A Unique Course in Landscape Painting
Art, Gourmet Cuisine, Wines of Umbria and Tuscany
Daily Excursions to Hidden Art Treasures of Umbria and Tuscany
A Maximum of Fourteen Participants with Little Unpacking
An Optional Rome Add-on, July 5th and 6th
A View from Villa In Umbria Where We Stay
The 2009 workshop, held at a spectacular villa in Umbria, is open to and includes both painters and art/culture lovers. It is strictly limited to no more than 14 participants, including both artists and art /culture lovers, to maximize individual instruction, discussion and ease of moving around on our excursions.
Professor and contemporary realist painter, William Patterson, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and Professor Emeritus at The University of Massachusetts has an extensive knowledge of drawing and painting with years of teaching about the art and culture in Italy. Professor Patterson will teach Open-Air Landscape Drawing and Painting on location in the gardens and grounds of a spectacular patrician villa and on painting/cultural excursions to some of the most beautiful places in Umbria and Tuscany. He will also lead participants on wonderful excursions to Assisi and Orvieto to discuss Renaissance Painting and to seek out the hidden art and cultural treasures of Umbria and Tuscany in the hill towns of Panicale, Pienza, Montepulciano and more.
(Professor Patterson will also offer an Optional Rome Add-on which will include walking tours of Old Rome, the Vatican, Ancient Rome and More.)
Carolyn Patterson holds a BFA degree in painting from the University of Hartford. She is an accomplished painter in oils and egg tempera and her work has been exhibited extensively.
Our location at a beautiful and elegant villa in Umbria is ideal for our 2009 program. The owners of the villa write:
“ Here, amongst the greenery of olive trees, vineyards and the woods, the
patrician villa has been standing since 1780. It is situated in a quiet and
scenic location. The villa has been restored including the several outer stone
buildings that now house the rooms and suites where we will stay. The Villa has
kept its historic characteristics. In the pleasant Italian style garden there is
a delightful private chapel and an antique orangerie. The small park area, with
its hedges, separates the tranquility of the villa from the clay tennis court
and one of the swimming pools. The other large pool is located amongst the outer
buildings just below the main villa. The 56-hectare farmland surrounding the
villa produces an extremely pure olive oil, a renowned D.O.C. wine as well as
many of the genuine products used in the preparation of the meals. The
traditional Umbrian cuisine served here is a delight for any gourmet, with
authentic and natural flavors obtained from recipes handed down from the ages.”
Paint and draw in the serene gardens. Enjoy vistas overlooking Lake Trasimeno.
Paint en-plein air. Study landscape painting with directed, focused and
informative lessons. Learn from the presentations and demonstrations about many
facets of drawing, composition and painting in oil or watercolor. Explore the
painted sketch, whether minutely conceived or broadly brushed. Fill your journal
with notes on landscape painting on our painting trips. Study
Renaissance-painting methods, as Bill analyzes paintings on site in the museums
and churches of Umbria and Tuscany.
We are in residence at our spectacular villa throughout. One can unpack once
and enjoy, all the amenities, educational - recreational activities and
excursions mentioned above without dragging suitcases from here to there. When
returning from our daily excursions participants can look forward to enjoying
the villa, the pools, the tennis or Bocce court, the surroundings, the elegant
and comfortable air conditioned rooms, the garden cafe and of course the
incredible gourmet dinner.
Once a week a concert is offered after dinner in the chapel of Santa Lucia in the gardens of the villa. Enjoy walking tours near the villa. Taste the great wines of Umbria and Tuscany during relaxed wine tastings. Savor the unbelievable gourmet dinners at the villa, held in the elegant dining rooms. Renew yourself at the spa. Take some time to relax playing tennis or at one of the two large swimming pools, or under the shade trees in the Italian style garden.
Throughout the workshop, participants will enjoy a buffet continental breakfast
and incredible gourmet dinners each day at the villa. In addition, we will lunch at
our friends, Trattoria in Assisi and Pienza. The cuisine throughout the workshop will
be truly Umbrian. Everyone enjoys Filippo’s wine tasting where he pairs wonderful Umbrian
wines with a four course dinner, and our visit with tasting to a Medieval family run
wine cellar in Montepulciano. The wine cellar at the villa contains over 150 Umbrian wines.
Participants will enjoy the medieval ambience of the hill towns and cities we visit.
Our walking tours during excursions, and especially in Assisi and Orvieto,
will include history and culture along with our focus on landscape painting.
The 2009 open-air workshop in Italy can be fully enjoyed by both painters and art/culture
lovers who come to learn more about the history, art, culture, cuisine and wines of Italy.
Many features have been put into the workshop with our art lovers in mind. We welcome and
encourage art/culture lovers to join the 2009 workshop in Italy.
Our excursions are meant for both painters who will have an opportunity to draw on location in the hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany and for our art lovers who will enjoy the art-cultural tours.
Many non-painters have enjoyed experiencing the wines and cuisine of Italy within the context of its’ art and culture ...
Rosi and Filippo, the proud owners of the villa, offer optional programs scenic walks and bicycle tours can be arranged. In addition, an optional cooking class can be attended at the villa. Also, there are two excellent golf courses nearby.
Professor and painter William Patterson offers an intensive and unique course in landscape
drawing and painting with focused and informative daily sessions, demonstrations, studio talks
and one to one instruction. He will demonstrate a variety of techniques and approaches in pencil,
ink wash, oil and watercolor.
This year's intensive workshop will include a routine of morning instruction through lectures and demonstrations followed by an excursion to a wonderful place in Umbria and/or Tuscany where participants can draw, paint, make studies and/or digital photographs for use later. Synonymous with the painted study, is the notion of investigation. This is the core of the open-air workshop. Drawing and painting in Umbria at the villa, and in front of select vistas, in a relaxed and searching manner, coupled with the study of Renaissance painting methods during excursions, workshop participants become immersed in visual explorations.
Workshop participants have the unique opportunity to study and discuss Renaissance painting
concepts and methods on site in Assisi, Panicale, Citta della Pieve, Orvieto and Rome where many
of these important works were created, and where many are still located, with a painter who can
thoroughly discuss Renaissance painting from a painter’s perspective.
The painting methods and materials used throughout the Renaissance will be analyzed on our trip to Assisi with the 13th and early 14th century frescoes of Cavellini, Cimabue, Giotto, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini. Bill will discuss the Sinopia, Egg tempera, Gilding and Egg/Oil methods in front of works housed in the Basilica museum. Bill’s discussion on Assisi will set the background for the Renaissance. In other excursions in Umbria we will see fine examples of the Umbrian School, Renaissance painters such as Perugino and others.
In Orvieto we will see the beautiful Gothic Cathedral and the extraordinary fresco cycle in the Chapel of San Brizio by Signorelli. From 1500 to 1504 he depicted narratives on the Anti-Christ, The End of the World, the Damned and the Chosen in expressive multi-figural compositions on the walls of the chapel. These works inspired Michelangelo’s Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel. (During the optional Rome Add-on segment.)
Bill will discuss Renaissance painting in front of some of the most important works of the Renaissance and Italian Baroque periods.(*See optional Rome Add-on.)
In a true workshop spirit, we will provide you with aesthetic and technical information we hope you can make use of when you return to your own studios back home. We encourage you to keep journals to record ongoing discussions on: Methods, Materials, Manipulations, Techniques and Strategies used in Renaissance Painting.
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