Autumn Alpine Pause:
Connect To Your Creativity in the Haute Savoie
Hello Creative Beings!
Every master chef knows a fundamental truth: You cannot cook a chicken without the chicken.
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Too often in painting, we get seduced by the surface—the beautiful colors, the spontaneous marks, the dazzling textures—and we forget the foundation. We try to season a dish that isn't actually there. A painting is not merely an accumulation of techniques; it is an accumulation of intentional choices. Every line, every layer of paint, of wax, and even every omission must answer a single, vital question: Why is it here?
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In this immersive retreat, your journal will become your personal Creative Recipe Book. Together, we will move beyond simply copying the landscape, learning instead how to document and master the balance between core structure and expressive flavor.
The Ingredients: The Chicken, The Sauce and The Spices
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To create something that truly expresses what we think, see, and feel, we must find a balance between the fundamental ingredient (the composition), with the sauce (the colors), and the spice (marks, textures, edges). Too much sauce we obliterate the main ingredient, too many spices--same effect. No added flavors and it's just a chicken, anyone's chicken...
What You Will Write (and Paint) in Your Recipe Book:
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Throughout the retreat, your visual and written journal will become a living manual for your artistic voice. You will learn to mix your own "recipes" through learning the fundamentals of understanding your why, the fundamentals of compositon, color theory, and mark making--enough to have fun, never to perfect.
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We will explore these ideas by using mixed media: primarily watercolors, and encaustic (hot wax mediums) with the option of learning digital tools one afternoon. We will also use our phones, ironically, to help us see as artists.
WHEN & WHERE
6-11 September, 2027
Place: La Clusaz, France
Our Base: Espace Créa-Tea-Vité
Located under an hour from Geneva airport, our sanctuary is a beautiful, naturally lit studio/gallery/teaching space, in a stunning alpine village. It feels a world away from the ordinary—the perfect place to study the raw architecture of the landscape.
Intimate Group: Strictly limited to 8 participants, so everyone gets a bespoke experience. Secure your seat in the studio today!
WHAT
WHY
HOW
WHO
Your Creative Coach:
Lisa Cirenza--Artist, Speaker, Mentor
As your fearless leader on this journey, my mission is to spark joy and unleash courageous creativity in every setting.
I’ve had the privilege of leading workshops for Apple, Adobe, Barclays, and Stanford University, as well as for artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators around the world, even the wee little ones. I'm a "Painting with Fire" instructor, and have also guided treks on the glaciers of Alaska,and in the mountains.
I’ve worked with refugees, homeless mothers, burned out founders, recent retirees, and emerging as well as professional artists — all with the same goal of tapping into our creative potential through seeing, slowing down, and creating.
My work has been exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris, in Venice during the Biennale, at the Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka, at the Kyoto Museum of Art, in Miami during Art Basel week, and in London, New York and Silicon Valley. It is held in institutional and private collections in Europe, North America and Asia.
Wherever we begin, my role is to help participants transform challenges into opportunities, embrace curiosity, and connect with their full creative potential.
Agenda
Five days of creative thinking and activities, designed to inspire not only your painting, but everything you create—whether you photograph, cook, write, dance, code, build, or simply reflect. My wish is that you leave refreshed, recharged, and ready to bring new joy, and authenticity to all your endeavors.
Day 1
Arrival Connection & Play
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16:00 Arrive at the retreat, unpack, explore the beautiful grounds, and take a deep breath as you transition into creative mode.
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French apéro and nibbles--We’ll map out the adventure ahead and establish the most important ground rule for the week: prioritizing joy, curiosity, and the sheer importance of having fun.
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Our first official dinner together—a savoury celebration to kick off the week, fuel our bodies, and toast to the creative journey ahead.
Tonight, we practice the fine art of suspending our preconceived beliefs—especially those rigid ideas of what art "should" look like or what we think we're capable of. Leave the inner critic at the door; this week is all about high curiosity, low pressure, and pure fun!
Day 2
The Chicken
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Breakfast at the Atelier-- Fresh croissants and other goodies from the local boulangerie
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Morning Workshop on the Big shapes, composition, and your why
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Buffet Lunch
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Hike up to a magical mountain valley
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Using our high-altitude mountain valley as a vantage point, we’ll put the morning's workshop into practice. Using our phones, and B&W painting tools, we will train our eyes to connect the important tonal masses, textures, forces, and lines that define what we see, and help us to express what we feel.
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Dinner tonight is free time — explore local restaurants at your leisure.
Today is all about the big picture. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in the mountains because you've lost your path.
Remember: you can't season and cook a chicken if you don't have the chicken in the pan first! We are building the grand, structural foundation of our art today—the intricate details will come later.
Day 3
The Sauce & Spices
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Breakfast at the Atelier
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Application of yesterday's recipes to direct B&W encaustic painting on paper
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Buffet Lunch
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Afternoon Options:
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Digital Tools to create on the go
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Open Unsupervised Studio Time
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Local Explorations/free time
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Sunset over Lac D'Annecy Group Dinner Excursion watching the paragliders fly by
Today, we explore the internal lenses we use to decipher our visuals, specifically how we translate color and detail. While we are mastering our palettes and learning how not to muddy the sauce, we must remember the ultimate rule: don't over-spice the chicken. It is incredibly easy to get so obsessed with the excitement of the sauce and the spices that you lose the chicken entirely. Color and texture should elevate your strong foundation, not bury it!
Day 4
All Day Local Excursion to explore shapes and textures
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Breakfast at the Atelier
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Today, we step explore with our new lenses. We travel to the breathtaking city of Annecy, or village of Talloires. Here we will continue to fill our recipe books with shapes, textures, lines, and energies that inspire us.
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Group Lunch
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Pleine aire painting sessions, or, wander the sites freely and meet back at the bus.
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Return to La clusaz to explore more local restaurants at your leisure.
As we paint seeped in history, we ask ourselves: What are the things, the moments, and the visuals that make you feel truly alive? What frightens you? What makes you laugh?
Art isn't about playing it safe or painting a perfect postcard. Today is about the vital importance of risk-taking, breaking away from expectation, and deeply listening to what your heart wants to say on the canvas.
Day 5
Putting it All Together
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Breakfast at the Atelier
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Dive back into your "Recipe Books"—the journals you've filled with marks, notes, textures, and watercolor pages this week. We will use these rich archives as the blueprint to create a larger-scale watercolor--abstractions encouraged. This session is dedicated to expanding your unique creative voice and celebrating your personal expression.
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Buffet Lunch
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Afternoon Options
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Encaustic finish on watercolor works
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Open Unsupervised Studio Time
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Local Explorations/ free time
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Group gathering to share our work and what we learned
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Group Farewell Dinner
Throughout our final day, we’ll explore the power of our learned creative skills—learning to connect with what we truly see, think, and feel.
Perhaps, most importantly, we’ll discuss how the kits and tools you've been given can easily maintain your creative momentum back in reality.
Day 6
Au Revoirs
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Pack up your art and your suitcases (checkout by 9:45am)
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Breakfast at the Atelier
TRANSFERS:
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07:45 to Geneva Airport, for early flights
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10:30 to Annecy train station
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13:00 to Geneva Airport
Leaving on the later shuttle? Leave your bags in the atelier and enjoy a last wander through the village.
We part ways, but your Recipe Book comes home with you: a record of everything you’ve learned, and of the creative voice you rediscovered in the mountains.
Is This Retreat Right for
Me?
Anytime, Anywhere
This experience is a perfect fit if you are:
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An artist of any level: Whether you are a total beginner or an experienced painter looking to deeply fuse your love of nature with your passion for art.
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Open and curious: Ready to show up, laugh, and gently push past your personal creative boundaries in a supportive environment.
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Alpine-ready: You find joy in nature and are reasonably physically comfortable walking at mountain altitudes (above 1,000 meters).
What you’ll take home: You will leave the French Alps better connected to yourself, your environment, and your co-creatives. The goal is that you feel refreshed, recharged, and armed with your very own Creative Recipe Book—ready to infuse newfound structure, expressive texture, and delight into all your future creative endeavors.
Let’s make sure our creative dynamics align. Click below to book a brief, casual chat with me to talk about your practice and see if this 8-person cohort is your next big creative leap.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Laurie M.
...the combo of great instruction and location are hard to beat!
(IMHO, you need to charge more because this retreat feels like a bargain considering everything was 5 STARS.)
Nancy Torbitt-Stewart
Great Location--access to mountains and lake. Very thoughtful host--every detail considered.
Lisa is such a generous artist, not only with her expertise, local knowledge, but the food was amazing. Why not see for yourself?
Loraine Long
Take the chance because whatever you do/achieve is personal, and it's not about judgement.
Margaret Miller
I was nervous before coming. I hadn’t really done art since middle school. Lisa put me at ease immediately, and we had so much fun. We had lessons on colour, form and values, then put them into practice in some of the most spectacular places in the world: the Alps, the beach at Talloires and the forest near La Clusaz. It was revelatory, inspiring and so fun!
Is This Retreat Right for
Me?
Anytime, Anywhere
Too many stories are lost because story tellers are afraid to share them. How many poems go unwritten because someone was told they didn't have the background to write them?
This retreat is not about winning awards and polishing pebbles into gemstones. It's about harnessing your own, unabridged authenticity, and tweaking the lenses through which you see, think, and feel the world around you--so that you might maximise your creative voice and potential.
So, never-evers, beginners, advanced, and everything in between are welcome. (Although I highly recommend messing around with some watercolor paints and YouTube videos ahead of time, just for some familiarity.)
A minimum level of a love for walking, and ability to tolerate altitudes above 1000meters would be helpful, with sturdy walking/hiking shoes, as we'll most likely be doing a 6km (roundtrip) walk to a most beautiful mountain refuge for lunch and painting.
What I hope you will take with you should be applicable to not just what you paint creatively, but what you photograph, cook, write, dance, clean, spreadsheet, code, construct, and contemplate...
I hope you return home, refreshed, recharged, and ready to infuse new delight, into all your creative endeavours.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Margaret Miller-PiP 2026
.I had not really "done art" since middle school, so I was nervous before coming. Lisa had such a great approach to the retreat. I was immediately at ease and having fun. We had lessons on color, forms, values and put them into practice in some of the most spectacular places in the world...it was reveletory, inspiring and so fun!! I'm so very grateful to Lisa for re-opening this creative door for me!
Nancy Torbitt-Stewart- PiP 2026
Great Location--access to mountains and lake. Very thoughtful host--every detail considered. Lisa is such a generous artist, not only with her expertise, but also with local knowledge. And the food was amazing!!
Anonymous-PiP 2026
What worked really well:
Building Blocks
•Freedom & Just enough structure
•Learning from Lisa & one another
•LOVE the studio
•Meals--dinners were especially GREAT!!
What's Included
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Lodging, Breakfast, Lunch, Coffee/Juice Breaks,
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Intro Apero
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3 Dinners (including some wine),
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Mountain & Dinner Excursions,
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Scheduled Airport/TGV Transfers, on arrival and departure days
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Art Supplies for workshops,
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Assistance with pre and post trip planning, and hiking, cycle hire, golf, taxis, medical emergencies, dinner reservations, non-group excursion advice during your stay in La Clusaz etc.
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Prices range from 2450 Euros- 3295 Euros, depending on options indicated on the booking form.
What's Not Included
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2 Dinners, airfare, wine (and other alcohol) beyond the initial servings,
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fees for additional activities like boating and cycle hire, train fares, passport/visa fees, travel insurance and transfers outside of scheduled times.
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travel insurance
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additional nights' lodging,
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concierge services extending beyond La Clusaz and beyond the dates of the retreat (hotels, taxis etc)
Scheduled Airport Transfers Included
+33749095492
All Text & Images Copyright 2026
Espace Créa-Tea-Vité
27 Passage du Mont Blanc
74220 La Clusaz
siret 98939714600014
