Behind the Scenes

For the past six months I've been focused on organizing a travel workshop program. I've been researching remote locations in small comfortable lodges where there is immediate access to the land. The idea is for artists to spend time on the land and through various contemplative activities, discussions, and creative exercises, to develop an artistic response to the environment. The idea began in January of 2018 when I was meeting with my good friend, the artist Rebecca Crowell in her home in New Mexico. We thought of the idea of continuing to teach together, as we will be doing in our upcoming workshop in a retreat centre on the Camino in northern Spain. We had such fun planning that workshop that we thought we'd try to do the same in another location, but in New Mexico this time. We searched for possible retreat centres but couldn't find any that were suitable: one had only outdoor toilets, one said to beware of scorpions on their website (yikes!), another has a long dirt driveway and suggested the need for 4-wheel vehicles. The last we looked at (among many others) had very little land to explore and when we later learned that it was for sale, we abandoned our efforts.

I came home and asked myself where in the world I'd like to go and thought of my bucket list. Mongolia was on that list so I began looking there first. Fairly quickly, I discovered a luxury resort called Three Camels Inn in the Gobi Desert. I emailed them and began a dialogue with their contact in the US. Once I had an itinerary and a price, I mentioned the idea to Rebecca as a potential workshop location. She thought it was way too expensive for our group of artists. I had to agree. But when I put out the idea on my blog post and on Facebook, we were overwhelmed at the positive response to Mongolia. Not only to Mongolia, but to all of the workshops.

Three Camels Inn, Mongolia

After our concern about the cost of the Mongolia trip, I moved on to research potential places in Scotland with the idea of teaching a workshop myself in an art centre there. I have visited Scotland a number of times and have family there. During this research, I found a magnificent castle/hotel on the ocean south of Glasgow. I contacted the owner and began a back and forth negotiation that ended up in booking a workshop there for September 2019 which Rebecca and I will co-teach.

Dunskey Estate, Scotland

Energized and encouraged by all this excitement, I then went on to research inns in Newfoundland. Not such an easy task. While there are hotels in larger centres in Newfoundland, there are few inns in the countryside that are large enough to hold 9 people along with space for a painting workshop. I finally found the Doctor's House, a magnificent inn on the shores of Trinity Bay, about an hour north and west of St. John's. Registration is now open for this workshop and there are only 2 spaces still available.

I've found other exciting venues: in Tofino, BC (Storm-Watching) for November of 2019 and Nova Scotia (Forest Bathing and Star-Gazing) for September 2020.

Long Beach Lodge, Tofino, BC

Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia

But what most excites me about these locations is that I'm interested in inspiring artists to create a whole new response to the environmental crisis that goes beyond facts, pessimism, arguments, and blame, and instead offers up what nature means to our spirits; the love of it. With this in mind, my initial workshop idea has developed into a program I've called Workshops in Wild Places. It offers the opportunity to travel to remote locations throughout the world to experience the beauty, energy and power of the wild landscape, to deeply and joyfully connect with it, and then–– through a facilitated contemplative and creative process–– translate that response into abstract paintings.

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. Thich Nhat Hahn

Meet the Owners of a Scottish Castle

Anne Tristine Nguyen, Ali Orr Ewing, their children, Ava, Atticus and their dog, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Dunskey Estate, Portpatrick, Scotland Anne Tristine Nguyen and her husband, Alistair Orr Ewing are the owners of Dunskey Estate near Portpatrick, Scotland where I will teach a painting workshop in September. Dunskey is a splendid Edwardian castle on 2000 acres of ocean-front land with miles of walking trails. As well as daily workshop sessions in the studio on the top floor of the castle, our small group of artists will enjoy breathtaking hikes, superb accommodation and fabulous meals. Not having met owners of a castle before, I asked Anne if I could interview her to hear a little of their background story and that of the castle. Can you tell me a little of your personal story and that of your husband, Alistair Orr Ewing? Anne emigrated to America when she was ten years old, but it was at an art gallery in Saigon, her birthplace, where she met Al

The Importance of Silence in Art

Gathering Light 60x60" Oil on canvas © 2014 Janice Mason Steeves Michael David Rosenberg, the musician known as Passenger, sings, "See all I need is a whisper in a world that only shouts." In the workshops I teach, I find that one of the most common problems with paintings is that they shout. Most have too much going on: too many small shapes, too much texture, extremes of colour, too many lines, too much, too much. One thing I say most often as I walk around the classroom working with students individually, is 'make bigger shapes'. But not only bigger shapes. Quiet shapes. Where can your eye go and rest in the painting? That isn't a consideration in much of contemporary painting or much of contemporary life. Ours is a noisy world both visually and auditorily. Ours is a world that shouts. People are afraid of silence. I wrote a blog post 3 years ago about planning a retreat in my own home, where I shut off the computer and the phon

Lessons that Stone Walls Teach

Dry stone wall in the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland I've just returned from teaching a Workshop in Wild Places class in the Burren in County Clare, Ireland. Writing this post, I'm reminded of another post I wrote after visiting Inishmaan, the middle of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland several years ago. Stone walls crisscrossed the island in tight webs like a fisherman's net. I wrote then that the web of stone walls made me think of the idea of putting limitations on our painting as a way of exploring more deeply and how walls give limits against the limitless. You can read that article here. As our group hiked in the Burren with our guide, Marie McGauran we learned that the walls are stronger because of the holes in them. The wind can pass through. The oldest stone walls, estimated to be 3500 years old are at Skara Brae, a Neolithic site in Orkney. Most walls were built in the 18th and 19th century, marking areas of private ownership and resulting in poverty

Janice Mason Steeves

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