Spend an inspiring creative week in Lisbon with internationally renowned textile artist, author and tutor Cas Holmes, combining four immersive workshop days with botanical sketching, cultural discoveries, historic landmarks and the wonderfully textured streets of Portugal’s captivating capital.
Across four creative days, you will enjoy a total of 24 hours of expert tuition with Cas. Known for her expressive approach to “painting with cloth,” Cas combines textiles, paper, found materials, paint, image, mark and stitch to create richly layered works inspired by the everyday world.
Throughout the workshop, Cas will encourage you to explore Lisbon through close observation and respond to the colours, textures, patterns and overlooked details encountered during our excursions. Sketches, photographs, collected papers and other visual references can become starting points for experimental textile pieces that capture a personal sense of place.
Working with cloth, paper and mixed media, you will investigate layering, composition, mark-making and stitch while developing confidence in your own individual creative language. Cas’s supportive and experimental teaching style encourages participants to respond intuitively to their materials, allowing ideas to develop naturally rather than working towards a fixed formula.
Lisbon provides an exceptional source of inspiration. Decorative tiles, weathered walls, architectural details, botanical forms, old textiles, street signs and the shifting light of the city all offer possibilities for drawing, collage and stitch.
Your home for the retreat will be the contemporary Lumen Hotel & The Lisbon Light Show. The hotel provides a comfortable and welcoming base from which to experience Lisbon and relax with fellow textile enthusiasts after each day’s activities.
Our first excursion will take place on Sunday, the day after our arrival, and will introduce us to some of Lisbon’s most celebrated landmarks and creative destinations.
We will begin beside the River Tagus at the magnificent Torre de Belém, one of the city’s most recognisable monuments. From there, we will continue through historic Belém, passing the beautiful Jerónimos Monastery with its intricate carved stonework and richly decorative architectural details.
We will then stop at the Tropical Botanical Garden, where there will be time to sketch, photograph and gather visual ideas in preparation for the workshop with Cas. The garden’s palms, sculptural roots, layered foliage, reflections and repeating botanical forms will provide abundant inspiration for textile composition, mark-making and stitch.
Later, we will continue to LX Factory, Lisbon’s lively art, craft and creative centre. Set within a former industrial complex, LX Factory brings together independent shops, studios, cafés, restaurants, street art and contemporary Portuguese design. As our visit falls on a Sunday, we will also have time to explore the weekly LX Market, browsing its selection of vintage clothing, handmade accessories, collectables, illustration, art and independent crafts.
Our second excursion day will begin at Lisbon’s Museum of Illusions. Its playful and interactive exhibits explore colour, pattern, perspective and visual perception, offering an entertaining source of ideas for artists interested in composition, optical effects and unexpected ways of seeing.
We will then visit Lisbon Cathedral, one of the city’s most important historic buildings, before continuing on foot through Lisbon’s beautiful old streets. As we walk, we will encounter tiled façades, worn doorways, decorative ironwork, steep lanes and the layered surfaces that give the city its distinctive character. There will be opportunities to photograph, sketch and collect further visual inspiration for future textile work.
With four full workshop days, two thoughtfully planned excursion days and time to experience Lisbon’s art, architecture, gardens and creative culture, this retreat offers a wonderful opportunity to slow down, observe and translate a memorable sense of place into cloth and stitch.
Combining expert tuition with Cas Holmes, botanical sketching, mixed-media exploration and the endlessly inspiring surfaces of Lisbon, this creative retreat promises to be a distinctive and rewarding textile experience.
Highlights
- Four workshop days with Cas Holmes
- A total of 24 hours of expert tuition
- Accommodation at the Lumen Hotel & The Lisbon Light Show
- Botanical sketching and visual research in the Tropical Botanical Garden
- Visit to the LX Factory art and creative centre
- Time to explore the Sunday LX Market
- Visit to the Museum of Illusions
- Visit to Lisbon Cathedral
- Guided exploration of Lisbon’s historic streets
- Opportunities to gather sketches, photographs and visual inspiration for the workshop
- Time to experience Lisbon with fellow textile and mixed-media enthusiasts
Coupons
About
Stitch–Sketch–Book with Cas Holmes
Cas Holmes is the author of several books and articles, including her most recent titles, Between Paper and Cloth and Embroidering the Everyday, as well as the seminal The Found Object in Textile Art. Her approach is hands-on and experimental, with a strong emphasis on found materials and inventive applications of textile and mixed-media processes. Her work is often described as “painting with cloth.”
The Course
This course explores the connections we make between our inner thoughts and the world around us through playful, tactile explorations with cloth and paper.
We will share processes and explore innovative, intuitive approaches to recording things of interest in our surroundings. Using different media and techniques in our sketchbooks and journals, we will gather ideas that can inform the creation of unfolding book forms, scrolls or small studies in cloth and paper.
By connecting paper, cloth and thread, the retreat will encourage participants to develop personal creative responses to their materials and discover an individual tactile language of meaning through colour, texture and stitch.
During the course, you will:
- Develop a personal language of marks and ideas inspired by locality and place.
- Explore drawing, recording and collage, and their relationship to tactile surfaces and stitched marks.
- Create your own visual references through photographs, sketches and notes.
- Learn to see familiar surroundings and everyday materials with new eyes.
- Explore less invasive methods of adding colour and stitch to collected materials and “precious finds.”
- Experiment with stencil and sun-printing, weather permitting.
- Combine cloth and paper through a mixed-media collage approach.
- Use wet appliqué to hold layers together and create tactile textile interpretations.
- Develop starting points for unfolding books, scrolls or small textile studies.
This engaging retreat provides time to experiment with materials and generate new ideas within a supportive, mentored environment of shared inspiration.
Approach
All of Cas’s courses encourage individual development alongside group teaching and the exchange of ideas. We will refer to the locality of Lisbon to inform our work, together with any personal images, collected materials and other sources of inspiration participants choose to bring.
What Participants Should Bring
Everything should fit into one reasonably small bag. The emphasis is on the inventive use of a modest selection of materials. This list is intended as a guide, so please feel free to bring any favourite media you enjoy working with. Participants are also encouraged to exchange and share selected materials.
Some communal resources, including water pots, will be available in the workshop.
Equipment
- A couple of brushes, including at least one approximately ¼ inch wide
- A small sponge
- A small selection of preferred drawing and mark-making materials
- Fabric or acrylic paints
- Water-soluble coloured pencils or felt-tip pens
- A glue stick for working in your sketchbook
- Scissors
Basic Sewing Equipment
- Hand-sewing needles
- Pins
- Fabric scissors
- Assorted threads in your preferred colours
- Fine and thicker embroidery threads, such as DMC stranded cotton or Perlé
- A small selection of machine-sewing threads
Cloth and Textile Materials
These are suggestions; we will also have opportunities to collect and assemble materials while in Lisbon.
- A drop cloth, old tea towel or piece of fabric to protect your work surface
- Pieces of old sheeting, calico or neutral-coloured linen to paint and use as a base
- Small pieces of muslin, silk, gauze, hessian or calico
- Pre-stitched textiles
- Your own discarded or leftover textile pieces
- Found fabrics with interesting seams and edges
- An old shirt sleeve, handkerchief, napkin or piece of embroidery
Papers
Bring a small selection of different papers, such as:
- Brown wrapping paper
- Glossy magazine pages
- Patterned or saved coloured papers
- Textured paper or wallpaper
- Specialist or lightweight Oriental papers
- Other papers already held in your personal collection
Please consider your selection carefully. The papers and cloth you bring should reflect the colours, textures and materials that already interest you.
Other Useful Items
- An apron or suitable workshop clothing
- Personal reference images connected to current projects or themes you would like to explore
- A phone or camera for recording details around Lisbon
- A sketchbook or journal
- A pen or pencil for taking notes and making quick drawings
To discover more of Cas Holmes’s mixed-media textile work, visit casholmes.uk.
Gallery
About The Host
Cas Holmes
Cas Holmes is a British artist, author and tutor of Romani heritage specialising in textile work with found materials. She is interested in interdisciplinary projects in community and gallery settings to demonstrate the accessibility of mixed media textile processes. Her practice centres on the use of sustainable materials and themes surrounding issues of identity and place. Research in traditional paper and textile crafts in Japan and India, continue to inform her practice and writing. (Winston Churchill Fellowship, Japan Foundation Fellowship and Arts Council England Professional Development Award).
She collaborates with organisations and projects on curatorial and community events including most recently the Romani Cultural + Arts Company as a recipient of Gypsy Maker Award and Craft Scotland on a collaborative exhibition Places, Spaces, Traces; an exploration of the concept of ‘place’ and our understanding of the importance of heritage; how our inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture can impact upon our identities and the space we call ‘home’. She was also a guest artist at the Knitting and Stitching Show London with the Shipping Forecast exhibition.
Itinerary
Day 1 – Saturday 16th October 2027 | Arrival day
Arrive independently at the Lumen Hotel & The Lisbon Light Show, where check-in is available from 15:00. Take time to settle into your room, explore the surrounding neighbourhood or relax at the hotel. Guests will arrive through Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport; private transfers can be arranged at an additional cost, while public transport and taxis offer convenient alternatives.
At 18:30, we will gather for welcome drinks in the bar, providing a relaxed opportunity to meet Cas Holmes and your fellow participants. Dinner will be served at 19:30, marking the official beginning of our creative week in Lisbon.
Highlights
- Check-in from 15:00 at the Lumen Hotel
- Welcome drinks with Cas and fellow participants
- First group dinner together at 19:30
Day 2 – Sunday 17th October 2027 | Excursion day and sketching
After breakfast at the hotel, we will set out on our first excursion through Lisbon, beginning beside the River Tagus at the iconic Belém Tower. We will continue past the magnificent Jerónimos Monastery before visiting the Tropical Botanical Garden, where there will be time to sketch, photograph and gather ideas for the workshop with Cas.
Afterwards, we will travel to LX Factory, a former nineteenth-century industrial complex that has been transformed into one of Lisbon’s liveliest creative destinations. Its old warehouses and factory buildings now house artists’ studios, independent shops, design businesses, cafés, restaurants and the celebrated Ler Devagar bookshop. Colourful street art, industrial architecture and unexpected decorative details make it an inspiring place to explore and photograph.
There will be time for lunch before browsing the popular Sunday LX Market. Its stalls offer an eclectic selection of vintage clothing, accessories, collectables, handmade objects, illustration, jewellery and contemporary Portuguese crafts. The combination of worn industrial surfaces, street art, independent design and vintage finds will provide further inspiration for our textile work with Cas.
Highlights
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Visit to Belém Tower
- Walk past the Jerónimos Monastery
- Botanical sketching and creative research
- Lunch at LX Factory (lunch at your now cost)
- Independent shops, studios, street art and Ler Devagar bookshop
- Sunday art, craft and vintage market
- Dinner in the hotel restaurant
Day 3 – Monday 18th October 2027 | First day of creating with Cas Holmes
We will begin with breakfast in the hotel restaurant before joining Cas for our first six-hour workshop day. Cas will introduce her distinctive approach to “painting with cloth.” Drawing upon sketches, photographs and observations gathered during our Lisbon excursion, we will explore ways of recording place through drawing, collage and mark-making while beginning to develop a personal creative language.
An included lunch will be served in the hotel restaurant. Coffee and tea breaks are included, and water will be available throughout the workshop.
Creative focus
- Introduction to Cas’s materials and working processes
- Selecting photographs, sketches and collected references
- Recording colour, pattern, texture and place
- Developing a personal language of marks and ideas
- Exploring the relationship between drawing and stitched marks
Day 4 – Tuesday 19th October 2027 | Deepening your techniques
After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we will begin our second six-hour workshop day by experimenting with found cloth, paper and collected materials. Using mixed-media collage and wet appliqué, we will build layered tactile surfaces inspired by Lisbon. Cas will demonstrate intuitive and less invasive ways of introducing colour while allowing the character of our “precious finds” to remain visible.
An included lunch will be served in the hotel restaurant. Coffee and tea breaks are included, and water will be supplied in the workshop throughout the day.
Creative focus
- Combining found cloth, paper and ephemera
- Building layered compositions through collage
- Using wet appliqué to hold materials together
- Experimenting with stencil and simple print processes
- Exploring sun-printing, weather permitting
- Responding intuitively to materials
Day 5 – Wednesday 20th October 2027| Exploring Lisbon and its beauty
After breakfast at the hotel, we will begin our second excursion with a visit to the Museum of Illusions, where playful installations exploring colour, perspective and visual perception offer an entertaining source of creative inspiration.
We will then visit Lisbon Cathedral before walking through the city’s beautiful historic streets. Along the way, we will admire tiled façades, decorative ironwork, weathered surfaces and architectural details while visiting traditional haberdashery shops to browse ribbons, buttons, threads, trimmings and other textile treasures.
There will be time to enjoy lunch at a local café or restaurant at your own expense. The afternoon will then be free for independent exploration, shopping or visits to other Lisbon museums, gardens and landmarks.
Highlights
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Visit to the Museum of Illusions
- Visit to Lisbon Cathedral
- Walk through Lisbon’s historic streets
- Visits to traditional haberdashery shops
- Lunch at your own expense
- Free afternoon for shopping, sightseeing or independent exploration
Day 6 –Thursday 21st October 2027 | Colour, Texture and Stitch
Following breakfast in the hotel restaurant, our third six-hour workshop day will focus on developing layered surfaces through colour, texture and stitch. We will consider how hand or machine stitch can connect materials, create rhythm and guide the eye through a composition. Sketchbook marks and drawings will provide inspiration as we transform experimental samples into more resolved textile studies.
An included lunch will be served in the hotel restaurant. Coffee and tea breaks are included, with water available in the workshop throughout the day.
Creative focus
- Translating drawn marks into stitch
- Using stitch to join, emphasise and disrupt layers
- Developing rhythm, line and visual movement
- Refining colour and composition
- Creating small studies in cloth and paper
- Beginning an unfolding book, scroll or related form
Day 7 – Friday 22nd October 2027 | Final day of creating with Cas Holmes
After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we will come together for our final six-hour workshop day. With individual guidance from Cas, participants will have time to develop and refine an unfolding book, scroll or series of small studies, or use their experiments as starting points for future work. The day will conclude with an informal sharing of ideas, discoveries and creative possibilities.
An included lunch will be served in the hotel restaurant. Coffee and tea breaks are included, and water will be supplied in the workshop throughout the day.
Creative focus
- Developing work into a personal response to Lisbon
- Refining composition, texture and stitched detail
- Connecting individual studies into a book or scroll
- Reviewing the materials and processes explored
- Identifying starting points for future projects
- Sharing work in a supportive group setting
Across the four days—24 hours of teaching in total—participants will be encouraged to experiment freely, respond personally to their materials and develop an individual tactile language through paper, cloth, colour and stitch.
Day 8 - Saturday 23rd October 2027| Departure day
This morning marks the close of our creative time together with Cas in Lisbon. After breakfast at the hotel, you can check out and continue to your next destination or begin your journey home. Thank you for joining Cas and us for this wonderful retreat—we hope you leave Lisbon feeling inspired, refreshed and excited to continue exploring your own creative language through cloth, paper and stitch.
Highlights
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Hotel check-out
- Individual departures
- Transfers available for onward travel
Location
Things to keep in mind
Bookings open on Saturday 25th July at 2pm UK Time.