This May, artists can pack their sketchbooks and join the latest Art League travel workshop for a tour of the Irish coastline, painting and drawing their way through the countryside’s natural and man-made sights with veteran instructor Avis Fleming. (Click to view her website, with a biography and images of work from Ireland and other travel workshops.)
Avis, an Art League teacher for 25 years, has taught travel workshops to Louisiana and the Czech Republic, and this will be her third Ireland workshop. When we first asked her to arrange a trip for us, she and her husband, Paul Hodge, went on a scouting trip to scope out the best drawing spots in Western Ireland. It was a natural fit — the couple owns Connemara ponies, an Irish breed, and love the country’s literature and music.
On this year’s trip, May 24–June 3, a private bus will take artists to small coastal towns, castles and abbeys, bays and harbors, natural wonders, prehistoric monuments, and picturesque locales rural and urban. Destinations include:
- Westport, an English-style town, with accommodations at the three-star Clew Bay Hotel
- Poulnabrone Dolmen (c. 2500 B.C.) on the Burren limestone formation in County Clare
- Clifden, with accommodations in the award-winning Quay House overlooking the harbor
- Two days in Roundstone, a painter’s dream location
… and many other stops. The group will spend a couple of days in each location, taking day trips to select sites and staying in charming small hotels like the two linked above. (There’s a link to the full itinerary below.) Continue reading Sketch Ireland with Avis Fleming