do whatever you want forever: artist retreat 2026

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 HELLO!!

A few months ago I saw this post by K. Woodman-Maynard about hosting your own artist retreat. I was like “wait. I have free will. I can do that.” so I did!!!

I started planning back in march, and the retreat took place at the end of may. ten people including myself came to the retreat. it was quite successful!

we planned this trip using a multitude of google forms and sheets, asking people what kinds of things they’d like to do, figuring out who was bringing what, figuring out location/time/date/etc...I think we had a total of 3 surveys and 2 spreadsheets over the planning process lol.

we went with a town that was within driving distance for nearly everyone involved (one person flew in!!) and we stayed at an airbnb for a couple nights!

my partner and I planned workshops, activities, and meals based on what everyone had said in the surveys.

nadlie made little bundles of goodies for our guests which included a sketchbook with a hand-printed cover, some pens and pencils, a sticker, and the itinerary for the weekend.

one of our guests brought bagels aplenty so we had this tray we lovingly dubbed The Breakfast Mound.

night 1 was very chill, we arrived in the afternoon, got settled in, spent some time drawing/painting/making woven bracelets/knitting/etc while chatting.

then we did speed figure drawing where we took turns posing for everyone to draw. it was a super fun way to start the weekend!

for dinner, we made a chipotle-style burrito bar!

dinner was followed by one group walking to a local bar, and one group staying back and playing jackbox games!

the next day we spent a couple hours painting at a nearby state park on the river.

⬆️ me

plein air seemed to be what everyone was most excited for / what people really enjoyed the most!

here are some of the paintings I did there:

here’s one nadlie painted on a tiny canvas!!

it features some of the people in our group painting in the distance !

after painting, we went to lunch!

after lunch, some guests went out to explore the town a little and others chilled at the Airbnb for a while (we were all very tired from painting out in the sun for a couple hours!)

after a bit one of my friends led a weaving workshop with everyone! & I led a workshop on how to make an original character zine.

here’s a slide from my presentation I made for this workshop:

also, this slide which really resonated with everyone:

the rest of the weekend, everyone kept saying “do whatever you want forever” :) 

when zines and weavings were being wrapped up, our friend made soup for everyone!

the last big thing we did was a paint-and-sip. I led everyone in doing a loose illustrative watercolor design! I think this was my favorite part :3

thanks for reading :3 I look forward to doing this again & showing u what we do next summer!

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