Taking Expressions of Interest
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Taking Expressions of Interest ⋆
Specialty itineraries designed to enhance your creativity
Experience
Colour, Food, Textiles, Architecture, Markets, Living Culture & the Arts
Slow Travel with your host Anna Barnes
artist, chef & anthropologist
Anna's Art, Food & Culture Experience with Anna Barnes & Paul Wang
Small group, 5 star, meticulously designed 10 day experience.
Anna Barnes & Paul Wang
Sydney, The Blue Mountains & The Central West Gold Fields, NSW Australia
March 7th - 16th, 2025
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Each morning you will work with Paul participating in well planned and prepared workshops. Afternoons with Paul Wang & Anna Barnes are carefully designed excursions to inspire and foster curiosity and learning.
You will have plenty of time to spend sketching in both the workshops and on the outings each day.
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The trip is fully inclusive of meals. Anna was a chef of over 25 years in some of Sydneys best restaurants. She currently hosts workshops and classes in Sydney that incorporate the local food scene.
You will have a chance to sample some of Australia’s most incredible produce. We eat local and seasonal. We also try some Australias classic foods too. Prawns on the BBQ, Pavlova, Meat Pie and tomato sauce, and of course fish & chips on Manly beach!
Our indigenous foods are showcased, alongside many of the cuisines introduced in the last couple of decades thanks to our vibrant migrant communities.
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Anna’s Art, Food & Culture Experiences focus on connecting with the local culture. You will meet many of Anna’s friends along the way. Get to know how Australians really like to live in our favourite city Sydney, as well as the alternative mountain folk and the “tru blue” Aussies out on the gold field country.
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SYDNEY (3 nights)
The Harbour Rocks Hotel (4 star)
THE BLUE MOUNTAINS (3 nights)
The Carrington Hotel (Heritage Listed)
THE GOLD FIELDS (3 nights)
Lawsons Estate on Macquarie Farm (beautifully restored Georgian residence built between 1820–1824 by convict labour)
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7-8:30am Breakfast
9am-12pm Art Workshop
12:30pm Lunch
1-4pm Guided Tours & Supervised Free Time for extra sketching and art.
4-6pm Free time
6-8pm Dinner
*Subject to change pending best choices re weather and local circumstances.
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Small group ensures you will receive plenty of personal tuition during the sessions
9 nights accommodation in NSW, Australia
Fully hosted by Anna Barnes, founder of Art Food Culture
9 breakfasts, 8 lunches, 6 dinners
8 x 3hr Art Workshops led by Paul Wang
Private licensed, insured, air conditioned van trips with our dedicated driver
Travel Card and group excursions around Sydney
Devonshire Tea in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building
Sydney Ferry ride to Manly Beach
Lunch in Sydney Oldest Pub at The Rocks
Fish & Chips on the beach
Sketch the iconic Three Sisters in The Blue Mountains
Sketch Evan’s Lookout and learn about some bush native flowers
Antiquing and Op Shopping in Katoomba
Whole foods Lunch, Meditation and Yoga session with a Blue Mountains local
A day in Carcoar - a complete 19th century Historic Township and centre for museums
Learn about the gold rush of the 19th century and the formation of a uniquely Australian national identity
Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens, cold climate, UNESCO heritage wilderness on Darug Country
Sydney Coffee Culture
Australian Indigenous Foods & Cuisine at the famous Sydney Opera House’s Midden Restaurant
Meet & learn with Dingo Darbo a proud Gundungurra Man, member of the Gundungurra Aboriginal Heritage Association Incorporated (GAHAI), and a Gully Traditional Owner (GTO).
Learn more about the Explorers Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth.
Enjoy lunch at The Conservation Hut with impressive views over The Blue Mountains
Cooking demonstrations by Anna. Learn to make an Aussie Pavlova, and “Throw a Shrimp on the Barbie”.
Morning Fire Pit on the sheep farm. Make your own damper and roast over the hot coals on a stick, drizzle with golden syrup and enjoy a billie tea. An Australian campfire staple.
And so much more!
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International airfares
Visas
Travel insurance
Some meals
Beverages- alcohol and imported soft drinks
Extra activities and tours organised in your free time (at your own cost)
Personal expenses, laundry, minibar, tips, extra nights accomodation etc.
Tips and gratuities (not compulsory)
Anything not mentioned in the Included list
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Sydney, NSW, Australia
The closest airport to our starting point is Sydney International Airport. Code is SYD.
Our Experience begins at 4pm on the first day advertised in Sydney.
Please ensure that you have arranged your airline tickets so you arrive with plenty of time to settle in before we begin.
The Experience ends when we return from The Gold Fields on the last day advertised. You will need around 45 minutes to transfer to Sydney Airport, and 3 hours for check in (check with your individual airlines guidelines).
It is imperative you arrive in time for our first night of festivities.
If you need help organising your transport from your home town to Sydney please email or call Anna. We provide travel agents details to help you navigate the details, or take care of everything for you.
Onward travel and additions to your itinerary can be organised for you. Please get in touch should you wish to explore other areas of Australia. Anna knows them well and has many good people to connect you with.
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All prices in USD.
A $1000 non refundable deposit is required to reserve your spot. (Fully refunded if Anna's Art Food Culture Experiences cancels the trip).
Solo Traveller USD$6,300
Twin Travellers USD$6,100 (when booking two places at the same time and room share)
Visit the 19th century Historic Township of Carcoar
Your workshops throughout the programme will take you from being a complete beginner to feeling confident in 8 progressive lessons. They’re held on location in our hotel studio settings & in various interesting locations in Australia with Paul Wang. Your daily outings, walking tours and food demonstrations will be accompanied by Paul & delivered by Anna Barnes.
For those who would like to experience slow, responsible travel with like-minded people. Be taught by Paul Wang, on location. Explore the living culture of Sydney siders, Mountains Folk and the Graziers of the Central West Gold Fields. Enjoy daily demonstrations and opportunities to discover Australia slowly in comfort.
Paul Wang
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Paul is an Interior Architecture & design graduate from Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore and continued with a National Arts Council scholarship to study Technical Theatre in Brisbane, Australia. His passion for teaching has become a natural extension of his creativity. As an art and design educator, he has taught visual arts at the Singapore International School in Hong Kong and is currently an adjunct lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic’s school of design in Singapore. Other than teaching students, he also conducts regular urban sketching workshops.
His sketches are bursting with dramatic colours. His strokes and splashes may look spontaneous but are highly choreographed. Paul’s distinctive style of vivid colours and convoluted details seeks to tell a story behind each sketch. On-location sketching has become his unique way of encapsulating the fast changing urban landscape in his home town of Singapore and around the region.
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DISCOVERY WORKSHOPS
This series of carefully sequenced and crafted workshops aims to help you become more playful and curious in your creative journey. Every time you open your sketchbook, an exciting adventure awaits you.
These process-driven workshops are designed to help you meander and move away from a fixed point of view so that we can rediscover the joys of playing with familiar art tools and materials. The workshops will move from simple ideas to complex concepts so as to challenge our thinking. As we learn to play and experiment, we also focus on creating new possibilities and celebrate the freedom our art brings. Get ready to dance between freedom and control.
With this explorative play-based approach, students will be encouraged to constantly question, experiment and cultivate their unique expressive voice through drawing and painting. Through this immersive experience we learn how to think independently inside, around and outside the ‘box’.
Experience immersive and experiential learning through play.
Strengthen our ability to pay attention, see beyond the surface and become more aware of self and our changing environment through our art.
Learn how to wonder and wander creatively with our sketchbooks.
Develop an adaptive and transformative mindset to elevate our creative journey.
Rediscover and experiment with familiar and new art techniques/concepts and make them more relevant to our art practice.
Increase confidence and expressiveness in our sketching and painting.
Learn how to turn happy accidents into opportunities.
General Workshop structure
A. Warm-up & Recapitulate
B. ADOPT & learn techniques/concepts
C. ADAPT & Transform
D. APPLY & Personal Practice
E. Show & Share
Revised: 6th June 2024
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DRAWING & MARK-MAKING Tools
Pencils (2B & 6B) & Sharpener
Drawing Pen, Fountain Pen (with permanent ink)
Coloured pencils or Watercolour Pencils (Assorted colours suitable for tropical landscapes).
A few wax crayons (assorted colours)
OPTIONAL:
Coloured markers (Permanent or Water-soluble)
Permanent Drawing Ink (Black, Brown or Blue)
PAINTS & ACCESSORIES
Watercolour
-Your favourite colours from any major brands (do include a few dark brown, blue & green colours)- Squeeze paints into your travel palette pans & allow to dry.
- You may wish to bring additional tubes of essential colours for top up during the trip.
Round Watercolour brushes - I large & 1 small. (Size 6 & 8 are good sizes).
Additionally you can bring along your waterbrushes.
Water containers, small spray bottle, paper towel.
PAPER
A4 or A3 Sketchbook (suitable for watercolour - Hot or Cold pressed paper).
Loose watercolour paper - Approximately A4 size, 4 x COLD pressed & 4 x HOT pressed.
Sturdy Drawing Board & Clips
OTHER
Quick dry liquid GLUE or Glue stick, masking tape & Scissors.
Urbansketching Supplies: Small portable chair, Hat, Inspect Repellent, Sunglasses.
If you are new, these are the Suggested Watercolours for your palette.
*All colours by Daniel Smith
Hansa Yellow Deep
Transparent Pyrrol Orange
Permanent Alizarin Crimson (alt. Carmine)
Sap Green (alt. Undersea Green)
Cerulean Blue Chromium
French Ultramarine (alt. Ultramarine)
Indigo
Transparent Brown Oxide (alt. Transparent Red Oxide)
Lunar Black
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Paul is an Urban Sketchers’ correspondent for Singapore (since 2010) and is currently serving as an advisory board-member for the International Urban sketchers organisation. He has conducted workshops at the annual Urban Sketchers Symposiums multiple years in a row, and attracts a large following. He is a popular, well respected Sketch tutor worldwide.
Anna and Paul hosted a Hoi An Retreat in June 2019 and a Central Vietnam Tour in January 2023. After highly successful experiences, they decided to host another. A new itinerary in the same beautiful country will please both returning guests, and those of you who wish to come for the first time. Paul has previously captured the essence of Hoi An and beyond beautifully on solo trips, and is highly experienced with sketching SE Asian locations. He is a lover of good food and Anna looks forward to him sharing his passion with us.
Taking Expressions of Interest
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Taking Expressions of Interest ⋆
What Guests Have Written about us
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Dear Anna, Thank you for showing me the Vietnam you have come to know and love. Thank you for being so generous with your time, your friends, your knowledge and your life. You exceeded my expectations on what a trip like this can be. This trip expanded my knowledge of Vietnam- the people and the food and I certainly came away with some new skills and inspiration creatively. xx Julie
Julie H
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I was truly astounded by your knowledge of everything Vietnamese. Any questions we had, you had the answers. Everything we did and everywhere we went was so thoroughly thought out, planned and researched that we never had any doubts that it wouldn’t be incredible. I found you to be a real inspiration - watching the way that you urban sketched, how you chose your subjects, but also how you were interacting with the locals. I really did find all of this very inspiring and it made me really think about what I want from my life.
Karina D
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Love Anna! Her knowledge of Hoi An and Vietnamese food was invaluable. She had great recommendations for anything you wanted from restaurants to tailors to massages. I would travel anywhere with you, Anna! I really enjoyed walking around with Anna. My Dad and I agree that this was a trip of a lifetime and it is hard to describe to people. Thank you for helping us create that memory together.
Sarah H
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Hi Anna, I just wanted to say that overall the trip was fantastic. Extremely well organised.
Karen T
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"I highly recommend Art Food and Culture’s Western Sydney Travel Sketching classes. Anna has a wealth of knowledge on art, food, culture, and travel sketching and is such a warm friendly person. I have had so much fun travel sketching, eating delicious, authentic foods, and learning about each culture in the suburbs we visited. It’s been such an immersive experience, making it feel as if I traveled to a new country each week. I hope to attend one of Anna’s Vietnam Retreats in the future
Cathy C
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Google traduction : « This is not an ordinary trip, it is a human experience where all the senses are solicited, tastes, smells, sounds, colors and time seems suspended. Difficult to resume our daily life, even if coming home is pleasant, a part of us stayed there and with the group, with whom we shared all these moments. There is a before and an after, we do not come out unscathed from this stay where Anna was able to share with us her passion for this country which oscillates between tradition and modernity.
Virginie F
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Hello Dear Anna , I take time for transmet you my feelings …. With my little English… It was a super trip ! Your organisation is top , your energy 👍 I like the way to be attentive to ecology (plastic, river …etc ) It was super to discover so much different food and to cook some. Super also the visits , galleries, special place like the green garden…. Bref ….. difficile to tell you all
Isabelle C
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Hi Anna, We thoroughly enjoyed the Vietnam Art Food Culture workshop . You did an amazing job curating an authentic Vietnam experience. Thanks again for your efforts in pulling it all together, educating us on Vietnam and making our trip special.
Bev and Graham
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Wow ! Vietnam is amazing! I have had two weeks of just the best experiences with a small group of like minded souls from around the Globe. I truly enjoyed the ART, FOOD & CULTURE in and around Hoi An, Co Tú, Lang Co, Hue and Da Nang. The trip curated by Anna was a fantastic way to learn and really feel we were being immersed in the Vietnamese Culture. I came away with a much better understanding of what is all about Central Vietnam and I definitely want to go back to Vietnam and explore more in the North and South. Having all the great sensory experiences with Anna including a variety of culturally appropriate experiences and exciting Street Food & Markets too.
Alyson L
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Is there anything else to say other than I have been back home for less than a week and am anxiously waiting to see the dates for next year's trips. I need more! Wonderful, superlative experience in every way. Thank you Anna Barnes for sharing your in-depth knowledge of Vietnam.
Joanne M
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Hi Anna, My time in Vietnam with Anna was incredible. I came for Renata and sketching and would come back for Anna and Vietnam. What more to say! Everything was more than I expected. Neither Anna nor Renata counted their time. Both were always enthusiastic and available for help and understanding. I trusted you both. I went on this trip to experience life in Vietnam and profit from the colors, food, art, culture of the country. Maybe I did not sketch as much as expected by you or myself, but I took in all these sensations with pleasure. Anna: congratulations for having survived so many ‘French” people. We proved ourselves to be good travelers and great eaters! Your organization was great. The hotels were all different and good standing. CoTu was different. The minority was so generous. The sleeping and shower situations were completely ‘do-able’ and a small ‘adventure” for a city person. The meals were good, swimming in the river, dancing in the fields- lots of fun.
Deborah C
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I highly recommend the Art Food Culture Retreats for anyone looking for a fun and interesting way to travel, stay, eat, sketch, learn about new cultures!
Alyson L
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I had the most amazing trip Anna - loved how you took the hassle out of ordering food, took us to different locations and different levels and pushed us beyond our comfort zone without us even realising. You have a passion for life, food and Vietnam. I think you have pretty much nailed the tour Anna - you know what works for you, your tutors and your clients. Tweak it if you need to but you don’t change it too much. It’s pretty much spot on and for me personally it met my objectives of being able to explore Vietnam with a small group of like minded people.
Sam B
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Anna is not your typical tour leader! She’s far more fun, unexpected, quirky and interesting. She really injected her passion for Vietnamese Food, People and Culture into every moment of the tour. Watching her sketch and record her own observations was another whole level of pleasure for me.
Janet M
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A trip I shall always remember with wonder and amazement. Culinary delights and in depth cultural experiences expertly curated by Anna
Cheryl H
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What an amazing experience. Anna is so knowledgable and organized. This tour is a must if you are looking for a fun, guided tour that shows you the local experience. We tried so many different foods and toured so many interesting places. Sitting in the local market sketching what inspired me, was my favorite experience, it is so enjoyable to absorb the atmosphere and the simple life in the local market
Michelle M
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The GOOD - everything. Anna's organization, the hotels including the home stay with the generous CoTu minority, the meals taken in markets, the visits to monuments and museums, her farms and markets, rice noodle making and cooking lessons. Sites, Sounds and Sensations. Renata Lahalle shared her sketching knowledge and passion without counting her time. Great job to all as most of the participants were French speakers (but not Anna). Friendships were created and a great time was had by all!
Deb fom France
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Wow! What an amazing Tour! Much more than I was expecting! Unforgettable! Anna is an amazing curator of her tour, so much knowledge, always helpful, very professional! I know that if I went to Vietnam on my own, I would not have seen or experienced so much! Thanks heaps Anna!
Liza L
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Loved the wonderful accommodation at An Villa, so tranquil. Interesting variety of accommodation, liked the luxury of Indochine Palace in Đà Nẵng All the great breakfast’s,street food, bánh mì’s, lunches, cà phê sữa đá’s ( Vietnamese Ice Coffee and dinners, Chế! OMG the unbelievable fresh seafood dinner on our last night! Awesome! I would recommend ArtFoodCulture 150%, and would love to join one of Anna’s tours in the future for sure! 🙏
Lisa
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Anna led us on a perfectly crafted tour that changed organically with the weather or groups interest or abilities and never felt rushed. It was like visiting an old friend who couldn’t wait to show you around their town, the best places to eat and provide a western interpretation for cultural context along the way while Lap, our Vietnamese tour guide, provided authentic and insightful cultural and historical narration.
Sean M
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We loved this tour!!! Anna was our trip mom who kept everyone organized and made sure we were well fed. It’s wonderful to see her share her love for this culture from a more familiar western perspective.
Jen B
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We loved Anna’s local knowledge of the best markets, best vendors, best food experiences in Vietnam. We loved the visit to the CoTu village, and the art experiences we were able to have. It was a fabulous tour. Do it again in a heartbeat.
Rennie
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There were so many fabulous things I can’t pin point just one. Anna’s local knowledge is unparalleled. Not only knowledgeable about the country but the little things like local specialty places to eat and buy gifts. Recommendations of places to eat, after she’d checked them personally, recommendations of places to spend spare time after the formal tour as well. She coordinated different experiences to cater for different tastes and personalities. And that’s never an easy task. I have recommended Anna and her tours to many friends.
Dianna K
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Best holiday ever, great friends and amazing places, loved sketching, will definitely do more in future.
Peter M