MARIN/ NAPA PAINTING WORKSHOP
October 19 to 24, 2008
Paint, Eat and Drink

On this trip Sandra Kaplan will be teaching a painting workshop on the West Coast featuring both the San Francisco Bay and the vineyards of Napa at harvest time. We will paint on a semi-private deck overlooking Angel Island and the Golden Gate Bridge on the Bay and then travel to Napa where we will paint winery gardens and rolling hills laden with grapes. The fall light and fall colors should be intense and the opportunity provided by this workshop should be very special.

We will also be touring wonderful painting and sculpture exhibits in wineries and preserves in the Napa area. The trip will include exclusive private winery tours, special food and wine pairings, and some wonderful restaurants including some of the best restaurants in the country.

We will first stay on a charming small waterfront hotel in Marin County, then move to a historic spa in Napa County, complete with a huge mineral pool, spa treatments and mud baths (spa treatments and mud baths are extra).

Sample Schedule

DAY ONE
Arrive in San Francisco.  Travel by Marin Airporter to Water’s Edge Inn Hotel in Tiburon, California.  Wine and cheese at Hotel.

DAY TWO
Continental breakfast at the hotel. Meeting and  art class introduction. Paint on Hotel Deck overlooking the San Francisco Bay, Angel Island and Golden Gate Bridge.  Picnic Lunch with San Francisco regional specialities. Dinner at Guaymas Restaurant on the water.

DAY THREE
Continental breakfast at the hotel. 

Travel to Carneros Valley to di Rosa Preserve, a private 53 acre art gallery in Southern Napa County. Di Rosa Preserve has been described as “an unexpected collection of the blasphemous, the humourus, the far out and the unthinkable” and a “must see for anyone who appreciates modern art.” Tour the gardens, sculpture and art collection. Picnic lunch provided.

Travel to Napa where we tour the Hess Collection Winery,  which includes art by Francis Bacon, Lynn Hershman and Frank Stella and others. 

Travel to the Indian Springs Spa in Calistoga. Mineral baths in their spectacular Olympic sized pool are free with massages, spa treatments and mud baths available for an extra charge. Dinner at the famous Auberge du Soleil restaurant.

DAY FOUR
Gather in a converted private home at the Spa for breakfast on goodies from the Bouchon Bakery (owned by Tom Keller from the French Laundry Restaurant). Travel to Chateau Montelena where we paint their renown gardens. We enjoy a wine tasting of their special vintage “library wines” and return to the Spa for an art critique at the Mineral Pool. Dinner in Calistoga.

DAY FIVE
Breakfast at Café Sarafornia (“a destination itself in this (Calistoga) destination spa town.”) Travel to Hanna’s Winery in Sonoma County where we paint on their balcony overlooking spectacular hills covered with vineyards. Picnic lunch. Dinner in Rutherford at La Toque, called “French Laundry without the attitude” and "one of the best restaurants in the country.”

DAY SIX
Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery. Return to San Francisco.

Cost: $2607. (Single Occupancy); $2221. (Double Occupancy Tiburon; shared bath Calistoga); $2032. (Painting couple sharing one bed); $1783 (non-painting spouse). There is a $100 discount for reservations made before August 1.

ARTS AFIELD             303.898.7870             info@artsafield.com