day
  • Optional evening meet-up/debrief/sketch session – twice per week
  • Transportation to/from my studio
  • Transportation to/from all on location venues
  • All Art materials
  • Light Lunch and refreshments on studio days only
  • Celebratory farewell meal with wine

What’s not included

  • Flights
  • Airport Transfers
  • Accommodation
  • Meals (apart from on studio days when a light lunch is included and the welcome meal and farewell meal)
  • Additional refreshments
  • Holiday insurance

Price

  • Cost for 3 persons: £415 per person
  • Cost for 2 persons: £465 per person
  • Cost for 1 person: £620

[If you would like to bring a larger group of friends I would be happy to quote for a specific number. If you want to work inside the studio, the maximum number I can comfortably fit is four or five, depending on the weather! Larger numbers can be accommodated more easily within a range of on location venues.]

The Sixth Day

Choose to have one completely free day during your week to do your own thing, or choose from a selection of optional extra activities:

  • Additional morning art session – either in or out of the studio.
  • Trip to Ancient Messini
  • Explore Southern Messinia
  • Drive and Walk

[Details will be sent out to you with the accommodation information.]

Extending Your Trip

You could extend your art break by adding a couple of days on at either end. Visit the Byzantine city of Mystras and Sparta with car hire from Koroni and an overnight stay in Mystras. Or the archeological site and splendid museum at Ancient Olympia, with an overnight stay in Olympia or at the coast.

Alternatively, turn your art break into a two-centre holiday by combining your Koroni stay with a night or two in Finikounda, Pylos, Yialova or The Mani – either before or after The Art Experience. You can even fly home via a different airport – ie. depart via Athens after spending time in Nafplion and Mycenae, Epidavros or Corinth. Or stay in Athens for a night or two and visit the Acropolis and new museum, the Benaki museum and take in The Plaka and Monistiraki.


Contact me to discuss options and availability.

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