The Traveling Sketchbook Series
Barcelona
A sketchbook full of Barcelona. In four weeks. A smoldering affair.
Start May 15
For creative adventurers who want to draw, paint, and get gloriously lost, without leaving home.
★★★★★
“Marenthe is the most warmhearted and inspiring art teacher you will find.”
Christine, Switzerland
Barcelona seduces. With her sultry, deliciously chaotic energy.
This is the city where flamenco dancers make hearts beat faster just by walking into a room. Where hombres smell like black garlic and señoras like lemon, orange, and sweet peach. Where you order the most heavenly tapas at a plastic table. Where Gaudí built a fairytale temple with eighteen towers. Where the air tastes like bitter salt and a little danger.
The city that feels like a beloved old friend.
She has zero intention of behaving. She flirts, waits for you to look, and the moment you glance away, she dances off in the other direction, swept away by the scent of briny sea fennel and wild grapes.
Nobody can translate her feverish warmth into paint and ink the way you can.
What’s missing is someone who teaches you how to really see. So that everything you make can flow freely along the soft ankles of Barcelona.
“I love what Marenthe has created. It’s intriguing and inspiring and takes me out of my comfort zone. Amen to that! Thank you, Marenthe.”
Renee Pastolove
Your sketchbook falls open. Pages curl up grinning, marked by water, paint, and sun.
You flip through and suddenly it’s all there again. The singing ceiling of Palau de la Música. The tiles of Casa Batlló —blue, green, purple— glittering like dragon scales. The arches of Palau Güell bending like soft grass. That euphoric happiness of being somewhere. The Spaniards who were briefly, beautifully part of your story. The Sagrada Família, kissing you with her petrified lips. The sculptural chimneys of Casa Milà whispering proudly: you drew us.
And somewhere, between the layers of paint and paper, a quiet question surfaces: Since when can I do this?
You don’t need to know the answer yet.
What you do know: you never want to stop.
Hi, I’m Marenthe.
30% artist. 30% adventurer. 30% storyteller. 10% chocolate. (Priorities.)
I never go anywhere without my sketchbook. It's practically glued to my arm while I wander through cities, dive into museums, and scour markets for things nobody else notices.
For me, traveling and creating are the same word.
I've been doing this for over 30 years. Worked with big names at home and abroad. Won international awards in New York, Tokyo, and London. My work was included in The Hundred Most Visionary Artists of the World and is part of the collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
But that’s not why you’re here.
You’re here because I see differently. I smell stories. Taste atmosphere. Notice what you walk right past. And I’ll teach you to do the same.
I’ll get your hands moving. I’ll silence that annoying little voice in your head. I’ll show you how to look, the way only an artist can.
I can’t wait to meet you.
“I don’t know what I would do if these classes weren’t in my life. I enjoy them so much!”
Jody Buck
They went before you. More than five hundred adventurous souls.
Artwork made for The Traveling Sketchbook Series, Barcelona:
Sharon Nullmeyer
Claire Cordier
Daan Wokke
Christine Morra-de Barrelet
Claire Cordier
Belinda de Snoo
Daan Wokke
Alexandra Koenders
Belinda de Snoo
Claire Cordier
Elin Stoodley
Claire Cordier
Hendriek Mulder
Esther Lammers
Kirsten Wiltens
Jody Buck
Hendriek Mulder
Claire Cordier
Kirsten Wiltens
Louise van der Merwe
Claire Cordier
Corinne Hodgson
Lulubelle Summers
Guy Merrill
Marion Heres
Margreet van der Kleij
Enid Johnstone
Louise van der Merwe
Margreet van der Kleij
Lulubelle Summers
Marjo Mälkönen
Mo Nica
Marion Heres
Marjo Mälkönen
Marlie Meyer
Lulubelle Summers
Marjo Mälkönen
Mo Nica
Rene Pastolove
Mo Nica
Mo Nica
Sara Coulter
Svenny Santos
Sharon Nullmeyer
Steffi Tappertzhofen
Tasha McGinn
Steffi Tappertzhofen
Steffi Tappertzhofen
Susanlora Morris
Zoe York
Suzanne van der Lee
Svenny Santos
Tasha McGinn
They were already on board:
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★★★★★
"Every new assignment felt like unwrapping a gift."
Rosa
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★★★★★
"I loved getting fresh inspiration every day. The assignments were wonderful. I tried new materials, the videos were inspiring and genuinely educational."
Lisa
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★★★★★
"What a wonderfully positive energy. So much inspiration and so many talented art sisters. It felt like a party."
Kristianne Engelen
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★★★★★
"It exceeded my expectations."
Julie Wood
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★★★★★
I thought my work wouldn't be good enough, but I learned so much. I've grown as an artist."
Penny
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★★★★★
"Marenthe's joy is contagious."
Dot
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★★★★★
"I've loosened up, let go of perfectionism, and now I understand how to find inspiration."
Margreet
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★★★★★
"I felt relaxed and more creative."
Stephanie
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★★★★★
"This course made me create art every single day — and it helped me enormously in finding my own style."
Anata Uges
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★★★★★
"I love the variety. One day painting, the next day collage."
Amanda Schoenemann
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★★★★★
"It's wonderful to have continuity and to make art alongside people from all over the world. It's truly something to look forward to."
Sharon Nullmeyer
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★★★★★
"Marenthe, you bring out the best in everyone."
Rebecca Davis
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★★★★★
"I've never found a course that felt right for me. Until now. You have no idea how much of a difference this made."
Nelly Edwards
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★★★★★
"This was the best course I've ever taken. Marenthe gives clear instructions while leaving room to stretch your creativity. It was a turning point in my confidence as an artist."
Sara Coulter
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★★★★★
"I'm grateful. Because Marenthe is a teacher who doesn't chase perfection. Because she attracts warm, joyful students. I so needed a community of people willing to try new things and take risks."
Jennifer Philpott
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★★★★★
"I live in Hawaii, but despite the time difference, I'm so glad it was this easy to log in and follow along."
Caroline Pond
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★★★★★
"I made art without worrying about procrastination or perfectionism."
Núria Fitó
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★★★★★
"Marenthe gives people the courage to step over their doubts and just start. To work with different materials without spending a fortune."
Lilian Swart
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★★★★★
"The subjects in this course were phenomenal."
Sara
Catch her in your sketchbook
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You get:
Videos that take you into the sheltered heart of Barcelona. Her streets, her light, her secrets. Always something surprising. Never boring.Endless visual material.
Assignments that make you suddenly think: oh. I want to make that.
A materials list.
Lifetime access to the academy.
An international community that feels like coming home. (Access through December 31, 2026.)
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Barcelona gives
Eccentric architecture.Petrified music, reaching toward the sky.
Houses that wave like the sea, facades that grow like coral, rooftops dreaming in color.
The Palau de la Música, where glass sings and gold glows.
Picasso, Joan Miró, and a chocolate shop where time stopped entirely.
Tiles full of stories. Patterns that hypnotize.
Dark, cool churches with whispering altars and light that falls like a veiled bride.
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Your Barcelona
You draw tiles that are centuries old and still very much alive.You paint the Spanish light.
You make collages from patterns Gaudí dreamed of.
You play with shape and color until your hands applaud with joy.
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She already knows
Barcelona breathes.You fall from one astonishment into the next.
You want to put her in your pocket. Take her home. Hold her forever.
The warm sea air sings. You lean back. And your hands know exactly what to do.
“I love my favorite art teacher! No matter the project, she never disappoints my curiosity in what I can bring to the paper and coaches me in ways to grow my inner artist!”
Tasha McGinn
What else does Barcelona promise?
High above the city, a mosaic bench hisses its own language. Filtered light holds broken pieces together.
Wonderful little handmade booklets. Small enough to slip into your bag. Big enough to hold an entire city.
Six generations built this ship of fire. Around the winter solstice, warm colors flood her hull. The rose windows write colored light onto stone.
Gaudí designed the tiles beneath your feet. Octopuses. Sea snails. Starfish. They’re extraordinary.
A former garage of 2,600 square meters. Old, vast, and completely untouristy. We’re going to do hand lettering. Madre mía, what a glorious assignment.
She died at thirteen. Now thirteen geese guard her grave. Gothic arches whisper her name. In the crypt beneath the high altar, she still sleeps. We honor her.
Crucifixes. Fans. Keys. Hair combs. Cigar bands. Boxes. One man spent his entire life collecting everything he loved. A paradise hidden in the Gothic Quarter. You will never want to leave.
These towers are barely of this earth. Fairytale-like, grotesque, sky-high. At the top of the tallest tower, a star catches the light. Fantasy is welcome here. Perfection is not.
Before Gaudí conquered Barcelona, he planted his first dream here. Together with the marigolds that simply grew in the garden.
He painted faces on vases and plates. Unmistakable. Bold. Beautiful. Sketch in his style. At your own risk.
Chimneys that look like knights who have been guarding the city for centuries.
Gold thread. Cigar bands. Opera glasses. Ivory pipes. You’ve been here before. But this enormous house still has more to tell.
And this is only the beginning.
This course is not for you if… 🚫
🚫 You think Barcelona is just a city.
🚫 You’d rather watch than do.
🚫 You’re looking for hardcore drawing lessons. (This isn’t an art school. It’s an experience.)
🚫 You have zero interest in creativity and want to keep it that way.
🚫 Or if you have 1,289 courses collecting dust and have never finished one. Sweet of you to be here, but don’t do it.
This course is for you if… ✅
✅ You know Barcelona, but have never truly seen her.
✅ You saw her once, and never fully recovered.
✅ Your sketchbook is desperate for fuel.
✅ You want to make things, tongue out, fully absorbed.
✅ You’re willing to not know how it’s supposed to go.
✅ You feel like there’s more inside you.
That last one is enough.
“Even the moon was embarrassed by the beauty of Barcelona.”
― Andrew Barger, writer
Early bird pricing
Only for the first 50 fast movers
€249 €79
BONUS 1:
Halfway through the course, Marenthe asks you one question. Your answer enters you into a draw for a personal 1:1 session with her.
BONUS 2:
Frida Kahlo’s book Making Her Self Up is waiting for one of you. How? We’ll reveal that somewhere along the way.
Q&A
How long is the course and is it live?
It starts May 15. Join live (online) or follow along whenever you feel like it. No schedule. No pressure.
How long do I have access?
Forever. Barcelona isn’t going anywhere.
I’ve been to Barcelona before. Is this course still interesting for me?
You already know her scent. But have you ever seen her through the eyes of an artist? That’s what this course gives you.
I’m a perfectionist. And honestly? I'm a little nervous. Is this course right for me?
Darling. That blanket of fear, we all know it. Don’t worry. You’ll be surrounded by a circle of warm creative people that will carry you, even when you’re not sure you can go on.
Do I get personal feedback from Marenthe?
Not one-on-one, but she’s present in the community and she sees your work. Think of it less as a classroom and more as a creative adventure you’re on together.
Is there a live component?
Yes! Two live Zoom sessions!
What level do I need to be?
Any. Truly. Whether you'‘ve never picked up a brush or you’ve been sketching for years, this course meets you where you are.
What if I fall behind?
You can’t. You have lifetime access and the lessons aren’t going anywhere. Barcelona will wait for you.
What language is the course in?
English & Dutch. (But art has no language, so you’ll be fine.)
How much time do I need per day?
As much or as little as you want. Thirty minutes a day will get you somewhere beautiful. More will get you somewhere even better.
What materials do I need?
Nothing fancy to start. You'll receive a full materials list before May 15 — including a discount code for your supplies.
Is this a completely new course?
It ran once before, in 2022. Then went quiet. Were you there? Then you might want to skip this round.
The Traveling Sketchbook Series
Barcelona
A sketchbook full of Barcelona. In four weeks. A smoldering affair.
