Workshop 1 ~ Giardini Incantati ~  Enchanted Gardens 

Artists throughout history have used the drawing process to discover the world around and inside of them.

 

Explore a magnificent Renaissance garden using a special set of drawing exercises designed to take away the fear or stress of making “good” art, and hone your ability to use drawing to become aware of & caputure impressions of the present moment~ drawing as a way of being.

 

Drawing puts you in touch with the natural sense of wonder & discovery with which we approach drawing as children, helping us practice slowing down & creating a sense of well-being. 

 

Workshop 2 : Drawing with the Masters ~ Contorno 

O ur ability to see what is really there, without bringing our own preconceptions and thoughts to it, is what establishes the foundation of the artist's ability to perceive clearly in order to then interpret, capture, and create in line and color ~ with exquisite contour line.

 

Learn to use very simple but incredibly powerful tools to developing your skills and also be free to play and experiment with mark-making, and touch the secrets of Da Vinci's calligraphic, delicate, and descriptive lines. Slow down and learn to see as if for the first time what is right in front of you to unlock the key to falling in love with the moment & drawings that are alive and fresh.

 

Workshop 3 ~ Drawing with the Masters ~Chiaroscuro   

Discover the Renaissance secrets for how to give the amazing appearance of shape, volume, and texture to the flat drawing surface through the development of dark and light tones in your drawings. Using charcoal and your erasers as drawing tools, you will explore a technique that renders subtle tones to your mark making.

 

Retrain your eye to see and draw light, not objects, drawing around things and placing dark & light shapes next to each other which make the form appear as if by magic.

 

You'll work directly from master paintings in a lovely Renaissance palace, or draw from the light and shade in its sprawling, exquisite gardens.

 

Workshop 4 ~ Drawing with the Masters ~ Chiaroscuro in Fiesole 

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The tiny hilltown of Fiesole, with its quiet architecture's arches, Vicar's house, and small piazza with church and belltower overlook stunning valley views of nearby Florence to learn to draw light (see workshop 3 description).

 

Workshop 5 ~ Drawing with the Masters ~ Secrets of the human figure ~Massa 

Inspired by the world-famous Renaissance sculptural works of Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus & Medusa, Giambologna's twisting Rape of the Sabine Women, or the grand forms of an ancient Roman lion, you will learn the techniques of the masters to use gesture & mass build up the form of the human body in a realistic way to give a sense of volume and musculature, drawing directly from masterpieces.

 

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Workshop 6 ~ Drawing with the Masters~ Secrets of the human figure ~Proporzioni 

U nderstand how Renaissance masters, carefully studying ancient Roman and Greek sculpture and texts, rediscovered the underlying geometry and graceful design of nature's measurements which they called the "divine proportions".

 

Apply techniques of unit of measure, proportion, and angulation to adjust & accurately reproduce the forms of the human figure. Choose to focus on the face/portrait head, or on the body. (*please indicate your preference on booking page)

 

Workshop 7 ~ Drawing with the Masters~ Secrets of the human figure ~ Studio  

 

Go step-by-step from a gesture drawing (see workshop 4) to measurement and proportion (see workshop 5) to develop a full-scale figure drawing from the pinaccle of the perfection of the male human form, drawing and learning directly from Michelangelo's colossal masterpiece the David.

 

Become intimate with the curves, musculature, and amazing lifelike detail of the master's chiseled marble while you learn to build first solid structure & then value (dark & light) for the finished study through a disciplined process that leaves you invigorated, awakened, and newly aware of the human body's grace and presence.

 

Workshop 8 ~Drawing with the Masters - secrets of space"Prospettivo" 

L earn what the great architect of the Duomo's dome, Brunelleschi, (re)discovered about how to make buidlings and streets appear three-dimensional while on a flat surface using the seeming magic of "prospettivo"-- perspective. 

 

We will go step-by-step to construct the illusion of space while drawing from the beautiful architecture near the piazza where Brunelleschi designed Europe's first orphanage, Piazza Santissima Annunziata.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Workshop 9 ~ Oil Painting Plein Aire ~ Florentine Hillside Walk & Gardens 
* please note:  Because of the extended time for the countryside walking tour & the special materials, an additional 25 euro fee will be added to the regular workshop fee. for a total of 4.5 hours* 

 

W ander into the green countryside just steps outside of the medieval walls of the city & through olive groves, cypress tree hillsides, and along stone walls to a gorgeous historic private villa. Sit in its manicured Renaissance garden and put paintbrush to canvas to create a gardenscape made in the fresh air.

 

Learn the essentials of experimenting with brustroke, paint quality, and color mixing & structuring a painting that reflects your experience of the harmony and geometry of this oasis, and pause from your work for a refreshing glass of wine or fresh-squeezed juice in the shade of the garden as another way, like your painting practice, of slowing time down & savoring being in the moment.

 

Workshop 10 ~ Watercolor Sketches ~ Medieval Towers & Doorways  

Florence's lovely streets boast colorful facades of stuccoed palazzi, their enormous doorways, shuttered windows, gates open to inner gardens tucked safely behind, and its many lovely towers which create the characteristic with their cleansing chimes ringing in celebrations and the hours throughout the day.

 

Stop along our route to compose small watercolor "sketches" which capture your impressions of the colors, shapes, and atmosphere of these magical spaces. 

 

Workshop 11 ~ Oil Painting Plein Aire ~ San Miniato Hillside Church 

Enjoy using oil paints to capture the magnificent medieval details of this lovely church which dates from the 11th century, or paint outside in its surrounding cemetery with its view of the city nestled in the Arno River valley. 

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You can also do so from the lovely Bardini Gardens where you can pause to enjoy a cup of tea under the gentle arches of its Renaissance loggia.

 

You'll go step-by step to create a finished painting which introduces you to the skills of color mixing, brushstroke, and the foundations of composition.

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Workshop 12~ Oil Painting Plein Aire ~ Along the street, in the piazza

Sit in one of the small piazzas with its colorful buildings in a characteristic corner of Florence that is tucked away off-the-tourist-path and pause to enjoy a scoop of artisinal gelato at the tiny corner shop as you ease into learning the basics of color mixing, composition, and brushstroke work in oil paint.

 

A dynamic and gentle introduction for pure beginners, or a delightful scene for experienced painters eager to capture color, form, and light in the middle of the old center's authentic neighborhood surrounded by the smell of espresso and the sounds of Italian. 

 

Workshop 13 ~Oil Painting Plein Aire ~ Views along the River Arno 

Stand with canvassed panel in hand to gaze down the Arno River at the medieval Ponte Vecchio bridge or down toward the breathtakingly graceful arches of the Ponte Santa Trinita bridge, and learn to mix colors, engage qualities of brushstroke, and create a strong composition to capture in oil paints the light, shapes, and song of what you see.

 

Workshop 14 ~Watercolor Painting Plein Aire:  Florentine Cityscape

Create a simple but beautiful portrait in watercolor of the silouettes of the ancient church belltowers, Medieval city hall tower, and the magnificent cupola of the Cathedral ("Duomo") from where you sit on a bench in a small green park across the river. Learn the basics of watercolor techniques such as wet-into-wet, wet-into-dry, graded washes, even washes, and brush control, and then apply simple countour line and measurement techniques which quickly bring proportion and angles of the structures into correct relationships.

 

All of these techniques add up beautifully to make you perfectly prepared for your culminating painting of the Florentine cityscape against the sky, a perfect keepsake of your time caressing with your brush her stunning forms.

 

Workshop 15~ Natura Morta ~ Egg Tempera Still Life Painting & aperitivo 

Egg tempera was originally used in the Medieval period as a mix of egg yolk and powdered colored pigments, and we will use it to paint objects we usually think of as food, in the Natura Morta tradition, while we enjoy a wine tasting experience to relax and open up our senses to the subtle richness of flavors and colors in the world around you. 

 

Use egg tempera to capture the beauty of the small detail through a series of steps that help you see and express what you encounter, taking the ordinary, mundane object of fruit or vegetable to the level of extraordinary "portrait" of an intimate and wonder-filled encounter with the natural world you touch every day through your relationship to food, and enjoy a nibble of Italian cheese & wine to accompany your process. 

 

Workshop 16~ Natura Morta ~ Watercolor Still  Life to Taste what you See  

Synesthesia is the ability to mix and intermingle one's senses, to heighten one's ability to perceive through sensing color and form at the same time one feels one is touching them, or to observe something with the eyes, our sense of smell so attentively that one feels like one can taste it.  Begin by learning the basic watercolor techniques of wet-into-wet, playfully letting watercolor paint itself, and then learn the more controlled technique of even and graduated washes, preparing to paint the "portrait" of your model, a ripe pear.

 

Engage all of your senses to explore and experience the pear as if it is something completely new. Through this practice, discover the power of paying attention to touch a sense of delight in the extraordinariness of something you thought was ordinary. After your painting, eat your "models" in the classic Italian pairing with rich pecorino cheese and honey.

 

Workshop 17 ~D’orare”- Goldleafing in the Florentine Tradition  

Artisans in the Oltrarno (other side of the Arno River) have been carving, building, and then guilding furniture, mirrors, religious objects, picture frames, and decorative domestic items like candlesticks and lamp bases for centuries.

 

Stroll down the antique-rich Via Maggio and into a side street to find a vast  shop tucked away where you will charge up your imagination before heading back to the studio to hands-on apply the very old tradition of gold leafing with a simplified process.

 

Participants can choose to pre-order* a picture frame, small wooden box, or small wooden-framed mirror from our list a few days in advance of the workshop, or are free to bring their own treasures to gold leaf. (*additional fee applies)

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