PAINT WISDOM INTENSIVES
An immersive, week-long painting intensive for dedicated women artists eager to deepen their practice in an inspiring global locale.
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN YOUR ART
Embark on a transformative journey with Paint Wisdom Intensives, a sanctuary for women artists fiercely devoted to their creative practice.
Immerse yourself in a week of creative exploration, where you'll stoke your artistic fire, nourish your body, and delve deep into your painting practice, held by an inspiring environment and the warm camaraderie of fellow creatives. Leave with a body of work that makes your cells sizzle, a deeper connection to your creative practice, a well nourished Artist Soul, and a yearning to keep painting!
While similar intensives are more like an “art vacation,” Paint Wisdom Intensives welcome artists who are serious about their creative practice and have confidence to create a body of work independently.
WHY ATTEND A PAINT WISDOM INTENSIVE?
Attending a Paint Wisdom Intensive offers a unique opportunity to transform your artistic practice and dive deeper into your creative journey. Here’s are some reasons why you should join us:
- Strengthen Your Artistic Voice: Gain clarity and confidence in your unique visual language, style, and voice.
- Explore New Perspectives: Discover fresh ideas and approaches by changing your location and integrate them vibrantly into your art.
- Build a Body of Work: Focus intensely on creating a cohesive body of work that vibrates with meaning and depth.
- Take Creative Risks: Step out of your comfort zone and embrace experimentation in a supportive environment.
- Overcome Creative Blocks: Get unstuck, back in the groove if you’ve lost it, and learn to embrace and navigate fear.
- Transform Your Practice: Shed old creative skins and engage in the messy, blessed work of becoming the artist your soul is calling you to be.
- Feel Seen & Understood: Build meaningful relationships and share experiences with other dedicated women artists who understand and inspire your creative journey.
At every Intensive, whether it’s in Italy, Mexico, or Taos you will receive an over-abundance of studio time, individualized mentorship, and an inspiring environment to create in. Through thoughtful feedback, soulful discussions with like-minded women, and guided meditations, you'll feel both supported and challenged creatively.
TESTIMONIALS FROM ARTISTS LIKE YOU
I warmly recommend Connie's intensives because they are pure magic! Every time I participate in one, I walk away feeling deeply nourished. Connie is an alchemist who will help you expand your relationship to your own visual language and show you how to extract it's treasures like never before! Every time I work with her, she blows my mind! She is the teacher you need to help you tap into your true, raw and genuine self expression. With her guidance and her mentoring, you will get connected to your artist soul in the most fulfilling way possible. — Mylène Piché., Quebec, Canada
Paint Wisdom is hard to put into words. "Wonderful, great, uplifting, and supportive" don’t quite capture it. Paint Wisdom is all those things and much more—something deep inside that's hard to express but full of joy. — Diana C., Texas, USA
I would recommend the Paint Wisdom Intensive — no hesitation. Absolutely. It’s a week of small group mentoring and holding open a clearer and more expansive connection to your artist’s soul. — Anne Gaffney., Wisconsin, USA
WHY I CREATED PAINT WISDOM INTENSIVES
Since 2009, I have led over 40 in-person painting intensives in three countries. My mission is to create a sanctuary where women artists can immerse themselves in their creative practice and nourish their Artist Souls.
I founded Paint Wisdom Intensives to provide artists with dedicated time and space to explore, grow, and connect with their creativity. My goal is to meet you exactly where you are on your artist journey, offering support, challenges, and guidance as you evolve.
As a lifelong artist with 30 years of teaching experience, I intimately understand the ebbs and flows of the creative process and the clever ways resistance can spin its web. One of the most rewarding aspects of these intensives is the incredible community of like-minded women artists that forms during our time together. These connections are transformative, creating a powerful synergy that propels everyone’s creative practice forward.
I too work on my own art during these intensives, sharing my process and experiences. This creates a genuine, collaborative environment where we all learn and grow together.
Join me at Paint Wisdom Intensives, and let's embark on this creative journey together. I can't wait to see the amazing art you'll create and the incredible growth you'll experience.
WHAT TO EXPECT...
INDIVIDUALIZED Mentoring
Two Months Before Departure: Mentoring begins with a self-guided online mini-workshop to kickstart your creative process. This session will help you dream into your body of work, select materials, initiate any necessary research or sketching, and provide valuable guidance on packing and preparing for your Intensive.
During Paint Wisdom: You can anticipate individualized one-on-one and group mentoring designed to support and challenge you. These sessions aim to help you breathe life into your body of work, enhance your skills, and create art with deeper meaning.
As Your Mentor: My expertise lies in meeting each artist where they are and nurturing their growth and expansion into the artist they aspire to be. My goal is for you to depart with a body of work brimming with freshness, vitality, and uniquely your own.
An OVER-ABUNDANCE OF STUDIO TIME
At Paint Wisdom, your studio is conveniently located just outside your room with 24-hour access. Each day kicks off with a guided painting session before breakfast. Following breakfast, the morning is dedicated to workshops, painting, and mentoring.
After lunch, the afternoon—depending on the Intensive location—may involve open studio time and/or visits to local artist studios, galleries, and museums. In Italy, we'll casually explore nearby nature sites.
Each day concludes with opportunities to discuss and reflect on your body of work before heading to dinner, indulging in a massage, taking a leisurely stroll around town, or simply enjoying more studio time.
COMMUNITY OF KINDREDS
At Paint Wisdom you will be immersed in a community of artists who share your dedication to their painting practice and are eager to delve deeper. Our inspiring discussions will center on art, creativity, expanding our body of work, and navigating the highs and lows of the artist's journey.
At Paint Wisdom I too will be working on my own body of work alongside you. So, expect plenty of late-night painting sessions and intimate glimpses into my own creative process as well.
FORGET ABOUT Cooking!
One of the best things about Paint Wisdom is that you don't have to worry about cooking! Expect to leave Paint Wisdom with a few extra pounds and feeling totally nourished.
Each Paint Wisdom location boasts a local cook who will delight you with incredible dishes using regional ingredients and infused with home-cooked love!
LEAVE WITH A BEAUTIFUL BODY OF WORK THAT MAKES YOUR CELLS SIZZLE
IS A PAINT WISDOM INTENSIVE RIGHT FOR YOU?
PAINT Wisdom is perfect for...
- Artists in search of mentorship that fosters authenticity, honesty, and vulnerability in their art. At Paint Wisdom, you'll receive INDIVIDUALIZED guidance and mentorship to develop a body of work that not only enhances your artistic practice but also nurtures a deeper relationship with yourself as an artist. Your creations will reflect, explore, and draw inspiration from themes that hold personal significance to you.
- Artists yearning for dedicated time to delve deeply into their creative process, and the space to allow their work to unfold naturally at its own cadence and rhythm.
• Artists comfortable with independently crafting a body of work, familiar with generating their own ideas, setting creative goals, and selecting materials. However, they yearn for the magical experience of creating in community in a picturesque setting and dream of having support.
• Artists who fiercely love painting and are committed to continuous growth and evolution in their artistic journey.
• Artists who embrace experimentation, taking risks, and seek-out the awe and wonder found in their creative process.
• Artists who find value in guided visualizations and contemplative journaling, using these tools to deepen their connection with their work and nurture their imaginative spirit.
• Artists who believe there is more to making art than just creating pretty pictures —they prefer to linger in the deeper currents of their creativity.
PAINT Wisdom is NOT well suited for...
• Artists at the beginner level. Participants should have a minimum of 3 years of experience in art-making and feel adept at working independently.
• Artists seeking an art vacation filled with site-seeing and numerous tourist activities. Paint Wisdom is a painting intensive held in an inspiring environment, where all our time and energy is focused on creating a body of work. We’re going to PAINT-EAT-SLEEP-REPEAT!
• Artists seeking technical or step-by-step instruction or aiming to emulate Connie's artistic style.
• Artists who solely turn to art as a means of coping with life's challenges or processing emotions. While Paint Wisdom is inherently healing, it is not intended as a therapeutic space for addressing trauma or deep emotional issues.
• Artists who pursue art primarily as a hobby or leisure activity. Paint Wisdom delves deeply into the context and significance of our art within our creative journey. Those without an established creative practice may find the retreats overwhelming.
• Artists who shy away from engaging in meaningful discussions on art or participating in guided visualizations.
PAINTING IN COMMUNITY IS ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFTS WE CAN GIVE OURSELVES AS ARTISTS
Here’s what a few of my artists have to say:
Thank you Connie. I always feel I grow as an artist when I attend one of your intensives. I loved it! The connections you make with the other artists stay with you. And as always, the reflection opportunity on our final day was so insightful. Looking at the body of work I created during the retreat was invaluable. I saw themes and connections between pieces that I hadn't realized were there. — Maureen Kelly, Alaska USA
Before Paint Wisdom I was out of sync with my artist soul and not motivated or inspired to visit my studio, pick up a pen or tear some paper on the daily. But with the openness of Connie and the other participants, I was brought back to the joy of creating — even if it was just a swoop of paint. — Deborah Goldman, California, USA
This was my 3rd time at the Sedona retreat (plus all the international retreats) and I learn more about my creativity each time I attend one. — PJ Lawrence, Kentucky USA
I found a dedicated week away in the company of a like-minded artistic community to be useful. I feel like I learned a lot about my expression through painting. — Bridget Piloud, Arizona, USA
Painting alongside like-minded artists in community is a gift of time and creativity you give to yourself. With Connie's supportive wisdom and enthusiasm, you'll pursue your own work, which becomes interwoven by emotion, color, and design as your story, vision, and artistic voice unfold. Connie serves as a mentor, offering advice when needed and knowing just when to push you further along your journey. — Sharla Hicks, California, USA
Connie, I want to thank you from the bottom of my artist soul, for encouraging me to explore outside my minimal art world, to be bold and try new art but ultimately be true to my sweet artist soul. — Laura C., California USA
IS PAINT WISDOM CALLING YOU?
THEN COME JOIN ME in 2025 AT ONE OF THESE INSPIRING LOCATIONS
Oaxaca, Mexico
February 23 - March 1, 2025
Puglia, Italy
May 25 -31, 2025
Taos, New Mexico
July 27 - August 2, 2025