View of the Pyrenees mountains from the castle tower Be-Artz in the village of Sauveterre de Bearn.

View of the Gave d’Oleron from the village of Sauveterre de Béarn.

The class begins with participants arriving June 2nd with an evening dinner and classes begin June 3rd morning and our class completes on June 9th. Participants depart on June 10th.

Spend the week creating encaustic paintings in the charming French village of Sauveterre de Béarn and enjoy the cliff views overlooking the river, the Gave d’Oleron, and the Pyrenees mountains. There is a terrace from which to view and a descent to the river. Start your day with a walk around the village or down to the river and then enjoy a nice breakfast back at Be-Artz.

Magnificent light in village of Sauveterre de Béarn

Hirst, Broadpaths, encaustic on shaped panel, 40 x 33, 2025

R & F encaustic paints will be used during the class retreat.

Exploring the Luminous Color of Encaustic Painting in Southwest France takes place in the 1000 year old castle in two spacious studios and a new spacious studio opening in 2026 that’s designed for encaustic workshops. Participants have plenty of room to spread out and work and enjoy a large outdoor yard with beautiful gardens.

Painting with R & F Encaustic Paint and supplies.

Location:  Sauveterre de Béarn, Southwest France.

Workshop Venue:  At the beautiful painting studio at Be-Artz.

Exploring the Luminous Color of Encaustic Painting in Southwest France.

 Who can take the 7-day workshop? Everyone! The class requires no experience and is a perfect gateway into encaustic painting. The class will explore the luminous color of encaustic painting with a deep dive into making paintings that explore the radiant color and beauty of encaustic paint.

In addition to challenging you visually, this workshop will expand your knowledge of encaustic color and throughly explore opaque and transparent color relationships. We will cover using prismatic color, mixing muted tones, and using warm and cool chromatic and chromatic grays to enhance your work.

Participants will explore making paintings that use color in sophisticated relationships. We will reference local color of southwest France and incorporate into work created over the seven days.

We will address each participants' work within the class and discuss best practices for moving the work forward.

There will also be time to explore Sauveterre de Béarn and enjoy the local architecture and nature. We will also incorporate parts of the local environment in our prints. Day four of class will include a day-long field trip for those wishing to go. The day-trip is entirely optional and may include visiting Bilbao, Spain.

There will be plenty of time to explore, ponder, talk a walk (the Camino Trail) runs right through Sauveterre de Béarn. Some of my previous classes have started out with an optional brief walk to start the day. People have enjoyed this and it always its to soak up the local culture. There will be either one or two half-day trips around the local area and we will discuss trips as a group.

Topics and concepts covered in the seven-day course:

• • Working transparent and opaque color with encaustic paint

  • Discover how cool and warm color can coexist forming dynamic relationships

  • Learn the difference between prismatic color, muted tones, and chromatic grays and how you can use them in your own work

  • Rapid fire color study exercises

  • Create paintings during the class that will open new doors to how you think about color

  • Introduction of podcasts, books and contemporary drawing concepts

  • How tools can enhance how use color with encaustic paint

  • How oil and wax can work together in an encaustic painting

  • Understand glazing in encaustic work

  • Class exercises to further inspire and brainstorm possibilities

  • A day trip exploring the local area

In additional, the class will incorporate mindfulness drawing exercises each morning that open ideas to creativity, being present while you create and understanding how to get into the “flow”.

Exploring the Luminous Color of Encaustic Painting in Southwest France is open to artists with no encaustic experience to advanced encaustic painters.   Class size is limited to 10.

Cost:  €3200 per person

What is included:

• Welcome appetizers and drinks

• 7 days of instruction - June 3rd through June 9th, departing on June 10th.

• An awesome painting studio with a spacious working areas

• 7 - continental breakfasts

• 6 - 3 course lunches that include a glass of wine, tea, or coffee

• 6 - 3 course dinners that include a glass of wine, tea, or coffee

• Daily coffee, tea, and water

• R & F Handmade Paints and other encaustic materials

• Lodging in a beautiful private room at the 1000 year old castle. Lodging is also where the workshop takes place so it’s extremely convenient.

• half day local trip to the Caves at Isturitz following by a dinner at Michelin restaurant, Choko Ona Espelette!

What is not included:

• Airfare, trains and taxis to/from the airport

• Optional free day excursion Bilbao, Spain including visiting the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao or a trip to the sea.

TO REGISTER

Please contact Magdalena Groszek at info@be-artz.com

€3200 Price Per Person

At the time of registration, 50% or €1600 due. The balance (€1600 ) is due 90 days before the class or on February 28, 2026.

Registration for the class is open until April 30, 2026.

Please contact MagdalenaGroszek to register.

email: info@be-artz.com

phone: +33613425318

You may pay using:

• a credit card or Stripe. Stripe issues the invoice and takes the credit card payment and they charge 5%, so when you ask Magdalena to register for the workshop she will send you a stripe invoice and you pay by card to Beartz via Stripe.

• Paypal (fee apply)

• Bank Transfer (no fees, any currency)

It’s highly recommended that you purchase travel insurance incase you need to cancel your trip.

IMPORTANT. TRAVEL INSURANCE. There is no refund for the deposit if the class is not full, but still takes place. For this reason, it’s a good idea to take out travel insurance so you are covered if you have to cancel for whatever reason. If the class is full with a waiting list or you can find a replacement for your spot or if the class is cancelled from our end, Be-artz will refund less cost of bank fees. Cancelations almost never happen and only one person has had to cancel from all the workshops Be-artz has offered.

Jeffrey Hirst earned an MFA from Louisana State Univeristy in 1990 and has worked as an artist since then. Hirst has been showcased at venues around the U.S. and Europe and is represented by galleries in Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio.  Hirst has been a visiting artist at universities around the United States conducting encaustic and printmaking workshops. He owns Hirst Printmaking in Chicago which is a printshop specializing in experimental printmaking and mixing painting and prints.

The recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, City of Chicago grant and his work is in numerous public and private collections.

TO REGISTER: please contact Magdalena Groszek at info@be-artz.com

Please contact Jeffrey Hirst with any questions on the class directly on email jeff@jeffreyhirst.com.

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