A Floating Art Studio in France: Landscape Painting on the Luciole with Artist Nina Weiss
DREAMING ABOUT A WORKSHOP ON THE WATER
For more than a quarter-century, Chicago-based landscape painter and creative educator Nina Weiss has been taking artists into the European countryside to look, sketch, paint, and, most importantly, learn how to truly see a landscape. Her European Landscape Workshops have unfolded amid rambling gardens, private vineyards, petite villages, sprawling manors, and preserved castles in Italy, Ireland, and France.
But for Nina, one setting had remained tantalizingly out of reach.
“I had long dreamed of offering a Workshop on the Water!” she says.
In 2026, the 26th year of her European Landscape Workshops, that dream finally floated into view aboard the Charming class, 12-guest Luciole, the much-loved hotel barge that has been cruising the waterways of France since 1976. In June of 2026, Nina and her students boarded the barge in Auxerre for a week devoted to painting, drawing, color, conversation, and the endlessly changing landscapes of Burgundy.
Instead of unpacking at a villa and venturing out each morning, the artists brought their studio with them as Luciole leisurely cruised along the River Yonne and the Nivernais Canal.
MEET THE AWARD-WINNING ARTIST NINA WEISS
Few instructors could have been better equipped to help them interpret it all. Nina has painted and drawn landscapes for more than 40 years, exhibited widely throughout the United States, and seen her work enter numerous private and corporate collections.
For Nina, barge travel was particularly well suited to her own approach to landscape painting. “In my own practice as a landscape painter, I like to travel around an area to see as much as possible, record images, sketch, and take my inspiration back to the studio,” she explains.
Aboard Luciole, that approach unfolded with every gentle bend along the waterway: dreamy reflections of the sky rippled beneath the hull; deep green riverbanks gave way to sun-dapped limestone cliffs; and expansive vineyards dotted with the season’s rainbow of flora lined the horizon.
A graduate of the Tyler School of Art with additional graduate study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she also taught for a combined 36 years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago, now leading artists through classes, workshops, and her own studio practice.
THE ART OF BARGING
For Nina and her students, the Luciole’s scenic sailing and lovely moorings transformed Northern Burgundy‘s natural beauty into a mobile studio.
From the barge’s spacious deck, the artists captured the Yonne’s shifting blues and greens, the play of light across the water, and the rich textures of the passing countryside; ashore, they set up easels among private gardens, rustic riverbanks, and historic lockhouses.
Throughout the week, both onboard and ashore, Nina guided students through color, composition, and perspective, encouraging each artist to develop an individual response to the evocative landscape rather than simply reproduce a picturesque view.
THE LUCIOLE BECOMES A FLOATING ART STUDIO
Aboard Luciole, Nina and her students found themselves among artists of many kinds. The Captain, Deckhand, Hostesses, and Tour Guide each practiced the art of hospitality, contributing thoughtful details — from spotlessly tidy cabins to beautifully presented bottles of wine to carafes of freshly brewed coffee — that made every guest feel entirely welcome.
Of course, no barge cruise is complete without an exceptional exploration of France’s gastronomy. Onboard Luciole, the cuisine is far more than an accompaniment to the journey; rather, it is one of the barge’s most distinctive — and delicious! — forms of creative expression. In Chef Michael, the artists found their culinary counterpart: a chef who transformed Northern Burgundy’s seasonal bounty and signature abundance into inspired compositions of his own.
Gourmet menus crafted from seasonal produce and market fresh seafood were paired with handcrafted cocktails and locally produced wines, ensuring gastronomic guidance into France’s regional flavors and culinary traditions.
Freshly baked pastries from nearby boulangeries appeared each morning, while beautifully presented lunches and dinners concluded with sumptuous cheese courses and decadent desserts. With every detail, activity, and meal effortlessly handled by the Luciole’s capable and convivial crew, Nina and her guests were free to embrace the art of savoring, the art of relaxing, and the simple pleasure of being beautifully looked after.
“WE CAN’T WAIT TO GO BACK!”
For Nina, that may be the real magic of finally realizing her Workshop on the Water.
After 26 years of leading artists through Europe, she discovered a new way of doing what her workshops have always done best: encouraging students to slow down, look harder, experiment with color, and return home carrying not simply paintings or sketches, but a richer visual memory of a place.
And Luciole proved an inspired partner. Its crew described the art cruise as a privilege and is already looking forward to welcoming Nina and her students onboard again.
“My entire group felt that our floating studio was the perfect way to experience the exceptionally beautiful landscape along the Nivernais canal,” Nina enthuses. “The experience was punctuated by time off the boat as well. Biking, walking, and exploring all contributed to a wonderful balance. We can’t wait to go back!”
Burgundy, after all, is never exactly the same landscape twice. The canal bends, the weather shifts, the light changes, and another village appears beyond the next lock. For a landscape painter, what better studio could there be?
To read about another theme cruise on the Luciole, click here for a “Gals on Canals” review by QuirkyCruise. To secure your space on the Luciole with Nina in 2027, click here. To book your own week on the Luciole, click here.