Provence France sketching tour with John McDonald May 2027

May 18-24 in 2027
This is a fully-escorted tour with your experienced tour manager and guide in Provence, France staying in a charming rural hamlet with boutique accommodation with a pool.

• All rooms are air-conditioned and have ensuite bathroom facilities.
• Daily excursions to local sites in the area for sketching and visiting.

Kate Stedman - your host and guide .
Kate is an historian, art lover and avid sketcher and she will take you to her favourite spots and regale you with fun facts and historic gems each visit as well. 
This tour is the KID GLOVE approach where we look after you every step of the way to ensure you have the best fun holiday you have ever experienced.

JOHN MCDONALD:  TALENTED DIVERSE ARTIST 

KIND PATIENT GENEROUS TEACHER 

 John has an MA degree in drawing and painting from Purdue University and did a four month intensive printmaking workshop in AVIGNON, PROVENCE, FRANCE.

A painter and former illustrator, John has books filled with sketches whilst travelling: catching tones, values and scene vignettes.
You can expect to be taught about travel journalling through sketching,  seeing tonal values, composing a scene, applying watercolour,  capturing your surroundings easily in small studies with vignette-style sketches, larger sketches and annotating as much or as little as you want.
All in a relaxed, friendly, sociable environment.

John is known equally for the quality of his work and for the quality of his teaching.
John has taught workshops for 20 years. See a short video of a sketching tip with John here:  See his sketch tip here on youtube.
His work has been shown in numerous solo and group shows in Canada and the United States.
His paintings can be found in collections through North America and he is a professional member of the Society of Illustrators, the Illustrators Partnership of America, the National Association of Plein Air Painters, Oil Painters of America, the Graphic Artists Guild, and the American Tonalist Society. 

We have been taking tour groups to this region for over 20 years.

We stay in a gallo/roman medieval village and our charming hotel is a quiet haven.
Our hotel has its own pool and is right in the middle of the village for easy strolls to enjoy the sites.
Each room is air-conditioned, with ensuite bathroom and the hotel has a private garden with stunning views.

Provence is France's land of olive trees, lavender, sunflowers and poppies with little historic cobblestoned villages.

OUR TOUR BEGINS  

• TRAIN: you organise your own travel to Avignon - OR if you would prefer or we can organise  this for you (at your expense) to take the specified TGV train (usually from Paris down to Avignon but you may want to come a few days earlier and stay in Avignon or in a nearby Provencal town?
  We can help you with this.

  Our private coach will then be collecting the tour group on MAY 18 at 2 pm from Avignon TGV train station and will transfer you to our lovely accommodation for 7 nights. 

• The tour ends on MAY 24  after breakfast where we will provide a transfer for you back to Avignon TGV train station.
  You are free to organise your own onward travel from there

We have designed this tour to maximise our sketching and exploration time and minimise time travelling in a bus.

Daily excursions will be to local villages, vineyards, towns and historic sites.
The sketching, the markets, the shopping, the cuisine is all BREATHTAKING.

And each afternoon when we return to our hotel, we can relax and continue sketching with a rose wine by the pool or round the table under an umbrella together.

We price all our tours in EUROS to accommodate exchange rate fluctuations but you will be paying for your tour in AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS as we are an Australian tour company.

PRICE INCLUDES
-All 3+ star “charme” accommodation with ensuite bathrooms whilst on tour
-Swimming pool in hotel
-Daily breakfasts
-4 dinners
-5 lunches
-All entries
-All transport on tour in private bus
-Your Tour Manager
- Daily demos & workshops with JOHN MCDONALD

TOUR COST:   based on TWO people sharing a room
3,450 EUROS per person 
( go to www.xe.com to see an approximate tour cost based on TODAY’s exchange rate  in your currency)

TOUR COST SOLO TRAVELLER in own room: 
3,950 EUROS per person
( go to www.xe.com to see an approximate tour cost based on TODAY’s exchange rate in your currency)

Non-sketcher cost (must be sharing a room with a sketcher) is 3,200 euros (which is 6,650 euros for the 2 people in one room)

DEPOSIT AMOUNT of $1,000 AUD per person to secure your reservation. 

Final tour payment is due 120 days before travel. We will invoice you at the time this is due for the correct amount to pay in AUD according to the market rate on that day.

• Travel outside tour dates (ie before May 18 and after breakfast on May 24)
• All other meals not mentioned in the itinerary
• International flights
• Travel insurance which is mandatory on all our tours