Painting Holidays
The advice is twofold. Choose a good operator,
and find a course that meets your requirements.
As regards the operator, the best advice often
comes by word of mouth. Painters who've had an excellent
time tell their friends, and that — provided
that recommendation is to the right painting holiday
— with respect to location, cost range and
genres catered for — is often the safest course.
But when artists want to go somewhere else, or the
painting tuition on offer is not to their level
or interests, what then?
They should do some research. How reputable is
the company offering the painting holiday? How long
have they been in business? How many guests do they
take? Are there facilities for non-painting spouses:
games rooms, walking trips, coach tours to places
of interest? Does the center have testimonials,
and can you contact previous guests independently?
It's not an arduous matter to canvas opinion by
email these days.
If at all possible, go with a big tour company.
They have delegated to individual operators, of
course, but those operators are inspected regularly
to maintain standards and reputations. The big tour
operators also have standard complaints and compensation
procedures, and their financial standing means that
they can afford to meet their obligations should
something unforeseen happen or the holiday not come
up to expectations.
You must also look closely at the courses on offer.
Who is running them, and what are their qualifications?
If a beginner you may be very happy with a resident
teacher who's been running such things for years,
but that may not suit the more experienced artist.
Watercolor painting is the most popular medium among
older folk, and it's clearly watercolor techniques
that will be demonstrated most often to a mixed
class. Larger centers will have experts on particular
media or styles of painting, and these may be more
suitable. Or there will be visiting experts. Check.
Now the qualifications of the tutor, which is a
difficult matter to advise on. Some tutors get on
with everyone, while others seem only to appeal
to a favored few. The most celebrated painters do
not necessarily make the best teachers, but the
larger centers have usually vetted their staff from
both points of view. Just be a little careful of
one-man shows where the artist, though needing the
money, has no real teaching experience. You may
find the individual attention is just what you need,
but you may also be disappointed and have little
redress beyond leaving early. Ask around, inquire
of local clubs, look at the tutor's own work: painting
is an extended family and someone somewhere has
the information you are looking for.
Particularly
looked forward to is the annual painting holiday.
For two weeks members may concentrate entirely on
their hobby, confident of finding the board and
lodging taken care of, a resident art expert to
advise, and an infectious enthusiasm from fellow
guests. 
