THE PAINTING SCHOOL CATSKILLS…

is located on top of a mountain, two hours from New York City, one hour from Kingston and Woodstock, in a small hamlet that was a famous artist colony where painters escaped the city to spend their summers painting the amazing mountain views.

The Painting School Catskills is housed in a renovated former rooming house called The Bleakley House that was built in 1880s to host artists, actors and other ne’er-do-wells (from the stories we have heard, the house’s peak ne’er-do-well era was when it was a commune in the 1960s and 70s).

For over a century it has been a place for artists to work and gather and learn to make everything from pastel drawings to ceramics. And continuing that legacy, The Bleakley House now hosts painting workshops throughout the year.

In nice weather painting takes place on the massive wraparound porch and when a bit of mountain bad weather makes an appearance, we work in the sun-drenched dining room.

The Catskill workshops always have drinks and snacks and people tend to stay for a big family-style dinner after we stop painting. If there is time in between painting and eating we go for a group hike. Our primary goal of building community around painting is always met. Everybody walks away from the day with a couple of new, art-loving friends & some great paintings.