My weekend at Milkwood, a creative retreat for artists & writers

One month ago I found myself on a remote farm in the Catskills of New York, surrounded by rolling hills, lush fields peppered with wildflowers, and eight adorable ducklings. I had the privilege of staying on this idyllic property for three nights with a small group of fellow illustrators/artists, quietly drawing, chatting, or flipping through the plethora of children’s books in the cozy library—all while being served a plentiful amount of food, drink, and dreamy desserts.

This is the magic of Milkwood, a creative retreat for the children’s book community started by author/illustrator Sophie Blackall and her husband Ed.

Some of the beautiful details of Milkwood, all mindfully designed by Sophie!

I first heard about Milkwood from Rebecca Green, who wrote a lovely blog post about her experience which sold me many times over. There aren’t many illustrator-specific retreats and this one is close to NYC, so I was dying to attend! Applications opened up in March and I applied for the author-illustrators workshop led by Lisa Brown and Dasha Tolstikova. Ten attendees are selected via lottery for each retreat. I got my notice of acceptance in April and promptly registered.

While the retreat I attended was centered around workshop instruction, many of Milkwood’s other retreats are peer retreats with ample free time (though we had plenty of free time as well). These weekends are themed around inviting groups of librarians and educators, BIPOC folks, LGBTQ+, or picture book writers.

Workshop activities: 1) Timed self-portraits, 2) Generating words and images on post-its and pairing them, 3) Stack of children's books and a memory drawing exercise, 4) Lost pet posters, 5) Illustrated maps

Lisa and Dasha did a great job leading our group through workshop over three days. Much of it involved looking at picture book inspiration and reading some aloud (a crowd favorite: Arlene Sardine!) We did many generative exercises, such as playing telephone across text and image—drawing an image based on a line of text and passing it onto the next person who would describe the image with text, then pass it on so the next person could draw a new image. Comparing the beginning and end results was endlessly delightful, and often times came full circle in surprising ways!

Our main projects were to create a lost pet poster and illustrated map. While I fell into the comparison trap as I often do during open shares/crit, I had a lot of fun working on the projects themselves and loved how each illustrator’s style and personality was so well captured within their artwork.

Drawing and journaling in between workshop

We had plenty of time to draw in between workshop, and I took every opportunity to be outside and enjoy the fresh air. I was well into my sketchbook challenge during my stay and am so glad I took the time to capture Milkwood’s beauty.

Sophie and Ed also asked us to draw a horse in their guestbook, and we accepted the challenge as seriously as we could. Past guestbooks were filled with stunning artwork made by past residents, including the aforementioned Rebecca Green, Julia Rothman, Phoebe Wahl, Esme Shapiro, Isabelle Arsenault, and many more illustrious artists! I was fangirling to say the least.

More special memories made at Milkwood: cookies, ducks, rainbows, placecards made by Sophie, reading my dress zine, sending off a wish lantern

The best part of the weekend was getting to know my fellow cohort—Haruka, Patrick, Genevieve, Amy, Julie, Margaux, Sharon, Brian, and Arpita. Being surrounded by such talented, warm, funny, and generous artists really lit up my heart, and I can’t wait to buy all of these people’s forthcoming picture books when the day comes!

Sophie and Ed have created a truly magical experience at Milkwood. Being there felt like being invited into their home and feeling utterly spoiled and treated with love while you got to have a summer camp experience amongst delightful company. If you have the opportunity to attend, please please go! You can sign up for their newsletter here to be the first to know when applications open up.