Jennifer McChristian Workshop 25 May – 03 June 2023
ABOUT THIS RETREAT
Biography
Jennifer McChristian is an award winning artist born and raised in Montreal, Canada. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be an artist. Upon completing high school, McChristian began her art education at Dawson’s College in Montreal, Canada. She and her family took permanent residency in California in 1986, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree with Honors from Otis Art Institute in 1990.
Jennifer proudly served in the Canadian and United States army reserves from 1985 through 1994.
McChristian was employed as a full-time animation artist and worked on projects for various animation studios including Disney and Nickelodeon. She has continued her studies under the tutelage of renowned artists Robert Blue, Karl Dempwolf, and Steve Huston. Her inspirations consist of notable artists such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Nicolai Fechin and Cecilia Beaux. McChristian primarily paints in oils and occasionally watercolors and gouache. She has an affinity for painting ‘en plein air’ and also enjoys creating studio works using her outdoor sketches as inspiration. “Painting is somewhat of a spiritual experience for me. Although challenging at times, the end result evokes within me a sense of elation, nostalgia and harmony”.
The turn of the century
McChristian has devoted herself to painting full-time since 2000 and actively participates in art events and community building programs. She conducts an ongoing, uninstructed figure drawing workshop three times a week out of her spacious studio (that she refers to as her ‘sanctuary’) located in the heart of Los Feliz Village, CA. In addition, McChristian teaches plein air painting workshops in various locations throughout the United States and abroad. McChristian also finds the time to pursue other artistic interests such as classical ballet. She believes learning is a never-ending process and continues to develop and refine her artistic talent through workshops, research, travel and frequent excursions to museums and galleries.
McChristian recently received ‘Best Signature Award of Excellence’ from the Oil Painters of America 29th National Juried Exhibition. 3rd Place Award in the 9th and 10th Annual PleinAir Salon competition. She is also featured in the December 2020 Southwest Art magazine, American Art Collector’s September 2020 issue and PleinAir magazine’s April / May 2021 issue.
She is a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America (OPA) and an Associate Member of the American Impressionist Society (AIS).
McChristian currently resides in Glendale, CA with her husband Ben Fried and two magically inclined cats named Sesame and Cinnamon.
Check out Jennifer’s profile on YouTube here.
Jennifer McChristian Workshop 2023 – what you’ll experience and achieve
I hope to experience new and exciting places in the South of France which I have never encountered before. The cave paintings and castles in the area particularly draw my curiosity and stimulate my spirit of adventure and exploration. What I hope to achieve during the Jennifer McChristian workshop 2023 revolves however entirely around the students. I’m going to share as much of my plein air painting problem solving techniques that I have accumulated over the twenty or so years in the field. I hope to achieve in each student an awakening of a new paradigm of possibilities that can take them to the next level of perception and skill in their personal plein air painting. Everyone will be inspired, enabled and empowered to discover new ways of perceiving their surroundings and expressing what they see through their paintings.
We’re going to get a lot of practice painting en Plein Air. We’ll make a lot of mistakes and i’ll show you how to correct them.
Some details of Jennifer’s painting style and how Jennifer plans to teach during the trip:
Jennifer’s painting style is contemporary Impressionism which is based on the traditions of the impressionist movement but uses imagery from the present. She plans to teach as she always has during these workshops, effectively. Jennifer has specific, set exercises to strengthen the necessary fundamentals of plein air painting. She does a demonstration each day and has the students paint each day, and gives one on one instruction throughout the students painting session.
Check out Jennifer’s Instagram page here.
NOTE:
Partners are welcome and are free to explore the various painting locations at their leisure. Local tips can be provided. Note that whilst at our accommodation property, activities include walks, communing with nature or the garden, swimming, relaxing or reading. The nearest town is 5 minutes by car.
*A non-refundable deposit of 1000€ Is required (unless cancelled by Perigord Retreats). Travel insurance is therefore recommended.
**IMPORTANT: Please wait until the Jennifer McChristian workshop is confirmed before booking any flights. We will confirm the workshop several months in advance.
Take a look at some of the excursion locations by clicking here.