Italy Workshops Fall 2024

A chance to immerse yourself in the Italian countryside of Tuscany and paint!

Traveling is such an inspiration in my life, I love exploring cities and country equally. Since Gayle and I started teaching at so many various venues around the world my appreciation has grown and I love these weeklong deep dives into a place, as a counterbalance to a busier site seeing trip. (I have very full days when I travel with my family, we eat and walk and visit every interesting museum and historical wonder we can) Being immersed in one setting for a week, (where everyone is basically coddled by generous staff) we can truly value our surroundings. We make new friends, explore the landscapes, buildings and the character of each place. It’s a very special gift to myself and I’m hoping a few of you would love to join us on a trip as a gift to you!

We are excited to let you know that we have a few spots left in 2 back to back workshops we are teaching in Tuscany. The place is gorgeous and it’s gotten some rave reviews from teachers and students who have already been there. These workshops are available to all levels and ages. We have had as young as 20 and as old as 85. We start at the beginning with loosening up exercises, color exploration, and basic layering skills. Our guests move on quickly and surprise themselves and us with the work they create. It’s pretty thrilling catching those haha moments. We will spend a day in Florence to soak up the city and see lots of art. When we get back to the venue we will have fun exercise to reinterpret an old master painting. I’ve been doing this for years, It’s fun to look carefully at a classic painting and go in and put your own spin on it. We find that everyone learns from each other and we learn just as much back, everytime!

A Da Vinci and a Caravaggio

I get so excited just looking at these pictures!

There are a few shared rooms left, It turns out that when strangers share rooms wonderful friendships are made, (we have found out later that many new friends go off and travel together somewhere else)! We’re only in our rooms to sleep, and there are so many amazing spots on the estate to find time to be alone.

Here are a few reviews of the place.

** The venue was like a fairy tale. The scenery, the staff, the food, the wine, all of it.

** The venue was just lovely! Beautiful and a great inspiration to paint!

And here are a few about spending a week with us:

** Southern France. Gorgeous private villa. Painting for hours a day with rolling hills, meadows and farms as your backdrop. Morning walks accompanied by tractors on duty, gentle breezes and a distant rooster. Food and wine galore, Fellow passionate painters up for a challenge and wonder. And… Gayle and Jennifer: hosts extraordinaire with their flair, fun and fabulous styles to teach and entertain. Need I say more? I will. I’m going back in “24 : )

Michelle S. is coming to Portugal in May ‘24

** Gayle and Jennifer are amazing instructors! I spent a week on one of their art retreats and loved every minute. They have different, and wonderfully complimentary, teaching and artistic styles. One of their big themes is to “play and have fun”. That philosophy-and their encouragement- helped me move past self-judgement and jump into experimentation and learning. Thank you, Gayle and Jennifer…. I look forward to more classes with you in the future!

Susan M. is coming to Italy!

Please feel free to write to me with any questions. The staff over at Uptrek who run these trips are so helpful too with any logistical questions.

---

We hosted a fun 1 hour zoom this Saturday. Gayle and I each gave a short career talk and showed some work from back in our college days until now. I see that some of the marks I was making then in my art are similar to what I still do. We did a short painting project just loosening up and making fun little faces with thise marks. You can see the replay here.

It’s posted on our Patreon for everyone to see, we have some fun stuff going on within Patreon too, as a member, Color painting tutorials, behind the scenes on some projects and with our Opera Pink tier we do 2 live 1 hour zooms a month where we get to know each other in a guided, enjoyable paint along.

---

Are you a tea drinker? I worked with Sipsby last year to make this beautiful packaging and I just saw they are still on the site. This would be a great gift for a tea lover!

---

Scarves!

For the holiday how about some cheese and macarons?!

---

Thanks for reading, Have a great holiday if we don’t connect before then.

xxJennifer