Painting Green: Artist Workshop in Northern Ireland
June 4 to 11, 2025 – Ashbrooke House, Northern Ireland
Painting in Northern Ireland
June 4 to 11, 2025
Ireland, known as the Emerald Isle, is as lovely as it gets. The scenery is stunning and the people are wonderful. What a lovely place for an artist workshop!
Following an easy flight into Dublin, our van will meet you and bring you to the Ashbrooke House, our painting headquarters on a thousand-acre estate with rolling fields, horses, a river, trout ponds, and of course the manor house where we’ll stay.
You’ll come to paint. For instruction, we have a dynamic, experienced teacher for you who has just finished his MFA in Florence, Italy.
And when you’re not painting, you’ll have full run of the Ashbrooke estate. We’ll have a private chef to prepare your meals, we’ll be introduced to the estate’s equine therapy program, listen to traditional Irish music, and even have a visit from a falconer and his falcons.
It will be an experience you won’t want to miss.
Excursions and Other Activities
There’s plenty of beauty to paint on the Ashbrooke estate, but we’ll do quite a bit more when we’re not painting. Here are a few of our activities:
A full-day excursion to the northern coast of Donegal to see and paint the sea, the beaches, and the cliffs.
Musicians will visit us at the manor house to share some traditional Irish music.
We’ll visit the estate’s walled garden to see what’s growing.
A falconer will introduce us to his magnificent birds.
The estate hosts an equine therapy program for veterans. We will have an introduction to equine therapy and have time to spend time with the horses.
We will visit the nearby town of Enniskillen.
Dates: June 4 to 11, 2025
Location: Ashbrooke House, Northern Ireland
Cost: $4050 (see below for details)
Maximum group size: 12
Meet your instructor
Eric Alexander Santoli
Eric is a painter and teacher. He is a 2014 BFA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a 2013 certificate recipient of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2024, Eric graduated with a master’s degree from the Florence Academy of Art's MA of Studio Arts Program in Florence, Italy.
In May of 2021, he was awarded the Versailles Foundation's prestigious Munn Fellowship Artist Residency Award. For this Fellowship, Eric lived as Artist-in-Residence at Claude Monet's house and gardens in Giverny, France from May until August of 2023.
Eric is represented by Martin House Gallery and Cimarron Song Gallery. He is also proud to be a brand ambassador for Natural Pigments, an affiliate artist with Rosemary & Co Artists' Brushes and a member of the Portrait Society of America.
In addition to painting, Eric enjoys being outdoors, gardening, reading, writing, traveling, skateboarding and riding his Triumph Bonneville T100.
The workshop
Eric has taught and lectured on painting, drawing, and art history since 2015. His teaching career began as a Professor at Bergen Community College. Always traveling and exploring new places, Eric believes that painting is a wonderful way to find the beauty in the world around us. By traveling to create art, we can experience the particular joy of new cultures and countries.
This workshop will feature working in watercolors, gouache, and acrylic. Participants are also welcome to work in other media.
Eric has taught hundreds of students of all ages and skill levels in classes and workshops around the world and at various schools and institutions, both public and private.
"As a teacher, I believe it’s incredibly important to always be supportive and encouraging of all students,” Eric observes. “For me, the best way to teach also requires an individualized approach that emphasizes the three main principles of art: shape, value (light and dark), and color.”
“This approach allows all students to easily approach art without any 'secret techniques' or hidden knowledge. The joys of artmaking are also enhanced by learning about the history of art; for this, I always integrate stories, materials, techniques, and ideas of the past masters into my teaching.”
“As a teacher, I enjoy working with students of all skill levels and I love seeing the journey and growth of each student. My common thread is to always encourage, be patient, and to keep learning and growing myself. It is a great honor to be a teacher and to share my knowledge and ideas with students."
A sampling of instructor Eric Alexander Santoli’s work
“I don’t know what I did to deserve such a fantastic trip! It was wonderful. Great food, nice people, beautiful locations to paint”
“A wonderful trip. Well organised, great people, and all together a lovely time.”
Click to enlarge images
Where we will stay
We are pleased to offer you a unique stay in a manor house on a 1,000-acre estate in Northern Ireland. It is a special location for an artist’s workshop and the surroundings are unlike anything most of us experience in a lifetime.
The manor house has five rooms with ensuite bathrooms. There are three other rooms that share two bathrooms among them. There is a small additional charge for the rooms with ensuite bathrooms.
All the bedrooms are large and comfortable.
We will also have access to all parts of the manor, including the parlor, dining room and kitchen. There is also a courtyard, with some great places to paint. A large indoor space will give us plenty of options in case the weather is not welcoming. A game room offers billiards and other activities.
Just adjacent to the manor house are riding stables and horses. We’ll get to know the horses during our introduction to Equine Therapy.
The estate
Click to enlarge map
Our Meals
The Ashbrooke Estate will bring in a private chef to prepare our meals each day. The fare will be Irish with a modern slant. This means we will eat quite well without the need to travel to restaurants each day. The quality of the cuisine will match the grandeur of our surroundings.
Vegetarians can be easily accommodated.
Trip Details
(Click + to expand)
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June 4 to 11, 2025 (7 Nights - 8 Days)
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Total cost of the tour: $4050
Supplement for single occupancy: $450En suite private bathroom: $150
Deposit required to reserve a place on the tour: $450(Places in the tour are limited to 12 and are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend that you reserve your place early.)
Payment schedule
$450 deposit. The deposit is refundable through January 15, 2025.
$1800 initial payment (Due January 15, 2025)
$1800 final payment (Due March 15, 2025)
All payments are refundable if we need to cancel the trip due to government restrictions or unsafe travel conditions.
** Earn a $300 discount when you bring or refer a friend.
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20 hours of art instruction
Pick-up and drop-off at designated airport
Excursions and special activities throughout the week
7 nights lodging
7 dinners, lunches, and breakfasts, with appropriate amounts of beer or wine
Local transportation by van and driver
What’s not included:
Airfare & Travel Insurance
Admission to sites not on our group itinerary and other misc. costs.
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We are pleased to stay in a manor house on a 1,000-acre estate in Northern Ireland. It is a special location for an artist’s workshop.
The manor house has five rooms with ensuite bathrooms. There are three other rooms that share two bathrooms among them. There is a small additional charge for the rooms with ensuite bathrooms.
All the bedrooms are large and comfortable.
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Most dinners will be served at our lodgings, prepared by a guest chef. Breakfasts and lunches will also be at the manor house, unless we're on excursion.
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To extend your trip, and take some time to catch up on your sleep before the workshop begins, a few nights in Dublin would be an excellent option.
You can create your own itinerary, of course, before and after the workshop. Tour Ireland or even hop down to London.
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Your deposit is non-refundable after January 15, 2025, unless of course the trip is canceled for any reason by Travel Fever Tours. Natural disasters, political instability, or low enrollment would form the basis for canceling a trip. After that date, payments are nonrefundable.
You will be contacted once the trip reaches minimum enrollment so that you can proceed with purchase of your flights and make other travel arrangements. In all cases, review of enrollment numbers will not take place any later than the date of the First Installment payment.
