Immerse yourself in fairytale beauty
and bring home a sketchbook full of memories
Illustrated Watercolor Journaling
in Alsace
with Leslie Fehling
October 1-8, 2025
(Only 4 spots left)
The Alsace region of France looks like it was plucked from the pages of a storybook. Cobblestone streets and colorful half-timbered buildings harken back to medieval times…
and fairytale castles stand sentinel over bustling villages.
Canals wind their way through historic towns…
and storks nest on chimneys and rooftops.
Beauty is everywhere in Alsace. Flowers spill from window boxes…
and lace curtains decorate shuttered windows.
Everyday details are crafted with care and artistry, from handmade wrought iron door hardware…
and carved wooden house trim…
to custom-painted shutters…
and carefully planned decorative roof tile patterns.
And while the villages are spectacular…
there’s even more to see in the magnificent countryside when you venture beyond the city gates.
In this world-reknowned winemaking region, tucked between the Vosges mountains and the Black Forest, vineyards stretch as far as the eye can see. Villages nestle snugly in the valleys, with church spires poking up above the rooftops. It’s a region brimming with dramatic beauty, and we’ll be there to draw and paint it in October when the vineyards are wearing their warm autumn hues. Just thinking about it makes me want to grab some yellow ochre and burnt sienna and start sketching!
(Look at that picture! Can you believe real people actually live there?)
So, where is this magical place? Well, Alsace is located in the northeast corner of France, bordered by Germany and Switzerland. The area has switched allegiance between Germany and France over the years, resulting in a culture that’s an interesting blend of the two.
The heritage and culture of this region is entirely unique, and it has been studiously preserved over the years. Alsace has the highest concentration of fortified castles in Europe, and its cities are architectural masterpieces.
Of course, on this French Escapade workshop trip to Alsace, we’ll be going there not just as tourists, but as artists! There is so much to sketch in this varied and historic area of France: the architecture, the scenery, the canals, the flowers….our biggest challenge will be deciding what to paint first!
We’ll have long uninterrupted hours to paint every day in some of the most gorgeous places you’ve ever seen, but there will also be plenty of time to just hang out, explore, and relax on this trip.
Alsace is known for its wonderful white wines, which we’ll enjoy during the tour, along with delicious meals which are a delightful blend of German and French cuisine. We’ll have a chance to try all the specialities of one of France’s leading gastronomic regions during the tour.
Just picture yourself whiling away an afternoon wandering through a quaint French village, sketchbook in hand…
and then joining your friends for a glass of local Riesling at a café with a view like this…
Imagine sketching quirky buildings that ooze character… (I’ll show you how!)
and then finding your way to a vineyard on the edge of town where you can walk, decompress, and breathe in the heady aroma of grapes ready for harvesting.
We’ll be doing all this and more during our week together in wonderful Alsace!
This painting tour is being organized by my friends, Jackie and Valerie, at French Escapade. I’ve been working with them since 2017 and have loved every trip I’ve done with them. Students ask me all the time which one has been my favorite, and the question always stumps me. How can I possibly choose between the incredible beauty of the French Alps, the coastal scenery of Spain, and the medieval splendor of Brugges? All I know is, every French Escapade tour is sure to exceed my expectations and wow all the participants.
The Tour
On Day 1 of the tour, we’ll be met by our guides at the train station in Strasbourg. (Many of the participants opt to spend a few days in Paris before the workshop, then take the train to Strasbourg to meet the group. Others will spend a few extra days in the Alsace region on their own either before or after the workshop.) It’s a short ride from Strasbourg to our hotel where we’ll have a chance to settle in, unpack, and do a little exploring.
At a champagne welcome reception that evening, we’ll have a chance to get to know each other, and I’ll give you a preview of what you can expect from the workshop. Then we’re off to the first of many gourmet dinners we’ll enjoy during the tour.
Our home base for the week will be an eco-friendly hotel in one of the prettiest villages in France. Balcony rooms are available, and the hotel even has a spa area with an indoor pool and sauna, so be sure to bring your swimsuit.
There is an onsite restaurant where we will enjoy breakfast every day as well as some of our lunches and dinners.
A short walk takes you to the heart of the village where you’ll find plenty of restaurants, shops, and historic points of interest.
We’ll have a dedicated studio at the hotel where we can paint when we’re not on location, or in the event that the weather doesn’t cooperate one day.
My students really like having a place where they can finish up plein air sketches begun earlier in the day, or work on lettering and other page design elements which are easier to do at a table. Thankfully, my French Escapade workshops all include a studio space.
Now, back to the tour….
Most days, we’ll be leaving after breakfast to go on an excursion to one of the adorable villages nearby. We’ll draw and paint on location for a few hours in the morning, then take a break around noon. This gives us all time to wander around a bit on our own and then meet up with a friend or two and enjoy a leisurely lunch together.
Those idle times of relaxing over a meal, chatting and telling stories, often generate some of the best memories from a trip. It’s the people who really make these workshop tours extra special, and I seem to get the friendliest, most enthusiastic, fun, and creative people coming on my tours. If you’re coming as a single, trust me, you will make lifelong friends during our week together.
While picturesque villages have their undeniable charms, and I love to sketch as much as the next person, there’s always one day during the week when we take a few hours off to indulge in an alternate activity…shopping on market day!
Roaming around a weekly market is one of my favorite things to do when I’m in France. There are food vendors selling cheeses, sausages, olives, jams, honey, and fresh produce.
And stalls with linen clothing, leather goods, home textiles, toys, ceramics, and handmade soaps.
I just love wandering around and looking at all the interesting local goodies.
And, of course, I can never resist buying a few things to take back home…
We’ll have an abundance of rich experiences during my painting tour of Alsace. These photos can only touch the surface of what we’ll see and do, but I hope they give you an idea of how much fun it’s going to be.
During our week together, you’ll have the luxury of time. Time to connect with the unique beauty of Alsace. Time to relax and take it all in. Time to meander and find what calls to you. Time to draw and paint and make memories that will stay with you forever.
The Workshop: Drawing, Painting, & Designing
Now are you ready to hear about the art portion of the trip?
We’ll be keeping a travel journal during our time together in Alsace, creating colorful pages filled with ink and watercolor sketches that capture all the fun and excitement of traveling in France.
We’ll sketch outdoors on location each day, but don’t worry, I’ll give you lots of information about preparing your travel sketch kit before you leave home. You’ll have everything you need to paint comfortably outdoors, and French Escapade even provides folding chairs for us, so there’s no need to carry one in your luggage. (That leaves more room for the things you’ll buy while you’re there! 🙂
My teaching will focus on illustrated watercolor journaling and how to create a colorful, varied, and personal record of your experiences on the trip.
But the fun starts weeks before you hop on that plane to fly to Europe – I’ll be emailing you pre-trip bonus sketching lessons to get the ball rolling and help you warm up for sketching on location together.
During the workshop, you’ll learn how to design dynamic pages with unique layouts, borders, and hand-lettering styles, and I’ll offer daily demonstrations of techniques for painting the subject matter you’ll encounter each day, everything from a window box filled with flowers to a half-timbered building.
When we’re in the studio, you’ll paint right along with me as I demonstrate, to gain the experience you’ll need to paint confidently when we’re on location.
My students tell me that one of the best things about my workshops is the fact that, for each workshop trip, I prepare a full-color handbook which contains all of the information I cover during our time together. The handbook is customized for each tour, so it is specific to the location and subjects you’ll be painting.
It’s packed with great ideas for designing beautiful journal pages, and it includes a section of helpful step-by-step tutorials showing how to paint the subjects we encounter during the workshop. It goes hand-in-hand with my daily lessons and painting demonstrations and provides a graphic reminder of what was taught and shown in class.
The handout ensures that you can relax during the workshop, knowing that even if you can’t absorb everything during the week, you’ll have complete information that you can refer to later on. With my enthusiastic support, encouragement, and assistance, even if you’re a beginning watercolorist, you’ll surprise yourself with what you can do!
Note: The handbook is provided in PDF format prior to the workshop to allow plenty of time for printing at a local shop or at home. You will also have the opportunity to purchase a printed copy from me and have it mailed to you prior to the trip.)
I hope this gives you a good idea of what you can expect during my Alsace workshop in October 2025. This will be my seventh European tour with French Escapade, and I can’t say enough about how well organized their painting tours are and how generous they are with amenities and extras. Workshop participants on some of my earlier trips have told me that their French Escapade tour was the best they’ve ever taken. That’s high praise from people who have had a wide range of travel experiences with a lot of different companies.
One thing that sets Jackie and Valerie’s company apart from the others is that they always have someone accompanying their painting groups. They never drop us off in a location without access to a guide or translator, and there’s aways someone available to help in an emergency. They cover all the bases and are always there to advise, inform, educate, and care for us. I continue to partner with them because they take such good care of me and my students and provide exceptional service that goes above and beyond what’s expected. They make travel easy and fun!
As a bonus, when you join one of my European workshop tours, you’ll travel with a great group of people who share your interests. The friendships that grow from our shared experiences and love of art are one of the best things about a French Escapade trip.
Meet me in Strasbourg next October, and be prepared for a fantastic holiday with lots of built-in time to sketch and paint in your travel journal. I’ll help you create the most wonderful record of our time together, and I promise that you’ll find yourself feeling more confident and excited about your journaling practice when you return home.
Something magical happens on these painting tours. I’ve seen it time and time again. You’ll be changed by our time together, and you’ll never look at the world, or your sketchbook, in the same way again.
So, if you’d like to improve your painting skills, learn more about keeping a sketchbook journal, and have more fun than you can imagine exploring one of the prettiest places in France, I hope you’ll join me for this French Escapade workshop.
Let’s discover the wonders of Alsace together!
Visit the French Escapade website for more information and to register for the workshop. I’d love to sketch with you in Alsace next year!
Pricing
The price of the workshop/tour is $3,840 for a standard double. Additional charge for single supplement. See complete pricing information here.
More info...
Mulling it over? Need more information? Have a question?
Read about Leslie here.
Read about the tour operator, French Escapade, here.
Helpful FAQs about traveling abroad with French Escapade
Testimonials for French Escapade
Questions? Contact Jackie or Valerie from French Escapade here or email Leslie.
Register here.
