Award-winning author Kathleen Ernst sends this account of her writing residency at the Painted Forest retreat in Valton, Wisconsin, which was included in the
CWW Edna Ferber Fiction Honorable Mention earlier this year:
Five Days at the Painted Forest
by Kathleen Ernst
The drive to the Painted Forest from my home had me winding through rural hills and valleys, passing Amish buggies and stands of goldenrod. I started feeling better long before I reached the rural hamlet of Valton.
The trip actually started last April, when I learned that my novel Mining For Justice: A Chloe Ellefson Mystery had been awarded Honorable Mention in the Council For Wisconsin Writers’ Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award competition. As if the honor and wonderful comments from the judge weren’t enough, I was granted a residency at Ernest Hüpeden’s Painted Forest.
German immigrant Ernest Hüpeden was an itinerant painter who wandered into Valton in 1897, just as the local chapter of the Modern Woodmen was finishing up a new hall. Hüpeden painted the interior, and through the efforts of local citizens and the Kohler Foundation, the artwork has been preserved. 
Today the site is owned by Edgewood College. The Edgewood College Art Studio and Study Center provides housing for visitors.
David Wells, Director of the Edgewood College Gallery and the Painted Forest, met me in Valton, and my visit started with a tour of the Hall. It was inspiring—a hidden gem.
Then I settled into the Study Center. I was behind on my current novel, and that had been weighing on me. But settling back into the story came easily there. When the weather was good I wrote on the front porch, accompanied only by the occasional butterfly flitting past. When it rained, I settled into the cozy living space.
Writing retreats like this aren’t valuable only for the time spent writing. The absence of interruptions for days on end provides an enormous mental boost. I had room to focus just on the story. Most days I took a walk mid-afternoon, letting plot problems percolate in the back of my mind. Then I was ready to get back to the keyboard.
I left Valton feeling energized, eager to keep going, and enormously grateful to the Council for Wisconsin Writers.