Melissa Wishart is an experienced professional painter, with a strong interest in light and surface texture. Born in Bermuda she has a life-long love of the sea - its energy, movement and ever changing nature and is known for her Seascapes. Melissa is based near Bath but also has a studio in Sidmouth in South Devon. She regularly has solo shows and has exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists in the Mall Galleries in London.
Melissa is an experienced demo/workshop/painting holiday tutor with a warm enthusiasm and ability to give encouragement and guidance.
‘.... engaging, funny, knowledgeable and a great tutor. (Testimonial from January 2020 workshop)
Please visit Melissa's website for further information and to see examples of her work.
We will spend the first two mornings on the North Devon Coast, gathering resources, sketching and plein air painting.
The afternoons and all of the final day we will have as studio time to work up paintings and explore different techniques through demo and guided experiment. Melissa will also be on hand to offer one to one tuition.
The studio is located in the lovely natural surroundings of Westcott Barton which can also be used to provide further inspiration for painting.
Participants are very welcome to continue using the studio outside the designated teaching time.
Upon your arrival on the Thursday afternoon, at around 3pm, you will be greeted by the team at Westcott Barton.
The retreat will begin with a relaxed afternoon settling into the accommodation and viewing the immediate grounds whilst getting to know your tutor and fellow students. This will be followed by a group dinner.
Breakfast will be served at 8.30am and students will then gather in the studio at around 9.30am.
Tea coffee and biscuits are freely available to help yourself to during studio sessions.
Lunch will be served at 1pm with afternoon tutorials commencing from 2-5pm, followed by a group dinner at 6.30pm.
Our courses are limited to 12 participants per retreat to ensure your tutor has the ability to provide you with personal advice and support during your time here.
- All media welcome. Melissa is predominantly an oil painter with a fairly loose, expressive style but also paints in acrylic, watercolour and mixed media and is happy to tutor in any of these.
- All abilities welcome.
- The medium you like to work with (paints, paper, canvas boards, brushes, large palette, palette knife, silicon wedge, rags etc), plus a sketchbook and extra drawing paper. An up to date materials list will be sent to you nearer the time.
- A free standing easel is recommended and a chair if you prefer sitting to work.
- A limited number of easels are available to loan if requested prior to arrival and still available.
- Accommodation and meals during your stay, including an evening meal on day of arrival and breakfast on day of departure.
Please click here to view a sample menu (PDF opens in new tab).
Single occupancy in secure room, with own bathroom facilities: £760 per person.
Single occupancy room or shared room (twin or double), but sharing bathroom facilities: £710 per person (minimum booking for two and both must be participating in the retreat).
Non-participating partners sharing a course participant's room are welcome: £440 per person (includes meals). This option is subject to availability.
We welcome non-residential participants on our retreats/courses - please enquire for further details.
The form can either be printed and completed by hand or filled out on your computer (Adobe PDF reader required). If the latter, please make sure you save the PDF once you have added your details and then email this back to us.
RETREAT BOOKING FORM (PDF) - please right click and save to your computer.
Please refer to our Location page for directions, if coming by car.
We suggest you download what3words and then use Google Maps within the app to provide you with directions to us. Please enter our full address and not just the postcode.
If you are planning to travel by another means of transport please contact us for assistance.
