Your instructor, Mary Laury is an accomplished watercolorist and highly esteemed teacher. She encourages all her students to believe they can be successful. Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. If you have never painted in watercolors, we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you will pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together!

Painting Flower Portraits in Watercolor is the focus of this retreat.  

Paint flower portraits realistically. You will paint pictures of flowers in detail, but more painterly than a scientific illustration. We won’t count veins, but we will count petals! Painting flowers is a wonderful exercise in observation.

Learn brush stroke and value

White on white flowers

Leaves, long and short

Iris, narcissus, orchids, tulips, and other spring flowers.

Materials list:

We will paint on smooth paper; Strathmore Series 500, one hundred percent cotton paper, either plate or vellum. This paper can be bought at Artist and Craftsman in Portland in large sheets, which we will cut up.

Bring a #2 round brush and a #6 round brush, pencil, palette, tube watercolors in the 3 primary colors and perhaps a green. Paper towels and water container. And bring a plant or flower specimen with no more than 9 petals. This is a slow and careful process and 9 petals and some leaves is enough happiness for us all.

Escape to a Grand Victorian Inn, the Harbor View House in Prospect Harbor on the coast of Maine, with an intimate group of artist, cooks and creatives! All meals are included in the workshop fee plus special activities to extend your learning from the day’s workshops, including a private house concert by Grammy balloted sing-songwriter, storyteller, and author Gordon Ward. Day students are welcome.

For more information about the workshop, call Mary at 207-632-2251. To book your stay at the inn call 207-963-9122 or visit https://harborviewhousellc.com/.  

Feedback from recent participants: 

“Great instructor!-Mary acts as a guide to develop our own style.“ “Easy no stress instruction.”

Let’s gather and make sculpted paper flowers for Spring. Using techniques like cupping, curling, scoring, spiraling, crimping and fringing we will create a paper bouquet.  Materials and tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your favorite papers. 

Spoon carving is a wonderful craft that allows you to create functional and beautiful wooden spoons using traditional hand tools. These spoons will be the size of a serving spoon with a handle of 6-8 inches.

A bound book that has a lot of scope to include all your favorite colors and decorative papers. This book is a great beginner binding, with a paper cover and no glue needed. Join us to make your new journal, poetry or guest book. Tools & materials provided.

Your instructor, Mary Laury is an accomplished watercolorist and highly esteemed teacher. She encourages all her students to believe they can be successful. Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. If you have never painted in watercolors, we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you will pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together!

Step back to a time when President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor, and their family escaped to their “beautiful little island” in the Canadian Maritimes, Campobello Island. We will be exclusive guests of the international park, staying in historic Victorian cottages. Workshop participants will explore and paint the same coastal scenery enjoyed by the summer residents at the turn of the 20th century. All meals are included in the workshop fee as well as specially planned optional evening activities designed to extend your learning from the day’s workshops. including a private concert by award-winning Celtic Fiddle player, Katherine Moller, in the Victorian parlor of Hubbard House. Register for the retreat then call Sherry Mitchell at 506-752-2922 to make room reservations. Acadian Arts Retreats participants will have exclusive overnight accommodations in the park. 

Feedback from recent Acadian Arts Retreats participants: 

“Mary is a wonderful guide and a gifted teacher.”  “Very helpful watercolor instruction."