2 courses for the price of 1
Leonie’s course offers a chance to do both Botanical Art with its rigorous attention to detail, and Holiday Sketching where the student can relax and capture the landscape in a more impressionistic style.

During the week in Fiji, students will quickly master Vikki’s Crazy About Curves surface construction technique, a meld of piecing and machine appliqué. With this forgiving, flexible method, there are no rules, no fear, no measuring seam allowances, no easing together unruly seams and no matching points. Just fun and total freedom in quiltmaking.

One of my favourite photos from past retreats is of Chris in the swimming pool with glass of wine, giving instructions to a student who is bending over their quilt beside the pool (it’s shown below). Not that you should get the impression that she doesn’t take her teaching seriously – she is an exceptionally dedicated tutor – but she also believes that a retreat of this sort should be enjoyed to its utmost. So come and jump in with her, and enjoy her enthusiastic embrace of every aspect of the week.

Lessa has been entranced by the symmetry and balance of traditional quilts since she began making them. She plays with different blends of colours and experiments with background space within the boundaries of the New York Beauty design, and her Flying in Circles are a fabulous mixture of whirling colours.

Learn how to create the illusion of luminous, bright, tropical water. Discover how that affects coral, sand, sea creatures, rocks and waves. Mark will teach you to ask the right questions, and why you should.

Pochoir painting is a form of fine art stenciling which is gaining increasing attention in the art world. It has been used in Australia by artists such as Margaret Preston and can be used to produce one-off pictures or sets of prints. It produces intriguing stylised pictures with sharply defined outlines and blocks of colour that are well suited to landscapes, botanical drawings or abstract patterns.

A chance to work with one of Australia’s best known contemporary artists and enjoy her enthusiastic embrace of the joy of painting. During the week, Kerrie works with each person to help them develop their own personal style and show new possibilities.

So many people travel and so many said they wished they could sketch. With that in mind the Travel Sketching Classes began. “My greatest pleasure is to see people discover that they can sketch and the joy we get from inspiring each other.”

Pastel is an exciting medium that is delightful in its physical ease of use and rewarding in its flexibility. Pastel is particularly useful in painting plein air as it is easy to transport, and there is no mixing of colour or cleaning brushes. Nor are pastels subject to the weather conditions or humidity and heat. They are excellent for the beginner whilst having endless creative avenues for the experienced artist.

This 5 day course is designed to take you from inspiration and ideas to finished designs in wearable beaded work. Each day will start with an elementary section. This will then be followed by hands on experiment time using the elementary notes and discussion so each of the students can work on areas that they wish to improve.

Malcolm firmly believes that drawing is something we can all do. Heard that before? Doesn’t apply to you? Much of it comes from learning to see things and portray them in your own way. Using simple but proven methods of capturing the image, seeing simple shapes, creating depth and appreciating light, Malcolm will build your confidence day by day.

You’ll draw as never before – you’ll draw everything. All sizes. Abstract. Realistic. The scenery. A tiny leaf. In charcoal. And crayon.And ink. Using fingers of dead coral from the beach. Or a frayed piece of material from and old sulu.

Whilst Botanical Art is all about detail, Holiday Sketching encourages the student to relax and capture the landscape in a more impressionistic style. It’s a wonderful mixture of different approaches to art, and Leonie combines the two with inspiring ease.

Textile art is an exciting and liberating medium. It fuses your creative imagination with your technical ability and gives you fun, fulfillment and a lovely piece of textile art.

During this week you will learn how to paint the basic elements of any seascape and landscape in a realistic style. You will learn how to paint sky and clouds, beach scenes with sand, rocks and a foam wash, how to capture the movement of waves with ripple effects, reflections in water, adding people or boats to a scene as well as mountain landscapes.