This combination workshop will give participants the opportunity to work with a palette of words and colors.   Designed to meet the needs of professional artists and writers, it will also allow those with general interest and ability to pursue their creative vision.

The writers will meet with writer Elizabeth Seydel Morgan around a picnic table on the grassy bank of the Garonne River, or under a vine-covered shelter overlooking the fig trees, or at a terrace table in the afternoon at the Hotel de l''Horloge avec un petit vin, where they will practice putting observation into words. Every genre of creative writer can use this kind of communal and individual practice.   Individual conferences for critique of work can be arranged.

"Painting from nature is not copying the object but realizing one sensation." Paul Cezanne

Mary Page Evans will lead the painting portion of the workshop.Working in sketchbooks, the visual artists will paint and draw "en plein air" with painter Mary Page Evans on the streets of Auvillar and in the beautiful countryside surrounding the village.   Broad views of the surrounding area or intimate views of small gardens offer some of the many subjects for the painters.   A sketchbook/journal will sum up a week of creative collaboration between painting and writing. At the end of the week is the optional participation in "Paint My Village," the annual painting contest sponsored by this village.

Workshop participants will finish the week with a sketch book of visual and written images of Auvillar.   Classes will be scheduled so that participants in one genre can take or visit the other workshop.

Includes: All instruction, all housing (double occupancy), all breakfasts and lunches, four dinners, pick up and drop off at transportation centers in Toulouse or Agen. Single occupancy requires a $200 supplement.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Mary Page Evans painted in Monet's gardens Giverny for several summers. She exhibits her work at Carspecken Scott Gallery in Wilmington, Delaware and Addison Ripley Fine Arts in Washington, D.C.   Her work is in many public and private collections including the Delaware Art Museum, State Museum of Pennsylvania and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and most recently the American Embassy in Nepal.

Most recently the 2007 Writer in Residence at Hollins University, Elizabeth Seydel Morgan has published four books of poetry with LSU Press (all in print), two award-winning short stories, received Best Screenplay Award from the Virginia Film Festival, translated Euripides' Electra for Penn Press, and published non-fiction essays. Many poets and editors are among herpast students, including the editor of Poetry.

Above, art supplies on cobbestones, photo by Jeannette MacDougall