SARAH SEDWICK
Colour. Confidence. The still life, at full tilt.
TWIN SHARE From €4,087 per person
PRIVATE ROOM FROM €7,442
ONLY TEN PLACES AVAILABLE
A STILL LIFE MASTERCLASS IN OILS
LOOSE REALISM IN OILS.
Autumn
29 August - 4 September 2027
Sarah Sedwick paints still life the way most people wish they could. Confidence, speed, and a fearlessness about colour that makes her work impossible to look away from. She calls it Loose Realism. Expressive brushwork, brilliant colour, compositions that move.
Everything she paints is from life. She began at age ten and has not stopped. BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, alla prima workshops across the US since 2013, and the author of Dynamic Still Life for Artists. Her online mentorship programme works with students across the world.
Six nights at Chateau Charente. Five masterclass workshops. Ten painters only.
This is her first in-person retreat in France. Exclusively at Chateau Charente. Ten painters only.
Sarah's teaching philosophy is simple: the more you paint, the more you improve. So the goal is to remove whatever is keeping you from the canvas. Perfectionism. Overworking. The fear of stopping too late. She will demonstrate. She will work with you individually. She will show you what happens when you paint twenty brushstrokes and stop.
Autumn in the Charente is particular. The light shifting, the gardens still full, the air beginning to change. The kind of season that makes a painted object feel weighted and present. Exactly the kind of light Sarah paints toward.
A dedicated studio, seasonal French cuisine, curated excursions into the Charente countryside, and morning wellness sessions. Everything designed so the only thing you need to think about is your painting.
ABOUT sarah sedwick
Sarah Sedwick has been painting still life from life since she was ten years old. She earned a BFA in Illustration from Maryland Institute, College of Art in 2001 and has been teaching alla prima workshops across the United States since 2013. Her online mentorship programme works with students on every continent.
She coined the term Loose Realism to describe what she does - expressive brushwork, brilliant colour, dynamic compositions that feel alive. It caught on because it describes something painters had been reaching for without a name.
Her workshops sell out. Her online courses have reached thousands. Her book Dynamic Still Life for Artists, published in 2022, is a working reference for oil painters at every level.
This is her first in-person retreat in France. Five nights. Ten places. Southwest France in Autumn. For ten painters only.
SARAH SEDWICK MASTERCLASS HIGHLIGHTS
Colour Mixing and Warm-Up
Building the foundation
The week begins not with a finished painting but with colour. Sarah takes you through her split-primary palette - two reds, two yellows, two blues and white - and the mixing exercises she uses to start every studio day. Quick, focused, and immediately useful. Limitations, it turns out, set you free.
A Weeklong Masterclass in Loose Realism
Still Life Setup and Composition
From thumbnail to underpainting
How to set up a still life that actually works. Sarah walks you through the fundamentals of good design - what makes a composition move, what stops it dead. Thumbnail sketches to plan before you commit. Then underpaintings: the first marks on the canvas that everything else rests on.
Applying Colour
From underpainting to finished surface
The underpaintings from yesterday are ready. Today the colour goes on. Working alla prima, Sarah demonstrates her step-by-step process — how to read a still life, how to mix what you see, how to keep the freshness you built in the underpainting alive through to the finish.
Staying Loose
Painting with big brushes
The single most effective thing Sarah teaches: paint bigger than you think you should. Today the group works with large brushes, staying loose, staying decisive. Learning to stop before the overworking starts. The painting that comes out of a session like this is usually the best of the week.
Stroke Economy and Final Critique
Twenty brushstrokes. Then stop.
The final morning. Sarah's stroke economy exercise — a painting in twenty brushstrokes - strips everything back to what matters. Then the final critique: Sarah works with each painter individually, looking at the body of work produced across the week, identifying what has shifted and what to take home.
Please note that the masterclass workshop plans may change due to weather and lighting conditions.
No kit list.
No luggage anxiety. No compromise.
Everything you need is waiting for you. Professional-grade materials chosen specifically for this retreat by this artist. Easels for every format. Every supply at the quality level you'd choose yourself.
The materials are part of the experience. Everything chosen. Everything ready.
Nothing to source, pack, or carry through an airport. You arrive. You paint.
Materials Included
Morning Wellness
Begin the day with an optional Tai Chi session or gentle stretching in the gardens. Breathe in the crisp country air as the sun warms the chateau’s stone walls.
Gourmet Breakfast
Savour a beautifully prepared breakfast featuring eggs made to order, house-made granola, creamy chia pudding, seasonal fruit, artisan breads, and freshly-baked pastries, alongside cold-pressed juices and an elegant espresso and tea bar.
Intimate Masterclass with Master Artist
Picnic Lunch
Gather with fellow guests for a relaxed picnic-style lunch al fresco - or take a beautifully packed basket back to the studio to linger in the flow of your painting.
Evening Aperitifs
Gather as golden light falls across the gardens. Each evening features a signature cocktail inspired by the season, accompanied by elegant hors d’oeuvres.
Chef's Dinner with Wine Pairing
Dinner is candlelit and unhurried. Each evening, the menu travels to a different region of France - Burgundy, Alsace, the Basque Country, Provence - the food and wine chosen together to tell the story of a place. It is a way of seeing France without leaving the table.
The evenings are otherwise unstructured. The garden, the studio, early to bed, more time in the studio. Whatever the week needs.
WHAT TO EXPECT - A DAY ON RETREAT
Choose Your Afternoon
Immerse yourself in the rhythms of French life: meander through a local brocante or market, join our chef for a hands-on cooking workshop, relax in the chateau with a book, or continue painting at your own pace.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- 5 immersive half-day masterclasses with our master artist
- One-on-one guidance and group critiques
- Professional studio materials and plein air setup.
- 6 nights in refined accommodation
- Choose from deluxe suites with ensuites and sitting areas, suites with ensuites, or beautifully appointed rooms
- All include Parisian linens and the same unhurried care as the rest of the house.
- Seasonal breakfasts, picnic lunches, refreshments, snacks and 3-course dinners
- Evening aperitifs with a daily seasonal cocktail or mocktail
- Wine pairings with dinners.
- Curated excursions to brocantes, village markets, family-owned vineyards, and the storybook towns of the Charente
- Nature walks, wellness sessions, and painting en plein air
- All transport included.
- Easels & Tripods
- Paints (specific to the artist)
- Canvases / Boards
- Paintbrushes
- Everything you'll need, so you can just arrive and paint.
"Most painters already have more than they realise. This week is about unlocking it.
By the last day, you will be painting with a freedom and a boldness that will change how you work when you get home.
I cannot wait to see you there."
- Sarah
A PERSONAL NOTE FROM SARAH SEDWICK
See more of Sarah's work on Instagram
ABOUT CHATEAU CHARENTE
Why painters come here
Chateau Charente was built around one idea. That ten painters, one celebrated artist, and six nights of genuine individual attention is the combination that actually changes how you paint.
Not a large group with a demo at the front. An intimate week where the artist knows your name, your work, and exactly what you need to hear.
Southwest France, where the light changes with every season and rewards it every time. A studio stocked with professional materials. A garden, a brocante, and evenings that feel like they belong to another era.
Discover more
Exclusive pre-sale registration for waitlist members starts on Monday, April 27, at 12 noon ET.
Retreat places are limited and fill quickly.
