This workshop invites participants to approach mark-making through discovery and experimentation. Instead of traditional tools, we will gather materials encountered throughout the retreat—natural fragments, overlooked objects, and unexpected textures—and transform them into inventive mark-making instruments.
Working on both traditional and unexpected surfaces, participants will explore gesture, rhythm, repetition, and chance through a series of exploratory exercises. The focus is not on producing a polished result, but on engaging fully with the act of making and allowing visual language to evolve through curiosity and play.
The practice will also expand beyond the hand alone. Through movement and physical interaction with materials, participants will experiment with ways the body itself can generate marks, allowing motion, balance, and gravity to shape the work in surprising ways.
We will also reflect on the relationship between the senses and creative expression, considering how experiences such as scent can awaken memories, images, and emotions that quietly influence the marks we create.
Over the course of the retreat, participants will develop a collection of tactile, layered works that reflect exploration, material discovery, and a deeply personal visual language.
MEET THE ARTIST
Ray Brand
Ray Brand is an artist whose practice lives in contrast to her former life in architecture and interior design, where she spent over twenty years refining spaces toward visual perfection. Today, her work turns toward the opposite—toward imperfection, unpredictability, and the depth of process.
She explores mark-making as an act of discovery. Using ink, unconventional tools, and materials gathered from her surroundings, her work is guided as much by chance as by intention. A shift in pressure, an unexpected texture, the movement of a tool across a surface—these become collaborators in the work itself.
Many of the tools she uses are gathered from nature - materials shaped by weather and time - serving as quiet reminders of seasonal change and the passage of time. The body itself also becomes a tool, with gesture, movement, and rhythm actively shaping each mark.
Her background includes studies in wet-on-wet oil painting, functional and sculptural ceramics, and experimental ink practices. Through her teaching, she invites others to loosen control, engage instinct, and find meaning in the unplanned.
PROVISIONAL ITINERARY
There will be days with free afternoons, evenings with dinners prepared by the chef, and dining at our favorite at local restaurants. We will have an excursion day to a museum or local region to gain inspiration, and also offer an optional guided trip by train to a local town for those who would like to do some exploring and shopping.
Example Day:
8:00 AM | Morning Movement
Guided seaside walk or gentle yoga to awaken the body and mind.
9:30 AM | French Breakfast Under the Pergola
Fresh pastries, seasonal fruit, rich coffee, and conversation in the morning light.
10:30 AM | Art-Making with Intention
Studio time focused on guided creative exploration and personal expression.
12:30 PM | Chef-Prepared Lunch
A vibrant meal crafted from locally sourced ingredients, enjoyed al fresco.
1:30 PM | Creative Studio or Free Time
Continue your art practice or relax — swim, read, journal, or simply rest.
4:30 PM | Garden Aperitif
Aperol spritz or botanical mocktails in the garden as the afternoon softens.
6:00 PM | Evening Integration
Sound bowl meditation, restorative session, or optional stroll into town.
7:30 PM | Dinner by the Sea
A relaxed, candlelit dinner on the beach as the sun sets over the Mediterranean.
There will be days with free afternoons, evenings with dinners prepared by the chef, and dining at our favorite at local restaurants. We will have an excursion day to a museum or local region to gain inspiration, and also offer an optional guided trip by train to a local town for those who would like to do some exploring and shopping.