Daniela Astone and I have decided on locations and dates for the 2012 Plein Air Courses. The first one is already half full so if you would like a spot let me know asap.
More information over on my Course tab.
Daniela Astone and I just finished our back-to-back plein air courses in Chianti and the gulf of Baratti. We had 19 glorious days of sunshine during the two ten-day sessions. Here are a few of the sketches I managed to bat out during my time off from teaching.
Baratti Dawn. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.
I’m off for New York for my solo show at the Grenning Gallery which opens on August 6th. You can download a copy of the catalog here.
I also have recent paintings at Carteret Contemporary Art and Vision Gallery in North Carolina.
While in the US, I’ll be teaching a four day plain air workshop at the Hamptons Studio of Fine Art in Sag Harbor, NY from July 25th to the 29th.
In August I have a couple of portrait commissions in Italy and France.
Then in September Daniela Astone and I will be doing two plein air workshops in Tuscany. The second one in Baratti still has spaces available. More information on my courses page.
Here are a few photos from our ten day plein air course at the beautiful Tenuta Marsiliana in southwestern Tuscany. We’re trying to find the most picturesque spots in central Italy for these workshops.
Dawn painting at the Marsiliana.
On the road up to the castle.
A little ruined church we found nearby.
Plein air on Monte Argentario
Final critiques at the castle.
Overall the trip was a great success. We had a couple of bad days with the weather, but there was a quick portrait workshop to substitute.
Next year Daniela and I will start the workshops again in May to catch wheatfield season. Hopefully somewhere south of Siena. I’ll post the dates and details as soon as I find a suitable location.
I’ll be doing a one-day plein air workshop in Sag Harbor for anyone in the neighborhood. The date is Wednesday the 25th of August from 10am to 5pm. For sign-ups or more information, you can use the Hamptons Studio of Fine Art website or call 631-603-5514.
My painting of the Marsiliana from eleven years ago. 100 x 70 cm
After the success of our Trevi plein air workshop, Daniela Astone and I have decided to do a second course in Maremma (near the coast in southwestern Tuscany). As with Trevi the area is one of the more picturesque in Italy and one of my favorite places to paint. We will stay in the Marsiliana, a stunning castle/hamlet perched on a hill and near enough to the coast for day trips to the beach. It’s an area where I have already scouted extensively over the years, and I had a painting breakthrough of my own there 11 years ago so the place has a sentimental value to me.
Update: The course is now full, but Daniela and I will do more next year.
Today is the last day of the ten day plein air course around Trevi, Umbria. One of my favorite landscape painting spots in the whole world. We had great weather after the first couple of days and I was helped immensely by the multi-talented Daniela Astone who assisted me in teaching.
White roads and hay bales.
Poppy fields below Trevi.
This is the first time I’ve done an extended intensive workshop and it was interesting to see how much the students improve after ten days of straight painting. We were also lucky that two professional painters, Charlie Church and Takuma Kaneko joined us. So often the best teaching is a good example.
Takuma finishing off the day from the parking lot of the hotel.
Charlie helping Denise with her painting.
Ben Fenske also did an excellent demonstration one afternoon on aerial (atmospheric) perspective and planes.
Ben giving a demonstration below Trevi.
We stayed at a charming little agriturismo, Le Vedute, on the hill outside Trevi, where Pietro and Marta looked after us splendidly.
Here are a few more action shots from the trip:
Daniela painting ducks on a river bank.
Maike at the end of a long day.
Bob painting in the shade in the valley.
Luigi painting at the Clitunno Springs.
Overall the course was a a great success and we got good feedback from everyone. Daniela will scout around Maremma for a location for our next workshop together and hopefully we can set something up for September.
A few people have asked me about the weekend workshops in July. I have an invitation to Sardinia so I wont be here this year. Instead I’ll try to do weekend workshops before then in a private garden in Florence. The dates will be the 12th and 13th, and the 19th and 20th of June from 8 to 12 in the morning. There are only a limited number of places so let me know via email if you’re interested in joining: [email protected]
Plein air painting of Volpaia (70 x 100 cm), one of my workshop painting spots.
The plein air workshop schedules are now on my course page on my website.
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As a working painter, I have always tried to avoid teaching. When I taught in the past I always had too many students, inconvenient schedules, and found my own work suffering to the point where I was having trouble meeting my commitments with galleries. This year however, after getting married, I decided the stable income wasn’t such a bad idea and I began taking students again.
The difference this time however is that, working for myself, I have taken them in very small numbers. From 1 to 3 students at a time, and I work alongside them. This summer I tried it out in the countryside with landscape painting and just basically dragged the students to the spots where I was already working and let them set up alongside. I would do demonstrations and give regular critiques, but I found that it didn’t affect my work at all. In fact I ended up painting more this summer than I have in the last few years. More importantly though, the steady (though small) income took off some of the pressure of the gallery production grind, so I was able to work at a much slower pace. In the end I think my work actually improved due to the teaching. The students, of course, appreciate the small class size and get a lot of information in a short period of time.
This winter I intend on continuing with small numbers of students in the studio. At the moment I’ve begun portrait projects with one student at a time, sharing a model.
