Santa Fe Art Retreat

a look at my very first art retreat

I promise this is the last of my Santa Fe posts. I’ve covered Santa Fe bookstores and Santa Fe authors or books that feature Santa Fe, but the impetus for my trip had nothing to do with books. I was there for my very first art retreat!

What is an art retreat? Think of it as an intensive summer camp for artists. We painted or talked about painting from eight in the morning until five. We were free most evenings and I usually spent my free time endlessly walking around Santa Fe. I couldn’t get enough!

The week was hosted by the Madeline School of the Arts. While their flagship location is in Wisconsin, they have locations in Tucson, Santa Fe, and Maine and I believe they announced they’re opening one in Monterey, California, which would be amazing because it’s gorgeous there and not too far from me in Los Angeles.

I’ve always painted in the safety of my office, using a reference photo on my computer. This trip was all about getting outside, which can be daunting! There’s the elements. People are moving around, which makes painting them so hard! And lots of lookie loos who want to see what you’re up to.

Santa Fe is a painter’s paradise.

Our two dream instructors were Maru Godas and

Suhita Shirodkar

. I’d taken a few classes of Maru’s on Domestica during covid and love her loose, illustrative style. And I loved learning what magic Suhita can make with watercolors!

Day 1) We spent most of the day working on exercises with gouache and watercolors.

Day 2) We spent the morning at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. I’d been there before, but I hadn’t ever painted the last time I visited, so it was interesting to study the pieces through a painter’s lens and then try and draw them. The one above was my favorite, painted in 1916.

Then it was back to the classroom for more learning and an assignment where we had to recreate two of O’Keeffe’s paintings. (The flowers are upside-down)

Then we went out in the plaza to paint. Mine looks a little post-apocalyptic because I was too afraid to insert any people.

Day 3) We drove the hour and fifteen minutes out to Ghost Ranch where Georgia kept her second home and painted the extraordinary landscape.

That night, we had an optional sip and sketch where I drank the most delicious spicy margarita. My art got worse the more I drank. But it was fun!

Day 4) We walked to the Railyard and had to paint a three-panel scene. I struggled with this assignment, but landed on a person, the landscape and the water tower.

That night, we had a group dinner and everyone presented their postcards to their recipient. (Sort of like a Secret Santa) Here’s the amazing Carmen giving me the postcard she painted. I was so lucky to receive art from such a talented artist!

Day 5) On our last day, we walked to The Art’s District and painted away.

Then we went back to the studio for a last show and tell. The studios stayed open until late in the afternoon, so a group of us stayed and continued painting. I took a ton of photos, so I’ve been slowly painting them in a journal reserved for Santa Fe paintings.

The art was great, as was the scenery, but the best part about the trip was meeting other creative women. I’ve stayed in touch with many of them over social media and I can’t wait until I get to do this kind of thing again. In the meantime, I’ve joined my local Urban Sketchers chapter (it’s free) and went on my first Urban Sketcher field trip. You can check out where we went here over on my Instagram post.

And here’s a friendly reminder that my friend, Char, over at

"A World of Colour"

is hosting an art retreat in Oaxaca in January 2025!