This September, treat yourself to a truly special escape with a Watercolour Art Retreat at Bala Lake Hotel, North Wales (11–14 September 2026) — a luxury, all-inclusive creative break designed to relax your mind and reignite your creativity.
This painting holiday is about slowing down, enjoying your surroundings and giving yourself time and space. Time to breathe & observe, and space to experiment, creating expressive, loose watercolours, all inspired by the tranquil landscapes of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid). You’ll receive expert tuition and be guided by Andrew Jenkin, an award-winning watercolour artist, with over 20 years’ teaching experience.
Learn to paint trees, water, reflections, hills & mountains with confidence, and discover new ideas about composition, texture and expressive brush techniques. Painting as part of a group, whilst receiving one-to-one guidance from Andrew, you will be able to progress at your own pace. Sketch, paint and relax with like-minded people in beautiful lakeside surroundings. This is a creative wellbeing retreat, where you can give yourself the time to slow down, reconnect with your art, then return revitalized and ready to use your new-found techniques in painting.
To optimise your learning time, and create a friendly, supportive group of like-minded artists, the maximum group size is 10 painters (plus extra non-painting partners).
How To Book
For more information, or to book your place, please contact Andrew via email: andrew@andrewjenkin.co.uk or telephone him 07788 542695
All sketching and painting equipment and materials are provided, so there’s no need to bring any of this. You may decide to bring some items that you particularly like to use, or if you have any queries about them that Andrew can answer.
You will need:
Arrive 2pm and join us for a relaxing welcome drink.
We will then begin our first art session 3-5pm, where you will be introduced to Andrew’s style of artwork, and try this for yourself. Following this, we will enjoy an evening meal together at 7pm.
We will begin with breakfast followed by painting and sketching sessions in the grounds of the hotel with one-to-one guidance provided by Andrew. There may be an option to work lakeside, weather permitting. Lunch will be provided at the hotel.
Composition and texture will be our main topics of study for sketching, with special emphasis then on watercolour techniques for painting trees and water – ripples, reflections, and the transparency of water will be explored.
Our aim with these paintings is not to reproduce a perfect ‘photograph’, but to capture the movement, energy, and character of the lake and its surrounding woodland.
Each day will be rounded off with an evening meal in the main restaurant, followed by the opportunity to relax at the bar, sit and chat, stroll through the spacious grounds, or continue with your painting.
After breakfast, a final art session allows us time to finish our paintings and review our artwork together, then share lunch at 1pm, before our departure.
Non-painting partners have a wealth of activities to choose from :
The hotel has free on-site golf, bike-hire, hot-tub, sauna and indoor swimming pool.
Extra on-site (paid) activities can be organised directly with the hotel prior to your stay; these include spa treatments, archery, Segway, axe-throwing, zip wire, laser-clay range and crossbow range.
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