Along the Mulranny coast, the landscape feels alive with a magical spirit as you listen to the wind and water speak their own ancient language.
When I visited Ireland a few years ago, the first thing that struck me were the contrasts within the landscape, the light was mysteriously unlike anything I had ever seen--a kind of constant twilight until the sun broke through, turning gray skies and water into sparkling silver layers. Every shift felt revelatory, illuminating cliffs, mountains, and surfaces of sea and lake.
During my ten-day stay, a four-day storm swept across the coast delivering almost constant drizzle, pelting rain, biting winds, and the occasional peek of sunlight through the dark blue-gray clouds. I hiked through it all—wind thrashing, whispering, breathing, confessing its secrets— it felt alive, as if the storm itself were a presence beside me. Immersed in its fury, the wind and rain literally took my breath away while at the same time, it breathed new life into my soul.
Using only charcoal, graphite, and paper, I recorded the movement of water, wind, and light, allowing the elements to leave their marks with minimal interference from me. The results were delicate, bold, and strangely spectacular—an affirmation that instead of making feeble attempts to capture the majesty of nature, I could collaborate with it by creating symbiotic moments between my materials, the elements and myself.
I invite you to join me as I return to the magical, watery landscape of Mulranny, and once again, creatively bond with this spiritually fruitful coast.
Waxing the Wild: Encaustic Ecologies of Ireland’s West Coast is an immersive retreat exploring the raw poetry of Mulranny’s salt marshes, boglands, and the Atlantic shoreline through encaustic, fabric, paper, and gathered natural materials.
Working with wax, fire, peat, botanicals, rocks, soil, weathered paper and fabric, participants will create a series of mixed media works bound into a sculptural book, embodying the textures, rhythms, and stories of this ancient landscape.
Through guided walks, mindful and sustainable gathering, experimental mark-making, pyrography, and a wide range of encaustic techniques, participants will collaborate with the elements—wind, salt, mist, tide, and earth—to develop deeply personal, layered works.
Each day offers a blend of outdoor exploration and focused studio time. We will depict the landscape using materials collected within the landscape, embed plant materials in wax, color fabric and paper with ink created using local botanicals, create mark-making brushes and tools from found materials, make pyrographic marks inspired by landforms, and build unconventional book structures rooted in geological and cultural histories. Back at the studio, we will combine these materials with the depth, translucency and layering capabilities of encaustic mono-type and collage.
Each participant will leave with a sculptural encaustic book: a tactile vessel of landscape memory, hand-built from the materials, atmosphere, and spirit of Ireland.
This retreat welcomes both experienced encaustic artists and adventurous beginners ready to explore and collaborate with the wild, magical world of Mulranny.
About Lorraine
Lorraine is a former Assistant Professor at Tyler School of Art, a workshop instructor and an award-winning artist. Lorraine Glessner’s love of surface, pattern, markmaking and image has led her to combine disparate materials and processes in her work such as silk, wood, wax, pyrography and rust.
She has a diverse art background with skills that include painting, sculpture, photography and digital imaging. Recent professional achievements include curating With Wax: Materiality & Mixed Media in Encaustic at Chester County Art Association in West Chester, PA, a Grand Prize Award from the show (re)Building, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY and a recently appointed position as President of the Board of Directors of Collage Artists of America and Core Artist Instructor at R&F Paints. Lorraine's work is included in many mixed media and encaustic books including, Encaustic Art in the 21st Century by Ashley Rooney and Nuance, a curated book by artist, Michelle Stuart. Her work is exhibited locally and nationally in galleries, museums, craft centers, universities, Fine Art Shows and more. Lorraine brings to her teaching a strong interdisciplinary approach, mixed with a balance of concept, process, experimentation and discovery.
Reviews
From all of us here at EOM
You are warmly invited to stay a while.
We invite you to imagine standing on the panoramic hillside of our studio, taking in the spectacular views of Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick (Ireland’s holy mountain).
Open your heart to the profoundly moving drama of the constantly shifting Atlantic skies, reflecting an ever-changing light show on the bay. The wildness and grandeur of this spectacular area belie the peace and connection you will feel to Ireland and to this very special place.
Lie on a blanket in the heather and watch the stars emerge on a clear night, or walk along the rocky shores to gather shells, driftwood, and memories. Feel yourself letting go of the stress of everyday life as the mystery and beauty of this land awaken your senses.
This unspoiled landscape provides a haven of inspiration and experimentation, a place to stretch your skills in whatever medium you are working with, all within an amazing, state of the art studio.
Join us in Mulranny, Ireland.
Set in the heart of the Wild Atlantic Way, Essence of Mulranny Studios provides a sanctuary for creativity—where the rugged beauty of Ireland’s west coast becomes both backdrop and inspiration. Surrounded by stone walls, sea air, and the deep-rooted myths of the land, you’ll find the perfect setting to truly immerse yourself in your work and your growth.
Local Villages
Meet the local people, warm, friendly and always happy to chat and share a story or a cup of tea. While you're here, take some time to explore the charming village of Westport, where you can shop at the quaint stores and perhaps stop by a local pub or two.
Connect with Nature
Finding something to inspire you is not hard with the richness of the various eco systems surrounding Mulranny - from marine to mountain landscapes, with grasslands, bog and heather hills - this enchanted land casts a spell on any artist.
Enriching Excursions
Visit historic sites. Learn about the infamous Irish Pirate Queen and visit one of her many castles. Hear the story of our Stone Age ancestors and experience the myths and magic of Irelands spiritual roots while standing in one of the ancient stone circles. This is indeed a land of legends!
Find Your Inspiration
Make sure to pack your camera and sketchbooks because you're about to embark on a journey that will capture your heart and fill your mind with boundless inspiration. Prepare to be swept away by the sights, sounds, and stories that make this place truly magical.
Your Time with Lorraine at EOM
Your 8 days will be a beautiful blend of studio time, delightful excursions, cultural experiences and of course, plenty of free time to rest and explore!
You can arrive, unpack your suitcase (and your art supplies) and truly relax, at the gorgeous Essence of Mulranny Retreat center, operated by yours truly. We will be visiting enchanting villages, strolling along the beautiful coastline, touring ancient castles and ruins, picnicking in the heather fields and creating all along the way! The creative inspiration will be all around you!
Your general itinerary for your time in this magical place.
May be subject to slight changes. A full itinerary will be sent to all participants as the retreat date nears.
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We begin with a guided walk through salt marsh & beach while ethically collecting small materials (soils, grasses, plant fibers, peat crumbs, driftwood, stones. We will create texture rubbings with charcoal & graphite and begin a mark-making collaborating with the wind and water. Back at the studio, we will use our collected materials and marks as a basis for our first encaustic mono-types in which we explore fog effects and land-inspired color palettes.
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We embark on our second day of our mark-making collaboration, creating rhythmic marks based on tide patterns, bog lines, and wind direction, noting the differences between weather and marks from our first day’s explorations. We will expand the marks to include soil and peat washes on paper and leaving paper and fabric outdoors to capture wind-blown pigment, mist, and textures. We will focus our collecting on berries, botanicals and seaweed to create our stains and ink. Back at the studio and while our ink is simmering, we will continue our encaustic mono-type exploration combined with our new marks botanicals as well as a demonstration for thoughtfully embedding soils, fabric and botanicals into the wax.
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After a brief warm-up mark-making collaboration with nature, we will explore scorching, pyrography, ash staining and fumage (capturing smoke) by burning dried peat and driftwood onto paper and fabric and integrating char, ash, and peat hues into wax layers. A demonstration of the concertina and pamphlet book structures offers simple, yet versatile, sculptural possibilities. The rest of the afternoon is spent experimenting with paper, encaustic, marks and materials to create a journal-based book centered on nature, the elements, erosion, and time.
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Each day begins with a brief meditation, mark-making collaboration with the nature to focus our mind-set. A more focused, individualized series of encaustic and mixed media demonstrations, refinement of projects, assembling of books, further integration of personalized marks, text fragments, maps, or observational drawings.
Your home for the week.
This beautiful learning center is complete with well equipped mixed media/encaustic art studio, private bedrooms, a cozy gathering room with fireplace and group kitchen for those midnight snacks!
All meals will be included and prepared by an on-site private chef and will focus on delicious, healthy cuisine. For larger groups we house students in the village, in apartments with spectacular views.
April 9th - 16th, 2027
Waxing the Wild:
Encaustic Ecologies of Mulranny
with Lorraine Glessner
US $4,295 for a private bedroom & bathroom
US $3,950 for a private bedroom/shared bathroom
Included in your retreat:
Workshop instruction
Some supplies (will be specified closer to trip)
7 nights lodging
Transportation from Westport to the Studio (it is recommended to fly into Dublin airport and get a train to Westport where we will meet you to take you to Mulranny).
All meals except - 1 lunches & 1 dinner
All tour & excursion fees
New friends and an art tribe!
Not Included:
Travel costs / Airfare
Passport fees, photos and processing where applicable
Additional nights lodging
Ready to reserve your spot?
A US $500 deposit will secure your place.
It is advisable to have insurance to cover your travel to Ireland and to cover your workshop fees for your possible cancellation in the event of illness. There are no exceptions for this policy. Read the cancellation policy here.
Lorraine Glessner
$500.00
Nonrefundable deposit of $500. Read the cancellation policy here.
Complete information about the workshop and prices can be found here.