Window to One's Soul: Painting Creation June 5th-7th 2026

                                                                                                                   ©Theodora Tilton

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. 
― Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark

Last year because of rain we painted scenes outside sitting and standing by various windows in our work room. This is a wonderful way to get outdoors when the weather is iffy or something else prohibits one from getting there. Windows are a great training tool, a great practice tool, or even a way to create a finished painting enabling the artist to work from life. Windows can be handy for the obvious reason: you’re comfortable, dry, and warm inside while the elements speak loudly outdoors. If they are multi-paned one can use the window as a type of grid that helps you see the relative size of things and within the pane itself note wear things fall. You can see far and near depending on where you sit. You can practice seeing how the light outdoors falls on objects at different times of day. You can shift your perspective by just moving slightly from one side to another or all together to change your view completely.

It is something that artists have always done.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) famous for viewing nature through a lens of shifting light, painted the port of Le Havre from his hotel room window in “Impression, Sunrise” (1872). The painting that defined and named the Impressionist movement. He also painted over thirty paintings of the Rouen Cathedral (1892-1893) from rented rooms across the street from the cathedral and worked looking out the windows in that space. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)—later in life due to health issues—painted a famous series of urban landscapes, including "Le Boulevard Montmartre, matinée de printemps" (1897) directly from his window. And Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) painted several views of Mont Sainte-Victoire—one of his favorite subjects painted numerous times in the field—from his studio window.

An artist who influenced me, Charles Burchfield was an American painter who worked primarily in watercolor and painted from windows his entire career. He started using them in Ohio and then later when he moved to Buffalo, New York he continued. He was inspired by nature writers Henry David Thoreau and Willa Cather. Burchfield graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1916 and cited the artist Henry Keller as having a profound effect on him. Keller led a generation of Ohio watercolor painters which included Burchfield. On becoming engaged, Burchfield moved to Buffalo, New York in 1921, where he was employed as a designer at the H.M. Birge wallpaper company. The following year he married Bertha Kenreich. In 1928 with a growing family he approached the Frank Rehn  gallery in New York to see whether he could afford to paint full-time. Rehn thought so. Burchfield left his design job with Birge. Through the Great Depression, his work continued to sell. In 1952, he was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1954. 

This year, we are hoping for better weather. But regardless of what we get, we will be painting nature in a beautiful, light-filled, region that is known for its natural beauty. We hope to see you there in June!

The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.  
― Claude Monet

Painting Gardens: June 6th-8th 2025

 

 

Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty, if only we have the eyes to see them. John Ruskin

One place we return to year after year is the Shrine Mont oval garden. We either focus on detail or try something more challenging. There is color and texture. There is complexity. By the time we approach this we have been painting a full day with a workshop on Friday. Comfort level has improved and many dive right in. 

The wealth of color makes gardens an ideal plein aire subject suiting both broad and detailed approaches depending on whether we focus on a small section or whether we want to tackle something larger. There are artists who spend their entire careers painting flowers or gardens or plants. It is a wonderful way to paint from life without going far, without thinking one has to find that magnificent vista to depict. A simple flower with color that mesmerizes or the mere shape of the leaves or the pedals that attracts your attention can be enough. Once you paint a flower you are unfamiliar with it becomes part of you memory, your mind, and you remember. Painting is a wonderful way to learn about nature, creation, your surroundings.

Many painters are inspired by gardens. Monet, both a gardener and a painter said: My garden is my masterpiece. Along with, I’m only good at two things, gardening and painting. Monet was especially fond of drawing and painting his own gardens. Over and over again, he showed the ways light, weather, season, and time of day visually changed them. By directly observing nature, Monet captured the momentary effects of light and atmosphere. Monet regarded nature as his primary source of emotion. The varieties of flowers and plants he cultivated were chosen for their ability to evoke feelings and create atmospheres.

Another artist of note—a personal inspiration to me—is Fidelia Bridges   A prolific artist, she was known for her graceful watercolors of birds, plants, and butterflies. She was considered as the equal of Winslow Homer, one of the most famous American painters of the day; some even regarded her as superior. Henry James, reviewing her paintings on display at the American Watercolor Society’s 1875 exhibition for The Galaxy, an arts and literature magazine, said they were infinitely finer and more intellectual than Homer’s. For most of Bridges’s 50-year career, she worked 10 hours a day, sketching outdoors from spring through fall—in the fields, in the woods and along the marshes in rural Connecticut where she summered and later lived full time. As time allowed, she tended to her beloved garden. Bridges painted well into her 80s, until she could no longer hold a brush. With her, art is no end in itself, Richards, her teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, said in a 1902 Connecticut Magazine article. It is a medium for soul expression. In all her work one hears distinctly the voice of nature speaking in the idiom of art.

Painting Mountains June 7th-9th 2024

As near to Heaven as you can get on Earth, mountains are revered, sometimes feared, and regarded as sacred. They are challenging and mysterious. People built temples in the shape of mountains to represent the spiritual ascent of the soul. Climbing a mountain is likened to a spiritual journey. Looking back one sees all they have accomplished and all they have to do.

Once you begin to paint from life you quickly realize how much more you can see compared to a photograph. Distance is something that does not translate well in the average snapshot. Looking at mountains, looking at the sky on the horizon, looking deep into the forest, you can notice the changes. For color, things get bluer the further away from us they are. There is the atmosphere to consider. You can notice the change in value and intensity of color. The same trees have a different hue. Clouds cast shadows on the mountains and unless you remember where sun was, those shadows make no sense. This June 7th through 9th we are heading out to paint distance, to paint mountains.

One of the best places to paint mountains near Shrine Mont is in the tiny town of Jerome. Established in the early 1800s one of the first buildings stood on a hill overlooking the Appalachian Mountains. Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church was organized on this very hill in 1827. Services were held in a one-room log school house. This building, sometimes known as Miller's school after its owner Godfrey Miller, was built circa 1813 and was located on the site of the present church parking lot. It was later torn down and moved to a nearby farm. This church was replaced by a frame church in 1854 and then by the present church in 1891-1892. The building was greatly expanded in 1935. The rock wall encircling the adjoining cemetery was also built in 1935.

We have painted from this very hill and if all goes well we will be painting there this summer. There are views in every direction. There is a pavilion for those who need shade. There are mountains, and sky. There is beauty. Please come join us! The fresh air and mountain water are waiting for you. https://shrinemont.com/event/painting-creation-24/

Join us for our Painting Workshop June 9th-11th, 2023!

“I prefer every time a picture composed and painted outdoors. The thing is done without your knowing it.” Winslow Homer

I hope you all have been continuing to paint! We would love to see you return to Shrine Mont and join us for the Painting Creation Weekend this June 9th through the 11th in Orkney Springs, Virginia. There are new spots to paint, new things to see, and new people to meet. There is fresh air and delicious food. There is peace and inspiration. We would love to see you!

     Choosing oil or watercolor, you’ll join students at all levels painting "en plein aire" (painting outdoors) in the beautiful mountains surrounding Shrine Mont. Students will start with the basics and work through the process of creating a painting. It begins with an introduction to the workshop, to each other, and a review of painting materials and general techniques. Each day we focus on a different aspect of nature: skies, distance, reflections in water, or gardens. Each day will take you to a new painting spot. We travel to areas around Shrine Mont either on foot or by car. With each locale, we review different approaches to different subject matter. Sharing with each other is encouraged and the workshop is designed to inspire. It does help if you have some drawing experience and a rudimentary knowledge of your chosen paints.

     Shrine Mont is a place where you can cultivate creative energy, commune with fellow artists and with nature, rest, exercise in the fresh mountain air and eat nourishing food. Shrine Mont is located in Orkney Springs, Virginia just 2 hours from the Washington DC area at the foot of Great North Mountain.

Painting Creation Workshop Returns June 10th-12th, 2022

We are back with another paint-out and eager to see familiar and new faces. We had so many sign up last summer that we had to turn people away so please sign up early!

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.”—John Ruskin

There is no better way to enjoy the crisp mountain air than by exploring the natural world through painting! Join me for our Painting Creation workshop this June 10th-12th at the beautiful retreat center at Shrine Mont in Orkney Springs, Virginia. Choosing oil or watercolor, you’ll join students at all levels of painting "en plein aire" (painting outdoors) in the beautiful mountains surrounding historic Shrine Mont. Students will start with the basics and work through the process of creating a painting. Each day will take you to a new location. It begins with an introduction to the workshop, to each other, and a review of painting materials and general techniques. Each day we focus on a different aspect of nature: reflections in water, skies, distance, or gardens. We travel to areas around Shrine Mont either on foot or by car. With each local, we review different approaches to different subject matter. Sharing with each other is encouraged and the workshop is designed to inspire.

Shrine Mont is a place where you can release creative energy, commune with fellow artists and with nature, rest or exercise in fresh mountain air, and eat nourishing food. Orkney Springs was originally a place that people went to take the waters from the seven springs that fed the area. There is an enormous old hotel, the Virginia House built in 1873 where meals are still served, where there is a lobby one can sit and look at the work of the artist and illustrator John Douglas Woodward, uncle to the original founder. Shrine Mont is located in historic Orkney Springs, Virginia just 2 hours from the Washington DC area. To sign up please go here: https://shrinemont.com/event/painting-creation-22/

Painting Creation Workshop June 11th-13th, 2021

Last summer I just thought about what still is, what brought calm. For me, it is always the outside—the mountains, the water, the air, the sky, watching Pippa run. I have painted this land, this Virginia for decades now. I have painted the Allegheny Mountains, Lake Laura, the Springs, the Wildflowers every year. Each summer I pack up and go to paint what I can find and each year I am rewarded. It does not change. I can be assured that it is bigger than me and yet gives me enormous comfort. It renews my soul and for that day I forget despair.
     

Shrine Mont’s Painting Creation Workshop was back and packed with eager people needing to get out into all God’s Glory, God’s Church. We had the highest enrollment we have ever had, there were so many students. Every level came—those who haven’t painted since school days and those who paint on a regular basis. People came on their own, people came with family members. We painted Lake Laura from the dam and we painted the beautiful garden just outside of the Shrine. There was frustration and there was success.

©Photo by John Carten

On the first day, we painted distance and reflections; something that is very hard to get from most any photo. There really is no matching what the human eye can see. One can separate the distant mountain from the midrange, from those in front. There is the color change but also the value change and the texture. On the second day, we did detail. Each student was asked to pick one thing to paint in the garden: one leaf, one flower, one stone. If they had time they could do two things. Out of the two exercises, detail was by far easier to approach and yet a full scene is but many details.

     

For those who have not tried it yet, painting from life outdoors is undoubtedly one of the most exhilarating painting experiences. There is never a lull in painting subjects; there is never a moment where a hundred don’t shout out for attention: pick me, paint me, I am here. There is the dancing river with bouncing light, there is the distant wingstem wild and yelling I’m so pretty; there is the calm of the ancient mountains and the sky covering us and following us everyday. There is moss and stone and cold water. There are grasses and wildflowers.
      

Even when you are the only painter you are never alone. There are visitors: the butterflies, the bees, the birds. There is the wind. The longer you paint the more visitors come. The louder it gets. Once we painted by a pond and soon all the bullfrogs started believing we had left not knowing we were listening to their entire conversation.

     

There will be more opportunities. We will have a drawing workshop in the fall. And we will return to Shrine Mont next summer. You are invited to come, to look, to paint all of Creation.

Painting Creation Workshop June 12th-14th, 2020

What better way is there to enjoy the fresh mountain air than exploring the natural world through painting! Join me for our Painting Creation workshop this June 12-14th. Choosing oil or watercolor, you’ll join students at all levels painting "en plein aire" (painting outdoors) in the beautiful mountains surrounding historic Shrine Mont. Students will start with the basics and work through the process of creating a painting. Each day will take you to a new location. It begins with an introduction to the workshop, to each other and a review of painting materials and general techniques. Each day we focus on a different aspect of nature: reflections in water, skies, distance, or gardens. We travel to areas around Shrine Mont either on foot or by car. With each local, we review different approaches to different subject matter. Sharing with each other is encouraged and the workshop is designed to inspire.

     Shrine Mont is a place where you can release creative energy, commune with fellow artists and with nature, rest, exercise in fresh mountain air and eat nourishing food. Orkney Springs was originally a place that people went to take the waters from the seven springs that fed the area. There is an enormous old hotel, the Virginia House built in 1873 where meals are still served, where there is a lobby one can sit and look at the work of the artist and illustrator John Douglas Woodward, uncle to the original founder. Shrine Mont is located in historic Orkney Springs, Virginia just 2 hours from the Washington DC area.