Picture Imperfect

Numerous high-end resorts are adding art therapy to their programming. As Maria Yagoda finds out, it's all about letting go

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Painting with acrylics at Tennessee's Blackberry Mountain

I STUDIED THE TWO mist-shrouded peaks in front of me, admiring the way the mountains gave way to the yellowy green of the valley. As an afternoon storm drifted away, the dense gray clouds gradually revealed pockets of blue sky. Behind a table topped with two easels, paintbrushes, water-filled mason jars, and professional acrylics, my friend and I partitioned our canvases into sections with easy brushstrokes, separating the sky, the mountains, and the valley, as advised by our instructor, local artist Miranda Hill. She also runs the wellness and adventure activities center at Blackberry Mountain, a resort in the lush mountains of Walland, Tennessee.

I started to panic. The scene we were painting kept changing; my piece would not reflect a cohesive moment in time but rather a patchwork of diverse lighting and shading. I voiced my concern—that my work would not achieve technical excellence. But Hill reassured us we could paint in the details later, and I remembered where I was: on vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains. Nobody expected my art to meet professional standards. I took a deep breath and began mixing colors for my wildflowers.

One of the resort's tree-housestyle cabins