Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife's, family home

If you're wondering whether or not take a weeklong workshop (like the Art Walk England in August!!) is a good fit for you, I hope the following will give you a better idea:

7 Awesome Reasons To Take An Art Walk Workshop

1. Ummm, because it is sooooo much fun!! It's total immersion into the location you're visiting. In our case, we'll be spending time in Stratford-Upon-Avon. We'll have plenty of time to explore our surroundings, mingle with the folks that live there, and absorb the environment. How often have you been on a trip where it felt like all you did was snap a few quick pictures, but when you arrived home, you felt like you didn't really get a good feel for the place? Have you ever wanted to linger in a place but your travel schedule didn't allow you to dawdle?

Blue Walk Tours gets that this about travelers, especially about artists. They get that we need to take our time and not just look but truly see. They make sure we have the time to sketch the fabulous wildflower in the meadow or shamble around the old bookshop.

2. Speaking of  s-l-o-w-i-n-g  d-o-w-n…you have time to plop down and sketch where you are because there is time built into the schedule. You'll still have time to see the various sights without being rushed. There's time for you do a little exploring on your own if you'd like, or maybe you'd like to enjoy a good "lie-in" (British slang for staying in bed later than usual).

3. The joy of being with like-minded people. Artists are, or can be, an odd lot. We want to draw and paint the darnedest things like our meals, a pot of flowers near a bench on a busy thoroughfare, a cat in a window or an unusual piece of pottery in the garden. But when you're with like-minded people, they get it. They totally understand why you just have to stop and commit those daisies to the page. They're likely to join you!

There is also safety in numbers...it makes it easier to be brave when others are near-by doing what you're doing and if you just happen to be one of those artists that loses all perspective of where they are and what they're doing (also called getting into the zone), there's someone nearby to watch your back. If you want to travel, but do not have someone in your life to travel with, this is an excellent way to see the world as well!

4. You're NOT sitting in a classroom! This is both a scary and exciting point. After all, you're there, in England, out in Stratford with a sketchbook in your hands and you have TIME to put something on the page. Freaky-scary-kinda cool, right?

You also have a secret weapon—me! I will be there by your side each day to help you get started, to answer questions, to make suggestions on how to fill the page, to show you how to tackle different subjects as well as different approaches to the page. I promise to help you get past the sticky bits by doing impromptu demos based on the day's activities.

Think how exciting it will be to come home with a sketchbook of your making full of little snippets of your memories—each page an instant portal back to where you were, who you were with and what you were doing!

5. It's a small group so you won't get lost in the crowd. The group is deliberately kept small in number so that I have time to work with each artist and so that you can see the spontaneous demos, ask questions (and get answers) and not get overwhelmed by too many people.

Blue Walk Tours strives to find the right balance between enough participants to make it interesting (as we can learn a lot from our travel mates) and activities (sight-seeing places of interest) with spending time with our sketchbooks and giving you plenty of opportunities to work with me. (There are still some spots left! Click here for more info!)

6. Assistance is at your fingertips. The Blue Walk Art Tours are guided tours and there is always someone around to assist with questions, challenges and obstacles. And they know the scoop on all the cool places to go and the ones to avoid! They are there to make sure you don't have to worry about getting around, to the playhouse, back to the restaurant or anywhere else. Having visited Stratford before, they can answer questions you may not think to ask until after the day's tour is long over. They provide a wealth of knowledge as well as peace of mind. They have our backs so we can enjoy our time!

Cottage garden

7. No dishes, no housework, no laundry, no job interference for seven days. How often do we try to create our art in stolen moments found between the demands on our time? You get to concentrate on your art without all the distractions you have when you're at home (what's for dinner, I need to go pick up the dry cleaning, I need to prepare for that big meeting tomorrow).

There is a sense of freedom when you're totally away from the daily demands. The idea of having all that time to create as much (or little) as you want is liberating in a way that's hard to describe, but it's worth experiencing!

We're heading out to Stratford, on August 14th! I hope you'll join in the fun.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions in the comments!