Our Story
Creative Endeavors is an educational tour/adventure company catering to the arts in the stunning mountainous regions of Bulgaria. Founded by international couple Phil and Karin Sheil (Phil being Welsh, Karin Canadian– both currently reside in Dubai, but fell in love with the spectacular beauty and warm friendly welcome of Bulgaria a few years ago), their ultimate goal is to build an artist retreat in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains offering the highest caliber of instruction in a wide range of artistic pursuits.
They began chasing this dream in summer 2016, offering 3 different and very successful landscape photography tours. These tours not only cover some of the most spectacular locations in Bulgaria, but also provide the exceptional instruction of 3 diverse and highly qualified instructors: University professor, Phil Sheil; National Geographic Photographer, Evo Danche; and Canadian photojournalist, Steve Somerville. The tours take clients to some of the most remote and pristine locations that even many Bulgarians have never visited. Beyond outstanding learning outcomes, the tours are extraordinary adventures that create many wonderful memories to last a lifetime.
Beginning in summer 2018, Creative Endeavors will begin hosting its first painting workshops. These remarkable 1, 2 and 3 week courses will provide clients with the unique opportunity to choose from three different painting mediums: oil, acrylic and/or water colour. Students may choose to pursue one medium in greater depth or two or three different mediums in a more introductory manner. The course is open to any level of painter from beginner to experienced and is taught by Phil, who is a painter himself and has been teaching painting and drawing for the last 18 years as a professor of art and design at the American University of Sharjah.
Bulgaria is truly the undiscovered gem of Europe. Home to four major mountain ranges, it is a stunningly beautiful country from its crashing waterfalls and exquisite caves, to its towering mountains and pristine lakes and so much more. It also is rich in history, having been home to various civilizations for the past 1.4 million years. It is thus peppered with ancient ruins, sanctuaries and tombs, fascinating monasteries and churches and crumbling old fortresses. It is a country that inspires creativity and nurtures a true appreciation for the beauty of the natural world.
So if you haven’t been…then now is the time!
