The Magic of Tuscany : Painting Workshop

Spend a week on focusing on you, painting, finding daily wonders and making friends.

Jan 04, 2024

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Imagine yourself at a creative week in Italy next fall exploring and painting the beauty of Tuscany. You’ll feel a sense of calm and joy looking out at the gorgeous sunsets, vineyard-covered hills, and cypress-scattered hills. I’m already excited to be there and capture these views in paint! Gayle and I are hosting two painting workshops in a gorgeous historic estate in the Italian countryside. We will take a deep dive into our sketchbook painting practice, find inspiration, and create wonderful new friendships with women of all ages and painting skills.

Tuscany : Sept 26-Oct 3 2024

Tuscany : Oct 5-12 2024

During the week, we will all create a stunning sketchbook that tells the story of your experiences in Italy. We will learn the ins and outs of using acryla gouache, sketching on location, still-life painting, and interpreting those gorgeous Tuscan landscapes! We’ll spend a day in nearby Florence to visit this historic city and museums. When we get back to our painting venue, we will work on reinterpreting the work of an old master painting, one that caught your eye and inspired you on our museum visit. It may end up being very different from the original, you may choose to go wild with color or go minimalist, anything goes! We are relaxed and interactive teachers, allowing your unique creative voice to flourish and find its artistic mark. Each day we will both do painting demos, give personalized guidance, and feedback to support your artistic journey. We often have a range of skill levels on each trip, from “I’ve never painted before” to professional artists and everyone leaves having learned new skills and techniques.

Gayle and I have now taught seven live workshops together. We have fine-tuned our approach to teaching, adapting to the group and individual needs. We learn so much every time, from each other, the place, and the painters. We each have different teaching and painting styles, and seeing how we each handle the same subject differently gives our painters double the inspiration!

Above are a few examples of how Gayle and I handle the same subject. We both build up our layers in the same way but my paintings tend to be a bit wonkier and brighter and Gayle uses a more limited palette and is a bit more realistic. We love each other’s work so much, it’s really fun to see us approach the same subject!

Over the years I have been to Italy many, many times. Sometimes for work and others for pleasure but never as a painter. I had many years where I just wasn’t making art and that makes me so sad, what was I waiting for? Italy always draws me back, there is something I find new and magical every time. When my son was very small we spent a week roaming around the small walled-in medieval towns of Tuscany, climbing towers that have stunning views out into the landscape and eating lots of gelato. We walked into a library in Assisi and got a private viewing of a Gutenberg Bible among other treasures, the librarian let the boys touch it without gloves! I even remember a peach I ate on my honeymoon in Sicily, it was that good. This will be the first time I am teaching in Italy, I am over the moon about it, and I know there will be amazing moments of delight and forever memories for everyone.

We have a new Zoom class on January 13th 1-3 EST

We will be reinterpreting the Mona Lisa in our own styles.
It’s donation-based. All levels are welcome including kids.
If you can’t make it live you can choose the video-only option. We have such fun in these 2-hour workshops! They begin with a short show and tell from each of us, then we each paint for about 40 min and you can just watch or paint along.