Step 1: Claim Your Rosemary Brushes!
Step 2: Choose From Our Workshop Calendar
Click below to find out more about each one
This is a unique invitation to paint, sketch and stay with other artists in a historic French Château.
Let us introduce you to Provence over 10 days of artistic immersion in the idyllic South of France. We are your guides to a distraction-free experience making great art, while enjoying the natural beauty and bounty of Provence.
2025 Workshops: With instructors
Making the Leap with Vanessa Rothe
Join us for an exciting new workshop geared towards helping you “Make the Leap” to become a professional artist, armed with the tools needed to run your art business successfully. This immersive workshop takes place in the inspiring atmosphere of a genuine French château estate. Discover how to use important inventory software, write a great bio, artist statement or press release, and develop exciting business savvy skills. Learn how to create email blasts, create social media posts, and pitch your work to a gallery.
May 1— 9, 2025
$5,500
Painting in Tuscany with Debra Huse
September 3 - 11, 2025
$6,100
Contemporary Realism with Olga Krimon
If you are captivated by masterful compositions, daring brushwork, and luminous color, this workshop is your ideal artistic retreat. Join us in the enchanting French countryside near Paris for an unforgettable painting experience with the acclaimed artist Olga Krimon.
Olga Krimon is celebrated for her bold, expressive style and her exceptional ability to create compelling compositions. With a teaching approach that inspires both creativity and technical growth, she has guided artists worldwide toward artistic excellence. Normandy, with its storied past, charming villages, and atmospheric light, sets the perfect stage for an immersive creative adventure.
May 20— 28, 2025
$5,900
Tapping Into Your Inner Voice with Ron Hicks
Join us for an unparalleled workshop experience where you will unlock the hidden depths of your artistic expression. Each one of us is an individual with personal ideas and viewpoints, but do you express yours in your artwork?
You rarely find someone so knowledgeable, talented and compassionate as Ron Hicks. Ron paints some of today’s most sought-after paintings but he is also willing to help other artists discover and nurture their inherent artistic voices. Elevate your creativity to new heights and ignite the flame of your artistic soul under his expert guidance.
September 3 - 11, 2025
$6,500
2025 Art Retreats: Uninstructed
Under the Tuscan Sky Art Retreat
As summer relinquishes its heat and cool air descends upon the evening, artists gather around a long wooden table to dine al fresco in the garden and discuss the pleasures of painting that day under a Tuscan sky. September is a perfect time to visit Italy, to stay in a hilltop estate surrounded by vineyards and 360-degree views of Tuscany.
We carefully selected the estate because of the stunning location, the way the land is tended, and because we adore the charming owners who insist that we taste everything, enjoy everything and relax and create.
September 14 - 20, 2025
$5,100
Art Retreat Southwest France
We are excited to welcome our artists to an enriching and compact version of our legendary art retreats. This is the perfect chateau-based art experience where you can devote time to your painting in a distraction-free environment. Find your inspiration from the daily painting locations while getting to know your fellow artists in highly creative surroundings.
Situated in the Haut Languedoc region of Southern France. The accommodation is a Domaine estate originally used as an Olive mill where they have pressed local olives for oil for centuries. The region is legendary for its hilltop villages, olive groves and luscious vineyards.
October 17 - 22, 2025
$4,100
Plein Air Normandy
Art Retreat Near Paris
We are excited to welcome our artists to an enriching and compact version of our legendary art retreats. This is the perfect château-based art experience where you can devote time to your painting in a distraction-free environment. Find your inspiration from the daily painting locations while getting to know your fellow artists in highly creative surroundings.
The Normandy region sits to the northwest of Paris. The surrounding landscape, once the hunting grounds of the French nobility, provides a delicious and abundant backdrop to your art-making experience. Your home for this unique art retreat is an elegant château estate. This château is beyond charming and located in the Northern Normandy region of France, where Van Gogh spent the final year of his life. On arrivals day you can roam the estate to paint, have a glass of rosé or relax with the other artists. Then paint some more! You can see images of the estate here.
May 13 - 18, 2025
$4,400
About The Art Engine
The Château Retreat for Artists and Workshops in France is organized by The Art Engine, a resource organization for visual artists.
We have a mission to bring artists together in wonderful destinations to become inspired by their surroundings and the creativity that comes from working in small enrichment groups. These retreats are designed to give our guests an ideal environment for making art while enjoying themselves to the fullest following a tradition of artists traveling and living together. The South of France was selected for the fantastic weather, sensational scenery, the rich tapestry of historical towns and villages, not to mention the cuisine and wines of one of France’s most abundant regions.
Since the life of the working artist can be a very solitary enterprise, confined to a lonely studio, the Château Retreat for Artists was conceived to fill this void with a highly enriching experience to make memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.
Your Art Retreat Leader
The Art retreats are non-instructed. The retreats are led by Julie Snyder, an experienced traveler who works tirelessly to make the experience exceptional for all guests. She is passionate about art, exploring new places and sharing these opportunities with other artists. She is an award winning artist in her own right.
A native of Scotland, Julie Snyder was encouraged to pursue her art by an artist-mother and a writer-father. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art.
Snyder’s artistic career has spanned both sides of the Atlantic and included several years of residence in Southern Spain. Julie Snyder forged her craft as an illustrator in advertising, publishing and the motion picture industry.
Her work hangs in collections and galleries across the USA and in Europe. The National Art Museum of Sport honored her three times, including her paintings in their exhibits and awarding her the prestigious gold medal for painting in 2013 for her painting “Daily Drill”. Her painting, “Blinn House Kitchen Chefs” hung in Contemporary Masters | Artistic Eden exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of History. She has exhibited with The Oil Painters of America at the SorrelSky Gallery, Santa Fe, the Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara; and the Howard/Mandeville Gallery in Washington; Addison Art Gallery in Massachusetts, The Boston International Fine Arts Show, Silvana Gallery’s International Salon of Figurative Art and with the California Art Club.
Julie Snyder also an advocate for the arts. She spent years working in promotion and marketing and uses her experience to promote the arts. She is a program coordinator for The Art Engine, and is a frequent seminar presenter for art marketing and art collecting workshops with DanielakFineArt.
To learn more about her work visit her website, JulieSnyder.com
