Penelope Dullaghan (Copy) — Simple Life in Provence

Bienvenue! Welcome!

Join us this coming summer for a unique printmaking retreat in the south of Provence with the amazing artist from Indianapolis, Penelope Dullaghan! A week of exploring, discovering, painting, and tasting Provence. You will visit the historic towns and typical markets, take a tour of our gorgeous islands, participate in printmaking classes with Penelope and much more. We will make sure that your experience in Provence will be one you remember forever!

Penelope Dullaghan is an accomplished, acclaimed artist/illustrator with a penchant for expressing joy through form and color. She works in children’s publishing, editorial, and advertising, and dabbles extravagantly in any medium she can find — especially printmaking and cut paper. No matter the method, though, she creates images distinguished by simplicity and guided by curiosity.

Penny’s work has appeared in children’s books, book covers, advertising, posters, and videos. She’s worked with wonderful clients including Flow Magazine, Oprah Magazine, Starbucks, Crate & Barrel, Target, Penguin Randomhouse, Design*Sponge, Quarto Publishing and Simon & Schuster.

Penelope works from her studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she lives with her husband, daughter, two dogs and a particularly art-savvy cat. Her website and blog can be found at www.penelopedullaghan.com. And you can find her on Instagram @penelope_dullaghan

You will explore Provence with Penelope, as well as your local hosts and guides Maria and Mathieu.

Activities will include:

• Participate in printmaking workshops with Penelope and develop your unique creative skills

• Enjoy daily delicious meals prepared with fresh products and care by chef Mathieu and Maria

• Take strolls around unbeaten paths in the beautiful nature of Provence through the hills overlooking the old town

• Visit the littoral, the islands, and its breath-taking creeks

• We will take you through the alleys of the historic center of Hyères, this magic city where numerous writers and painters have come to find inspiration since the dawn of time. Artists such as Edith Warton, RL Stevenson, Noailles, Picasso, and Jean Cocteau amongst others, contributed in their time to shaping the rich art heritage of Hyères

• Visit our coloured markets, discover and taste Provençal specialties

A FEW DETAILS ABOUT YOUR RETREAT

• 6 Nights / 5 Days

• 6 to 8 participants

• We ask for a 30% non-refundable deposit of full booking upon reservation and the remaining at the latest on July 8th 2022

What is included?

• 6 nights accommodation

• 6 gourmet dinners & wine

• Daily delicious breakfasts and lunches or picnic

• Cooking & Baking workshops

• Visits, including transportation

• Aperitifs and snacks

Not included

• Airfares to France

• Airport transfer

• Travel insurance (We strongly advise participants to arrange a travel insurance that would cover the balance paid to Simple Life in Provence and book “flexible” flight tickets with cancellation options)

QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHAT TO EXPECT

This Printmaking Retreat includes five workshop sessions, and in each one we will gather inspiration from the beautiful surroundings of Provence and then translate it into art prints, drawings and patterns! We will dive deep into three unique printing techniques, each exploring a different quality of line and texture: block printing, blotted line technique and transfer line technique. Beginners welcome! You don't need any previous printmaking experience; Penny will guide you through each step of the process. When you return home, you’ll be a bona fide Print-Making Boss ready to print on all sorts of things - notecards, journals, fabrics, tea towels - you name it!

Here’s the plan for each session:

Workshop 1 - Foundational Block Printing. In this workshop, we will familiarize ourselves with the wonderful process of block printing using easy-to-carve soft linoleum! We’ll chat about materials and tools, positive and negative space, designing your print, transferring it to your linoleum block, carving, and finally, printing.

Workshop 2 - Blotted Line Technique. This technique, inspired by Andy Warhol’s 1950s illustrations, combines drawing with basic printmaking. (But you don’t have to be an expert at drawing - this process is very forgiving!) The unpredictable nature of this printmaking method results in beautiful broken and delicate lines that have a uniquely elegant quality. (Basically, they’re kind of awesome.)We’ll finish up our blotted line drawings with watercolor to create one-of-a-kind prints.

Workshop 3 - Transfer Line Technique. This monotype printing method was developed by Swiss/German artist Paul Klee in the early 20th century. (Swoon!) It’s super fun to do, and gives you immediate, expressive results! The lines produced are fractured and imperfect (much like us human beans), making each print unique. We will practice with simple drawings, play with continuous line and also explore adding color to our prints as well.

Workshop 4 - Two-color Block Printing. For this session, we will build on our session #1 block printing foundation by exploring two-color printing using multiple blocks. No need to fear! We’ll talk about how to design with two colors in mind and consider registration (how to line up the blocks) to make beautiful prints!

Workshop 5 - Block Printing for Repeat Patterns. In this session we will create simple motifs (or complex ones if that’s your jam) that can be repeated and arranged in different ways to create a pattern. We will also explore a fun traditional method to create a seamless repeat pattern. Think of all the cool things you’ll be able to print — textiles! totes! tea towels! Oh my!