28 September - 5 October, 2026
8 days /7 nights
Day 1- arrival day - Welcome dinner
Day 8 - departure day - no program
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6 Days with Art Program + free time
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AIRPORT is ATHENS (and then a 2-hr ferry to Hydra
Discover this legendery home to artists and writers throughout the C.20th
For many artists a stay on Hydra, the enchanting, some say magical, Aegean island, was a significant part of how their art was created.
On Hydra, writers, painters, songsters, musicians and dreamers of all types, found a place that inspired them. From its shores, looking out to the Aegean or inward to their artistic dreams, poetry, novels, avant-garde texts, masterpieces in paint and word, emerged. Be there, with us, and find your own threads of inspiration.
This workshop celebrates the wonderful opportunity that sketchbooking provides: the chance to discover, explore, and develop without pressure or outcomes. This is not about producing finished artworks—it’s about starting conversations, taking visual notes, and becoming a vessel for inspiration.
Using stitch, collage, line, and watercolour, we’ll create a meaningful and expressive visual journal of our time in Hydra.
" I’ll share everything I’ve learned over the past 30 years—how to travel light while still carrying a compact creative 'Studio" with you wherever you go."
The Background
Our second season of Art Retreats on Hydra, with an emphasis in 2025, on enjoying the many beautiful locations of Hydra as sites for art-making, or exploring to gather inspiration, with a shaded open-air (or indoor if necessary) garden courtyard area in which to work too.
Anna lived on Hydra for two wonderful years, and during some of that time worked as an arts instructor.
Becky and Anna are old friends! Anna first exhibited Becky's work in Australia, some 20 years ago, and went on to hold several extraordinarily successful shows in the ensuing years; we also held a Creative Living Retreat in Bali together. Now we are thrilled to be able to bring two lifetimes of art and travel experience to this fabulous week on Hydra - at a gentle time of the year.
It's mid-Autumn, the locals are relaxed, you've arrived onto one of Greece's most picturesque islands - one with no vehicular traffic - only donkeys, water taxis and meandering footpaths and horse trails - and you have ahead of you a week of working closely with Becky Blair who has developed a truly unique style, central to which is her lexicon of symbols which evolve through the techniques she is going to share with you this week.
This sketch-booking through observation is an ever-evolving process, and keeping a collection of books over time is an incredibly satisfying thing in itself, but these books become a precious repository for all of your creative endeavors to follow, whether it’s as a painter, ceramicist, textile designer, jewellery maker, glass artist … in fact, anything where bringing your unique interpretation of something you want to communicate visually is important.
On Hydra, the water is still deliciously comfortable for swimming, the cooler evenings perfect for exploring the many charming seaside tavernas, and your traditional Greek accommodation is a family-run hotel in a quietly central part of the port which you can reach without climbing all those steps for which Hydra is (in)famous.
You'll need to be quick to secure your place on this special week - staying in your own room in accommodation hand-picked by Anna and chosen for ease of access, views, delicious breakfasts and a pretty courtyard and terrace for making art (see the gallery of photos further down this page).
We can't wait to share the magic of Hydra with you!
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You have organised us beautifully, Anna!
Huge thanks for every day you pulled together for us
Gina S. U.K,- Hydra Art Retreat October 2024
WHAT YOU'LL DO
This 8-day/7-night retreat offers you a quietly relaxed week to focus on creating a beautifully full and potent personal visual journal of your explorations, discoveries and meaningful moments on the island of Hydra, with the guidance and inspiration of British artist and designer Becky Blair, whose lively and eclectic style, combined with her vivid use of colour and dream-like reflections, has seen her highly-sought-after work sold through exhibitions and private commissions internationally.
With 18-hours of art tuition (3 hrs art time per day for 6 days, in various settings) sharing Becky's techniques and processes for exploring the motifs and things you’ve noticed, re-creating them in an abstract way by playing with them and evolving them into a personal lexicon of forms from which you can draw on in all of your following work. You will also, later in the week, use these motifs and methods to create works on paper which you'll be able to take home, ready to display.
Play is the most freeing and intuitive approach to making art. It was this idea that inspired Sketchbook and Stitch—a guided, playful exploration without the pressure or expectations that come with a canvas or the goal of a completed artwork.
During this workshop, we’ll spend time exploring, collecting, sketching, and simply noticing our surroundings. Using these visual records of the environment, we’ll play with a wide variety of materials and methods—repeating, reimagining, and nurturing our own creative language into existence.
This workshop celebrates the wonderful opportunity that sketchbooking provides: the chance to discover, explore, and develop without pressure or outcomes. This is not about producing finished artworks—it’s about starting conversations, taking visual notes, and becoming a vessel for inspiration.
Using stitch, collage, line, and watercolour, we’ll create a meaningful and expressive visual journal of our time in Hydra.
You will take home a collection of works on quality paper, providing not only souvenirs of a memorable holiday on this unique island, but as a compendium of enhanced motifs which you'll be able to draw on and even elaborate on in your own studio work.
WHO WILL THIS RETREAT SUIT?
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Coming to this course with an open mind and a ravenous curiosity, even for the quotidian details of life on Hydra will serve you well!
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If you have some prior art-making experience at any level, then this retreat will add to your repertoire of motifs and ways in which you can apply them
WHAT'S THE WEATHER LIKE?
A relaxing week where all you need do is turn up each day after breakfast - perhaps after an early morning walk up and high, or through the quiet alleys of this picturesque port.
The daytime temperature hovers around 27 Celsius, it's mainly dry, a bit breezy, occasionally a wind might whip up, but people who really know and love this area of Greece know that this is the best time of the year to enjoy its charms without crowds, The water is still warm and it's lovely for swimming, even into November.
Kevin and I warmly invite you to join our group in 2027 for this Autumnal art experience by the sea on the legendary Greek island of Hydra.
I trained at Wimbledon School of Art, London, and although primarily a figurative painter,
time and experience have led me to find new ways of saying more with less. In my paintings, as much detail as possible has been eliminated, with the elements contained within them being suggested rather than specified. Enchanted by the enigmatic, I aim to produce paintings that contain just the bare essentials, and devoid of too much unnecessary detail.
Edges are often blurred to diffuse the real from the imagined and my work drifts between
the figurative and the semi-abstract.
In an attempt to capture the fleeting effects of light, and in particular, atmosphere, I work at speed before the moment evaporates. Although repetition is brief in my approach, I adopt the same lively tactics in my paintings when I am confronted with a moody, misty landscape in the northern hemisphere, as I do when experiencing the heat and blinding light of more southerly climates.
On my painting workshop 'Painting by the Sea in Hydra', we'll have the opportunity to tackle a wide array of light effects as the weather starts to soften towards an Autumnal light - a beautiful time to be painting on Hydra!
Read More...
Kevin Scully is an artist, writer, illustrator, and qualified tutor. He trained at Wimbledon School of Art, London and is an experienced teacher in drawing and painting in all mediums. Kevin is also an award-winning garden designer!
His vast artistic experience has included work as a scenic artist in London’s theatre land, painting sets at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Sadler’s Wells, and The Theatre Royal, and also in television and film.
He has worked for many years as an illustrator for clients including Volkswagen, Wedgwood, Deutsche Grammophon, Marks & Spencer, DC Thomson, and Anouska Hempel Designs.
He has also designed an award-winning garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.
He travels widely and has lived and painted in the Caribbean and The Canary Islands.
He is awinner of The Artist ‘Winsor & Newton Painting Prize’ and the ‘Clairefontaine Art Award’ atthe Patchings Art Festivals.
He has led groups on painting holidays to Portugal, Spain, Gozo,Morocco, Norway, India, Greece, France, Turkey, and Italy.
He has written several books on painting for The Crowood Press including ‘Drawing and Painting on Location’. He exhibits with the Oxford Art Society, West Berkshire Open Studios, in art galleries nationally, and at the Mall Galleries, London.
He has taught on art courses at the Marlborough College Summer School in Wiltshire for many years until its recent demise. He teaches annually at the Oxford Summer School and runs regular workshops and courses at West Dean College Chichester, Sunningwell School ofArt, City Arts Newbury, Ardington School of Arts and Crafts, and the Cornwall School of Art.
Creative Living Retreats by Anna Kwiecinska
With a background as an art historian and art gallery owner, my collaboration with artists continues to be a fascinating career which evolved into specialist art retreats designed to combine seriously good art tuition with authentic cultural experiences.
Over the last 15years and dozens of retreats participants from all over the world have experienced the depth of wellbeing that being creative can foster.
Creative Living Retreats are a source of focus for creative inspiration, with our intuitive teachers guiding you to Live Creatively.
Many retreatants return for our thoughtfully curated weeks of supported creativity, and I genuinely look forward to welcoming you to experience the depth of wellbeing that Creative Living Retreats have become known for, More info
Loved the whole thing ... I just thought you did the retreat so well. I felt totally satisfied with the way you made it all happen and made us all feel very special.
You really were the glue. Very professional.
The exhibition was just so beautifully put together.
Lyn M. Australia
How does the retreat work?
The working part of our program will happen mainly in the lovely spacious bougainvillea-trellised courtyard of our hotel where you'll also be able to order drinks.
Some mornings we may walk to a location for on-the-spot inspiration, and we also have an 'away day' (involving a short boat ride), t a mainland location where you'll be able to enjoy your art-making right by the sea, with easy access to glorious swimming, delicious cuisine, pine tree walks and another village to explore.
In all, the retreat comprises 18 hours of class time with Becky Blair, and you'll have the opportunity to partake in other (optional) taught workshops with Hydra residents, including Greek dancing in a real Greek amphitheatre (no pressure!)
You're free to continue your art-maing at any time, anywhere, including the hotel.
After art concludes, you're free to lunch, take a siesta, walk to one of the many beautiful swimming spots, and on some days we have organised water taxi trips to such locations with either an included traditional Greek lunch or dusk supper.
On one day we spend on the mainland at Ermioni, a 30-minute boat ride away, with a scented pine forest, site of ancient Classical ruin, lovely swimming spots and great places to sit and draw or paint, with our lunch included (many say the "best all week").
Other activities available on the island include horse trail treks, suitable even for novices, and superb trekking to the island's famous mountain top monasteries and convent, all of which is very comfortable to do at this time of the year.
The port features four museums, three of which are included in the retreat program, an art cinema and two art museums, with free entry for you to enjoy.
At this time of the year, the port boutiques offer enticing sales, and the tavernas are not crowded.
Anna will share menus from favourite taverns during the week - there's a wide choice, from fine dining to take-away souvlaki, and the several supemarkets are available for self-catering too.
Where does the retreat take place ?
Imagine walking into a thickly-walled stone mansion, white-washed walls, waxed timber floors smelling freshly polished, with white muslin-curtained windows filtering Hydra's distinctive light ... furnished thoughtfully with quality art and with antiques, each room is individual, with quality, crisp white bedlinen and comfy beds. All rooms have windows to the outside - with either with street or garden views from the first floor room and from the second floor, spectacular sea and port views from the balconied rooms. A one-off apartment offers a large private terrace too.
This hotel has been chosen with great care and concern for your comfort, the quality of breakfast, the very obliging staff, and spacious, interiors that allow you to step back into the grand day of 'Old Hydra'.
The retreat hub offers accommodation, breakfast and relaxed and private places for the art both outside beneath shady trees a in high-walled, private and spacious courtyard where you'll find tables and chairs to relax, and work.
Although Hydra is a very vertical island, with steeps scaling steep hills populated with the iconic, picturesque stone houses, our retreat hub is just a 10 minute walk from the port, on flat ground, with no steps required to approach it. The hotel has ground, first and second floors ....
What does your Retreat include?
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Accommodation with Breakfast for 7 nights
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Breakfasts 7
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Welcome Dinner
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Farewell Dinne
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Taverna Lunch at Ermioni
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18 Hours of Art Tuition with Becky Blair over 6 days
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Some Art Materials
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Water taxi trips to 2 destinations for painting and lunch
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Boat trip to Ermioni on Peloponnese for a day of painting off the rocks besides pristine clear waters, perfect for jumping into refresh before lunch (this depending on the weather, i.e.seas)
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National Museum
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Visit to the home and studio of Hydra's famous C.20th artist Panayotis Tetsis
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gift bag with art goodies
What's Not Included
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airfares
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ferry to and from Hydra from Piraeus (Athens)
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porterage between ferry and your hotel on Hydra (can be arranged, cost applies)
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your personal insurance
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all alcoholic beverages
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any entrance tickets to places not described in the itinerary supplied on this site
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all personal expenses laundry, telephone etc.
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any boat taxis extra to those described in the itinerary (ie to two destinations for painting trips)
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any extra activities such as horse riding,
Thank you Anna for convening this fabulous experience.
Your style, grace and attention to detail made everyone feel important. Sharing your home for those days of art and food and armchair yoga will be a special memory for me to hold.
You have gathered an amazing staff around you ... thank you again.
Gloria C. Queensland, Australia.
ART RETREAT in Bali 2022
GETTING THERE
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You fly into ATHENS AIRPORT : ATH - Eleftherious Venizelos
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YOUR RETREAT STARTS on DAY 1 (27 September) when we meet for our welcome drink prior to port tour followed by Welcome Dinner
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GETTING FROM ATHENS TO HYDRA
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The port of Piraeus is 30 minutes from Athens airport and central Athens by taxi.
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You can purchase your boat tickets AHEAD OF TIME online for about Euro 38-44 - several boat companies operate this route, so check here for the sailing time that best suits you:
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The RETREAT FINISHES after breakfast on DAY 8 (4 October)
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Extra nights may be available at the retreat hotel - enquire with Anna - please mention this on your booking form.
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GETTING FROM ATHENS TO HYDRA - be sure to NOT BOOK the last available boat if you are planning to fly out of Athens that night (just in case the sailing is delayed or cancelled ... rare but possible).
ART MATERIALS
A detailed list with links and images is available when you book, or on request
Supplied:
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A5 concertina sketch book with a hard cover, with quality paper for watercolour work
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A5 and square single sheets of 300 gm quality watercolour paper
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extra pencils and coloured pencils, tape, glue sticks, gold and fluoro inks, paint mediums
You bring a basic watercolour set with travel notebook a couple of calligraphy brushes and a good pencil or two
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1 x A5 or small square hard-back cartridge paper (minimum quality) sketch book
Becky Recommends: Seawhite 140mm Square Travel Journal - Seawhite of Brighton Ltd (or click the image)
This one has cartridge paper which is perfect for roaming around, as opposed to the similar shape and sized book with watercolour paper (so watercolour paper is not recommended for this).
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1 x A6-A8 pencil Becky Recommends BLACKWING extra smooth pencil (all the Blackwing pencils are beautiful … one can’t have too many!)
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1 x soft pencil: Becky recommends BEROL KARISMACOLOUR
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1x eraser with good edges
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1x sharpener (Blackwing make their own extra special sharpener)
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1 watercolour set - you are welcome to bring your own, or another brand, but Becky says the vibrancy and saturation of these KURESAKE sets give a better effect for the processes she’s teaching.
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Becky recommends – The Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolour set with 18 pans is a good starter set (Jacksons from Euro 19 – 24 depending on sales) is for professional artists with extra large pans suitable for sketching etc.
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This set of 18 colours contains vivid colours with creamy consistencies, which are all extremely lightfast.Kuretake : Gansai
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Tambi Japanese Watercolour : 18 Colour Large Pan Set | Jackson's Art (jacksonsart.com)
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This is the exact pigment that Becky uses in her work; there are several sets available offering 18 to 48 pans of colour
Why do we suggest you buy your own watercolour set?
“Because watercolours are often mixed quickly from one pan of colour to the next, so that pans can get quite messy – this is very personal, and I suggest that you have your own personal set so that you can be as precious or messy as you like”, says Becky.
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1 x large calligraphy brush
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1 x small calligraphy brush
There are three sets shown here - from a fancy set with several brushes to a simple 2-piece set which becky says she has used in the past.
COST
All of our Creative Living Retreats are designed to offer you maximum comfort and relaxation and personal space - so you have your own bedroom unless you choose one of the ' two-room' twins here, which offers two separate bedrooms and one bath in
the 2-room twin, or the Apartment, a spacious 2-bedroom setting with a bathroom each and a private seaview terrace
However if you wish to share your room please check with Anna to see which rooms are available for twin beds.
Non-painting partners and friends are always welcome!
places are limited. To secure your place a DEPOSIT of Euro 1000 is required, with balance payment due 3 months prior to the retreat beginning.
Please check the Terms and Conditions and if you have any queries please contact Anna
Submit your name & email to download the file.
