Sunday, May 22, 2011

WE HAVE A REPEAT BOOKING FOR THIS YEAR !! YAHAY !!!

Delighted that we have 3 repeat bookings for this year ! Can't believe it ! We are getting something right !
FABULOUS !

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Painting Course 26 May - Daily Rate Available

Our second residential course of the year begins on 26 May ! Also we now have day rates available for people who just wish to do a day painting/drawing/sketching. We cover landscape, we have a life model for studio work.

Only 80 Euros for morning and afternoon classes including fabulous lunch and vino ! Tutored by the incredible Mark Kelland !

Contact us for further details.

www.arteumbria.com

email : poggiolame@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Just what is it about Italy that makes artists want to paint it?


Creating an impression. Painting in Italy

Painting Italy
 
Just what is it about Italy that makes artists want to paint it? Is it the special atmosphere, the quality of light, the golden colours, or the variety of landscape that inspire us? For all artists, it can be both rewarding and frustrating trying to capture perfection. Great painting comes from raw emotion, but you don’t need to be a professional to create something that captures your feelings and records your responses to a particular scene.
Of course there are those who enjoy setting up the easel and canvas in the middle of a piazza, and creating ‘masterpieces’ for all to see, but for many, the privacy of a modest sketchbook full of doodles and paint daubs can bring back all those memories just as effectively. I know that throughout my own long-standing love affair with Italy, it is the sketches as much as the paintings which have kept my passion alive.
Painting Italy: landscapeSimplicity and Modesty So what should you paint? There is such an overwhelming choice of subject matter in Italy that it could well stop you from even getting your brushes out. For some, the creative urge may come from the panorama of the Tuscan countryside, or the grandeur of cities like Florence and Siena. But if you take my advice, you’ll learn to take inspiration from the simplest of subjects, such as the sparkle of light and shade in an olive grove, or the sight of someone’s washing hanging from a window. Somehow the view of washing on a Scottish tenement doesn’t have quite the same appeal! I like to work modestly within the privacy of the sketchbook, and set myself up in a quiet corner where onlookers will find it difficult to look over my shoulder.
A place I return to regularly when staying in Tuscany is Montecatini Terme which has a wealth of quiet, paintable locations surrounding it, and all within a five-minute car ride. I can be in a quiet hilltop village where tourists never tread, and paint happily all day, with only an occasional resident casting a glance at what I’m doing. Drinking in the Atmosphere Provided you buy the odd drink or snack, café proprietors are always happy to have an artist sitting in their pavement cafés - you may even inadvertently strike up a bartering system for free drinks. Quite often as I sketch, the locals send out some cool mineral water, a glass of local wine or home-made biscotti to sustain my strength, which seems to signify quiet approval. The drinks can do more than just quench your thirst too.
Without pulling out your entire painting kit, a pen, brush and a glass of your favourite refreshment can be sufficient to create some effective pen and wash sketches. Months after returning home,I open the sketchbook at these ‘scratch and sniff’ pictures, and smell the wonderful aroma of Italian cappuccino or espresso that has been used for diluting the ink to give me an atmospheric sketch!
Painting ItalyIn busier settings, such as the afternoon musical concerts in Montecatini’s magnificent Tettucio Spa, a quiet corner table under the shade of umbrellas gives you a perfect view of the orchestra or the dancing public - a great way to do some more people- watching - and drawing. These are the sort of places that help you to gain confidence if you are a beginner to painting, from a good vantage point you can people-watch, paint doorways and even the waiters themselves (this always goes down well with an Italian!). You also realise very quickly that most onlookers actually have the greatest admiration for you, no matter how badly your painting’s going, as they have probably never had the nerve to try it themselves!
The words ‘buono’, ‘bellissimo’ and ‘brava’, often accompanied with a pat on the back, can be all the encouragement you’ll ever need. ‘Buon Lavoro’ When you are touring around, a pen, brush and faithful sketchbook diary (a hardback bound book of watercolour paper) is all you need to work quickly and simplify settings that are otherwise too complicated to paint. On such a day, walking around Florence I was able to capture the little skylines of the city from the Boboli Gardens, during a thunderstorm. And that’s another thing about Italy, compared to my Scottish surroundings. Over there when it rains it’s such an exciting event as it suddenly pours down, bounces off the pavements, creating rivers within seconds that gush along the roadside and people rush around dashing for cover. It stops as quickly as it starts and seems much more exciting and animated than Scottish rain.
Italians also have the classiest ranges of umbrellas I have ever seen, and must surely hope for occasional showers just for the opportunity to show them off! This love affair for all things Italian follows me home each time, and for months after, I am rendered incapable by the supermarket smells of fresh basil and Italian coffee, as I count the weeks or months until my next visit. My salvation is my painting, and back at the studio, the faithful sketchbook, bursting with painting ideas, keeps the momentum going as I work on Italian-inspired themes. It can do the same for you too, and the effort that has gone into capturing a scene on paper means more than the best photograph, because you created it yourself.
You’ll remember the smells, the tastes, the way the sunlight caught the leaves in the piazza, that conversation with the waiter, the glass of wine on the house ‘because you are an artist’... So if you enjoyed art at school, but never got the chance to pursue it further because ‘life’ got in the way, think about it next time you are in Italy and get your sketchbook out. You never know, maybe I’ll see you quietly working in a café somewhere, and whisper ‘Happy Painting’ or ‘buon lavoro’ as the Italians do. I might even send you a drink!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Second Painting Course begins next Thursday 26 May !

Hoping everyone is going to be as happy for our second course as they were for the last one. Looking forward to meeting everyone ! Big crowd here this time, painters and non-painters !

Palio di Siena 2011: Second race of Siena

16th August 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
 

The second edition of the Palio, named Palio dell'Assunta, will take place on the 16th of August 2011 in Siena.

The selection of the hourses is characterized by the
 typical"tratta" that enlivens the event with a four day opening celebration with a concluding street parade on the day of the Palio big race.

The 
Contrade that partecipate to the race are ten: seven Contrade that didn't take part at the previous August edition and three drawn among the ten which have already run. There are three laps around Campo Square: the horses are aligned between two hawsers according to a layout drawn before the beginning of the races by lot and made public only when the starter calls the riders in the racecourse.

The winning horse is the first one that terminates the three laps, with or without rider. The prize is represented by the Palio. The 
Palio banner is also named "Drappellone", the big drape, or "Cencio", the rag.

For further information:
Palio di Siena
Web site: 
palio.comune.siena.it

Monday, May 16, 2011

Sunday, May 15, 2011

It's a Sign !

Having had fabulous weather for the past week or so, we decided to explore Lago Trasimeno, and Castiglione del Lago today. By the time we got there, sky was looking very bleak. Quick parking of car and hasty walk up beautiful steps into yet another lovely walled hilltop city.

We were just walking along when the heavens opened - turned into a glorious thunderstorm. Just as it started to pour we decided to go into the first ristorante we came to. Guess what it was called ? As I'm an Aquarius - it was DEF a sign ! Fabulous meal too, and lovely people.

As we braved the rain to get back to the car a couple of hours later, we were hauled into a little shop to dry off. Lovely owner who gave us wine samples and lovely pecorino cheese, some with truffles, some with peppers - no pressure to buy she was just being caring. Flirted with my husband and said she'd come on the courses if he was the model ! He turned colour of tomato ! Very friendly and typical Umbrian/Tuscan hospitality.

More bookings in today for September and October courses, things are looking GOOD ! Finding out about lots more tours out as well and teaming up with GOOD people !

 

Friday, May 13, 2011

Master Class in Portrait Painting - by Andy James RP

Yesterday at the Mall Galleries in London, Andy James, one of our tutors here in Italy with Arte Umbria, held a portrait demonstration. As you can see it was attended by zillions ! Slight exaggeration there, but it should have been ! Shame I couldn't get to see it. Never mind he'll be out here again tutoring in September and October. We've had to add more places in to accommodate students as places are now really filling up fast so best to book early to avoid missing out !

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Finally saw a Hoopoe !

I saw this tonight on the terrace. Bizarrely my Mother had seen one in Spain and no one believed her, but she was so adamant -  when she returned we researched it. WE DEF had one on our terrace tonight and I've now located at least 4 nests in several trees in the actual forest. I've also worked our their 'call' and that's the sound that's been mystifying me -  so we have several families here. We SO need a wild life expert here to tell us all that is here ! FREE holiday still offered to expert ! It was exquisite ! It stayed on the side of the terrace near to the lemon trees for about 6 minutes and I couldn't run in to get the camera I was transfixed. Now the tripod, long lens are set up !

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Andrew James - Mall Gallery Portrait Demonstration

Wednesday 11th May at 12 noon Portrait Demonstration
Andy James one of our tutors with Arte Umbria will demonstrate portrait painting at the Mall Galleries in London tomorrow.
FREE  


Wish I was going to be there, I'll just have to tough it out stuck in Umbria ! 


Self Portrait Blue Background by Andrew James RP

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Wildlife Expert Needed !

Is any wildlife expert interested in having a free holiday here who could help us list all the wildlife and help us with photography on our 220 acre estate in Umbria, Italy. We know we have wild boar, deer, fox, badger, porcupine, falcons, countless birds, scorpions, snakes etc.  But we would love someone to help us discover more about them and photograph them.
We currently run painting courses here, with our friend Andy James RP, Vice President of the Royal Society of Portrait Artists, but as amateur photographers and nature lovers we would like to promote wildlife trips as well but need help.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Very Dali'esque !

Artist's Wife With Moustache !


News Flash !

Andy James, one of our tutors at Arte Umbria - School of Poggiolame has won an award from the RBSA http://www.rbsa.org.uk

Portrait and details to follow.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Monday, May 2, 2011

Yet ANOTHER fabulous thank you for our Inspirational Painting Course

Hi All, Dogs included in this one of course.

Excellent photos!
We all look very happy and relaxed in the group, a good reflection on how everyone was feeling I think.Thank you for a truly wonderful experience, I feel inspired and must continue to improve on my art and just keep at it so I can put all the tips given to us into my work. Well I can always try can’t I!

Do hope we can meet again, thank you for all your hard work.
I am sure all the other courses are successful.

Best of luck,
Sue
x

Success of First Course of 2011 - Arte Umbria

Just one of the many emails of thanks we've received. We loved having everyone to stay and are delighted how pleased EVERYONE was with the course. Thanks again to Andy and Mark !

<< Hi  

What a lovely picture.

I so enjoyed my week with you in every way.

The food was yummie, the company good fun, and of course the tuition was excellent
 ( I have even been painting at home - never been known before!)

A very big thankyou to you both - I shall definitely look back on the week with a huge smile on my face!

I hope your venture is a huge success - I definitely have it in mind to return one day.

We could not have been better looked after.

Love from Jacki x >>

www.arteumbria.com

Check out last minute deal for May/June !

Big Day in Italy Yesterday - May Day and .....


Pope John Paul II is Blessed

1.5 million pilgrims gathered in Rome Sunday to witness the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
With hotels in the city fully booked, the faithful camped out in the streets surrounding Vatican City or stayed awake through the night for a chance to enter St. Peter’s square.
The crowd stretched out beyond view, and many gathered at Circo Massimo to watch the event broadcast on large screens. On Saturday night, the French nun whom was miraculously cured of Parkinson’s Disease by Pope John Paul II spoke at a candlelight vigil held in the same location.
The late pontiff himself suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, passing away at the age of 84 on 2 April 2005. At his funeral, millions of mourners chanted "Santo Subito!" or "Saint now!"
"The longed-for day has come," said Benedict. "It came quickly because this was pleasing to the Lord. John Paul II is blessed."
The Polish pontiff’s coffin was moved to St. Peter’s Basilica and placed at the Altar of Confession, where Pope Benedict XVI was the first to pray before it.
Today, the coffin will move to its permanent location in the Chapel of St Sebastian.
"Six years ago we gathered in this Square to celebrate the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Our grief at his loss was deep, but even greater was our sense of an immense grace which embraced Rome and the whole world,” said Pope Benedict XVI, in honor of his blessed predecessor.