A typical Botanical Illustration course
This type of course is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy painting the plants and flowers of a Tuscan Spring. Both courses we ran in 2009 were full and the students were a delight, bringing their own ideas and endless enthusiasm. We work both in the studio and outdoors in beautiful locations around the area.
This is only meant as a guide and is dependent on the nature of the group and, obviously, the weather. Every course is different and tailor made
(As
with all our courses, all materials are provided and, unless you want
to bring anything you particularly enjoy using, it’s all here for you
in the studio.)
To give you an idea of what to expect, the week is broken down something like this;
Day one - Saturday
Guests arrive on the Saturday afternoon
at various times, and we provide a free pick-up service to the house
from our local railway station in Chiusi, from which there are
excellent and easy rail links from all over Italy. We are always happy
to send you details of how to get here and your probable train
connections from airports etc.
Having settled into your
accommodation at the house during the afternoon, early on in the
evening there is a welcome pre-dinner drink for the group to meet up
and get to know each other. We then have dinner in the studio and the
evening is free for you to relax before the first working day.
Day two - Sunday
We begin work on Sunday after breakfast. I like to start with a series of drawing and painting exercises, partly to get everyone warmed up, and also to begin to see what emerges from the group.
We start simple.
During the day, the work incorporates more and more elements as we build towards our first painting later on in the afternoon, interrupted only to enjoy lunch and dinner together.
Day three - Monday
On Mondays I take the group to the local market for a wander round and a chance to experience a typical Italian market atmosphere. This is a great opportunity to really focus on what catches your eye for painting and drawing later. This may be a botanical course, but that doesn’t mean that you have to paint flowers – fresh fruit and vegetables make wonderful subject matter. We may also take a trip down the road to a spectacular nursery – they claim it’s the biggest in Europe – to take photographs, get more ideas and perhaps even buy something for your work. After lunch at a local restaurant we head back to the house and spend the afternoon preparing our subject matter. Setting up and good studio practise are essential elements and we spend a bit of time sorting this out until everyone is happy to begin.
Day four - Tuesday
Tuesday is our first full studio day, working to develop the material gathered to begin producing images together. We work all day, breaking for coffee breaks and a light, fresh lunch under the pergola.
I try to keep to my studio hours as the teacher, (3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon), but students are free to dip in and out during the day if you would like to go for a swim (in season) or for a walk or a run, or just to get away for a while. The courses are for you to enjoy as you wish.
Day five - Wednesday
Wednesday is set aside for a trip to one or more of the beautiful gardens in our part of the world. This has been a traditional Italian garden in a villa in Panicale, an Iris garden outside Florence, a Medieval monks apothecary garden within the walls of Perugia, the Museo Botanico in the centre of Florence. In the afternoon we could also visit the stunning gardens at La Foce with its 80 year old wisteria and spectacular collection of irises. There is a guided tour through the gardens overlooking the Crete Senesi, recently awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO. It is a full day and, having had lunch out and gathered more reference material, photographs etc. we get back to the house for dinner together either in the studio or outside on the pergola.
Days six and seven - Thursday and Friday
Thursday and Friday are heads down Studio days, but are also used for students to pursue their own individual direction.
This is also a chance to try out new techniques, push yourselves and each other, and to see your work through to a level of finish.
We stop when everyone is ready to stop and then lay out all the work on the huge studio table to look at what has been completed. It’s hard not to be impressed by the amount produced in a relatively short space of time, but most gratifying to see the improvements in everyone’s work.
At the end of the informal critique, we go out as a group to celebrate and to relax. I will take you to dinner in a beautiful town, Castiglione del Lago, which juts into the wonderful Lago Trasimeno, the largest lake on the Italian peninsular. The restaurant, very popular with locals and tourists, has a large atmospheric outside courtyard where we enjoy our meal.
Day eight - Saturday
This is the final day of the course and,
once I have packed up your paintings carefully for you, guests will be
taken back to Chiusi station for various train connections to airports
or wherever they may be going on to in Italy. This is the bit where we
all say goodbye, swap email addresses and promise to come again next year!
