Summer Painting and Art Enthusiast Workshop, 2012

June 23rd to July 3rd, 2012

We are delighted to offer our 2012 Summer Workshop to all painters and enthusiasts of the art and culture of Italy. For our Painters we offer two simultaneous workshops, one focusing on Open-Air Landscape Painting and the other Classical Painting for Contemporary Painters with Renaissance Painting Methods.

For our Art Enthusiasts we offer the beautiful Villa di Monte Solare with its tennis court, two large swimming pools, hiking trails to wonderful vistas, concert, spa, cooking classes, incredible gourmet dinners, a wine tasting dinner and more. Near the Villa are small and scenic hill towns and golf courses. There is our Art Hunt competition where art enthusiasts are bused to three hill towns in Umbria and search out art and cultural treasures with a prize to the winner. There are the scheduled day trips to Assisi, Florence, Panicale and Orvieto where art lovers can learn about the great art and the rich culture of Umbria and Tuscany. We top off our summer workshop with a three-day visit to Rome, at an elegant hotel with five educational walking tours and memorable Roman dinners.

PAINTING WORKSHOP

On our Classical, painting workshop Bill will introduce a series of progressive painting projects that will teach the fundamentals of Classical Painting. This segment if very appropriate for beginning painters. Bill will demonstrate and discuss the importance of understanding the principles of value, light and shade, perspective, mixing and using color and more. How do we see forms in space? How do we paint them realistically? How do we model forms? How do we compose our paintings? What is Composition? Why do many Contemporary Realists believe that painting is mostly about light? He will discuss several painters including Vermeer, the master of painting light and air.

Bill, also will demonstrate Renaissance painting methods, Egg Tempera, Under Painting in Tones and Glazing in oil. How did Botticelli Paint? How did Raphael Paint? How did Leonardo paint? Does learning how Renaissance painters worked help us with our painting? What modern materials can replicate some of the materials Raphael used? What does Raphael’s extensive preparatory work in drawing and design tell us about our composing strategies? Can we make silverpoint drawings as sensitive as Leonardo’s?

Our goal is not to make paintings like fifteenth century painters, but to make our own paintings in our time as good as Renaissance painters. One can learn from books etc. materials of Renaissance painters, but we learn from Bill Patterson how they actually painted. How thin or thick was their paint? How opaque or transparent?

You will learn from Renaissance painters how to use all kinds of brushes and paint manipulations. Bill stresses the importance of touch in drawing and painting.

Participants will be given prepared paper and a silverpoint stylus to explore silverpoint drawing while learning the touch of Raphael. You will be given one or two small-prepared panels to experiment with the stages and layers of painting like Leonardo, and other Renaissance painters. We will explore various underpainting techniques and see what a real glaze looks like while we learn when and why we glaze.

Bill will also make available his workshop teaching notes that will mirror and amplify everything discussed and presented during our workshop including instruction, recipes, materials, and suppliers.

Individual instruction and personal critiques will be offered throughout the workshop.

 OPEN-AIR LANDSCAPE IN THE BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE AROUND THE VILLA

 View From the Villa, (open-air painting by one of our former workshop participants)

The parallel thrust of this year’s workshop is open-air painting. Painting demonstrations and presentations are held in the gardens and grounds of the spectacular Villa di Monte Solare and we paint on location in some of the most beautiful landscape locations in Umbria.

Bill will conduct demonstrations in Open-Air Landscape, Watercolor, Pencil and Alla Prima Oil. The Painted Sketch will be discussed. You will see in the itinerary he has planned several specific lessons dealing with painting issues one confronts when working on site in the open-air. Participants can paint in a non-pressured situation where painting oil sketches on location can be the most beneficial use of your painting time in Italy.

Synonymous with the painted study is the notion of investigation. This is the core of the 2012 Summer 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 Classical Realism with Renaissance painting methods, workshop participants become immersed in visual explorations.

THE 2012 WORKSHOP CAN BE FULLY ENJOYED BY OUR ART ENTHUSIASTS

The 2012 Summer Workshop in Italy can be fully enjoyed by both painters and art/culture enthusiasts who come to learn more about the history, art, culture, cuisine and wines of Italy. Many features have been put into the summer workshop with our art lovers in mind and many in the past have commented on the terrific educational vacation they have had on our workshops.

We welcome and encourage art/culture enthusiasts to join the 2012 workshop in Italy. In Florence, Assisi, Panicale, Orvieto, and Rome we will lead you to important and famous sites, but unique to our tours are the “out of the way” scenic hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany where we experience the best of Italy. Participants enjoy the stimulating atmosphere of the major cities we visit woven together with the peaceful tranquility of the Umbrian and Tuscan countryside as we wind our way through narrow country roads up to the hill towns taking in the fields of sunflowers or the vineyards stretched out through the landscape.

ARTISTS AND ART ENTHUSIASTS-OUR 2012 SUMMER WORKSHOP HELD AT
THE SPECTACULAR VILLA DI MONTE SOLARE IN UMBRIA

Villa Web Site: (www.villamontesolare.com)

Our location at a beautiful and elegant villa in Umbria is an ideal setting for our 2012 program.

The owners of one 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. 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.”

The villa resort offers extensive walking trails to many beautiful landscape locations, picturesque gardens, olive groves, vineyards. Above the Villa, there are spectacular panoramic views of the Umbrian landscape with the famous Lake Trasimeno as seen in the picture below.

 View From the Villa in Umbria with Lake Trasimeno (in the upper left of the picture)

Paint and draw in the serene gardens. Enjoy vistas overlooking Lake Trasimeno. Paint en-plein air. Study landscape.

We are in residence at our spectacular villa for seven nights. (Rome for three nights) One can un-pack once and enjoy, all the amenities, educational - recreational activities and excursions mentioned above without dragging suitcases from here to there. When returning from our workshops and excursions participants can look forward to enjoying the villa, the surroundings, and the elegant and comfortable air-conditioned rooms. Enjoy walking tours near the villa. Taste the great wines of Umbria during Fillipo’s fantastic wine dinner. Enjoy dinners 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 gardens.

Paint with directed, focused and informative lessons. Learn from the presentations and demonstrations about Pigments, Silverpoint, Egg Tempera, under painting and glazing with oil, drawing, composition and painting “Alla Prima” in oil and/or watercolor. Explore the painted sketch, whether minutely conceived or broadly brushed. Fill your journal with notes on Classical Painting, Renaissance painting methods and landscape painting. Study how Renaissance painters worked as we analyze paintings on site in the museums and churches of Assisi, Florence, Panicale, Orvieto, and Rome.

A concert is offered after dinner once a week in the chapel of Santa Lucia in the gardens of the villa. 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. In addition, there are two excellent golf courses nearby.

GENUINE UMBRIAN CUISINE, GREAT UMBRIAN WINES

Throughout the workshop, participants will enjoy a continental breakfast, some lunches and incredible gourmet dinners. Everyone enjoys Filippo’s wine tasting where he pairs wonderful Umbrian wines with a four-course dinner. The wine cellar at the villa contains over 150 Umbrian wines that we cannot buy in the States. On our excursion to Assisi, we will lunch at a wonderful trattoria where we can experience additional tastes of Umbrian Cuisine. In Rome, we will dine at two spectacular Roman Restaurants. We look forward to the cuisine, the local wines and the gorgeous vineyards around the Villa.

 

 

PAINTING WORKSHOPS TAUGHT BY CLASSICAL REALIST PAINTER AND PROFESSOR WILLIAM PATTERSON
ASSISTED BY CAROLYN PATTERSON

Professor and Classical Realist painter, William Patterson (www.williampattersonstudio.com) a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and Professor Emeritus at The University of Massachusetts has an extensive knowledge of the art and culture of Italy and spent many years teaching in Italy. He directed Programs in Europe for his University. He recently was the painting professor at the University of Georgia’s Cortona, Italy program. He continues to teach, Classical Realism, open-air landscape and the history of painting methods and materials from a studio perspective in his classes.

Carolyn Patterson has her BFA from The Hartford Art School and works as painter in watercolor, egg tempera, acrylic and oil. She is also a Classical Realist painter and will assist during the painting demonstrations and with individual instruction.

Professor Patterson designs his painting demonstrations and presentations on open-Air landscape, Classical Painting and painting methods used during the Italian Renaissance to be very relevant for contemporary classical realist painters. He will discuss all modern pigments and contemporary painting methods and materials together with those practiced and used during the 14th an 15th centuries. We hope what we offer in our workshops can be utilized in practical ways by participants in their own studios at home.

Art enthusiasts participating in the painting workshop will see Renaissance paintings illuminated by why and how they were painted.

EXCURSIONS ARE DESIGNED TO INTERTWINE WITH PAINTING DEMONSTRATIONS

Excursions are timed to occur before or right after our painting presentations. For example, when we are introduced to egg tempera painting we will see firsthand some of the greatest temperas ever created by Botticelli, Fra Angelico and others in Assisi and Florence. When we demonstrate under painting and glazing, you will develop an understanding by experimenting on your trial panels and by studying and discussing Renaissance paintings in the Uffizi in Florence and later In Rome.

We present and discuss open-air painting throughout the workshop. One of the slide lectures will be about Corot and the Open-Air Painters of Rome, 1780-1860. In Rome, we will visit many of Corot’s painting sites, which by the way are almost identical to what he looked at in 1825-26.

We will personally lead participants on wonderful excursions to Florence, Assisi, Panicale, Orvieto and Rome to see and discuss Renaissance Painting and to seek out the hidden art, architectural and cultural treasures. We will introduce workshop participants to some of the most important art and cultural centers of Italy, as we enjoy the pleasures of its cuisine and its wines. In our workshops in Italy, some of our participants enjoy painting en plein air on our excursions. Each destination has a wealth of landscape and cityscape subject matter that for many painters is very stimulating. Participants also take digitals and make small “Pencil Paintings” while travelling for use in their studios back home.

ASSISI

Painting methods, materials and pictorial concepts used before 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 and its history will set the background for the Renaissance.

 

 

FLORENCE

Florence, the city of the Renaissance with its wonderful dome by Brunelleschi and sculpture of Michelangelo, houses some of the greatest painting of the Renaissance period. We will explore all this in planned walking tours culminating with the Uffizi Gallery. We will also give you free time for shopping and to visit sites you are especially interested in or walk around Florence at your leisure soaking up the ambience of this Renaissance city.

ORVIETO

On our visit to Orvieto, we will see the beautiful Italian 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.

 

To the left-Orvieto Cathedral

 

 

ROME-THREE NIGHTS AT OUR ELEGANT HOTEL IN THE HEART OF HISTORIC ROME
WITHIN A STONES THROW FROM THE PANTHEON
OUR HOTEL IN ROME

Our Hotel’s web site: (www.albergodelsenato.it)

Our hotel in Rome in the center with the Pantheon to the right

On the morning of June 30th, we will be transported from the villa for our visit to Orvieto and to The Center of Rome. You will be taken to the Hotel del Senato in the heart of Old Rome on the Piazza Della Rotunda and the Pantheon for a three-night stay. The location is ideal because we can walk from the hotel to many of Rome’s most important artistic and historical sites. The hotel is elegant and some rooms have a view to the piazza and the Pantheon. Participants always enjoy the roof top terrace bar. From here, we can discuss the great art we have been seeing in Rome overlooking a wonderful vista of the city.

The Hotel Reception at our Hotel in Rome		The Roof Top Terrace with the Pantheon

ROME ART WALKS
Works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Bernini, Borromini

Piazza Navona, the Fountains in the foreground and at the center are by Bernini, Walk #1

After our check in, we will lead our participants on a walk, #1 of Old Rome. This is the Rome of the Pantheon, Piazza Navona with its beautiful fountains by Bernini. It is the Rome of the Renaissance and the Italian Baroque. We will search out the great paintings housed in intimate chapels and on the walls and ceilings in some of the most impressive Churches of Post Reformation Rome. We will see many of the greatest Caravaggio paintings in their original locations. Along with Domenichino, Lan Franco, Pozzo and others. We will visit the only Gothic church in Rome, which houses works by Filippino Lippi, Michelangelo and others. ---And More! Tonight we dine at one of Rome’s wonderful restaurants and later walk to the Trevi Fountain. How about a Gelato at Rome’s best gelateria to top off our eventful day?

Sunday morning is free. Early afternoon, walk #2. We visit the Borghese Museum and Picture Gallery with its wonderful sculpture and painting collections. Cardinal Scipione Borghese 1613-15 built the Villa Borghese and the gardens. One of the primary purposes of the villa was to house his extensive art collection. The museum itself is a masterpiece of interior design. Many of the ceilings are decorated with extraordinary Baroque Paintings. The architectural detail in each room is superb. Here we will see Some of Bernini’s finest sculpture, several Caravaggio paintings and works by Perugino, Raphael, Titian and much more.

Next, walk #3. We tour through parts of Ancient Rome and to some of the Corot Painting sites in Rome. We begin at the Piazza del Campidoglio designed by Michelangelo on to the Forum and the Colosseum. We will visit the Farnese Gardens where participants can draw in the identical locations where Corot and other Open-Air Painters of Rome painted. This will be a high light of our Rome visit for many. We return to our hotel for a needed beverage on the roof top terrace of the Senato.

Monday morning, walk #4. We will meet in the lobby of our hotel for our visit to the Vatican Museums and Saint Peters Basilica. Bill will lead us through the Pinocoteca, the gallery housing paintings from the Early Renaissance to the Baroque periods while discussing the historical evolution of painting methods, design, and imagery in front of specific works, including egg tempera, egg oil emulsions, and oil that took place during the Renaissance. We will walk through the rooms with fine examples of Classical sculpture and on to the Raphael Apartments. Next, we will visit the Sistine Chapel and exit to Saint Peters Basilica. After our visit to Saint Peters, we will finish our Vatican walk in the wonderful Piazza Bernini created as an entrance to the basilica where Professor Patterson will put into historical perspective much of what we have just seen.

Later in the afternoon, walk # 5. Bill will lead a walk through the Campo di Fiore, Piazza Farnese to Palazzo Spada where we can see the famous Borromini Corridor. We will then cross the Tiber River and to Trastevere one of the oldest neighborhoods in Rome. The sites and historical references are numerous on this walk. Santa Maria in Trastevere is an Early Christian Church founded in the fourth century. It was rebuilt in the twelfth century. The Apse is completely decorated with Mosaics. In 1291 Cavellini, one of Giotto’s teachers added scenes from the Life of the Virgin. These images represent some of the first narratives in Western art and a departure from Byzantine canons.

After visiting other sites in the area we visit the famous Fontana dell’ Aqua Paola and take in the wonderful panoramic views of Rome. We stop by to see the wonderful little Tempietto by Bramante 1502. Some think of the Tempietto as the first true Renaissance building in Rome. After walking by the American American Academy for two years, we reach the neighborhood where we will celebrate our finale dinner. Bill has been coming to this restaurant since his Academy days in 1966-67. It is still run by the same family and is one of the finest restaurants in Rome. You will hear English being spoken here by artists and scholars from the American Academy, but you will not see any tourists dining here.

This is truly a Roman restaurant and we will enjoy a wonderful Roman meal with choice wines from Italy. After dinner, Taxicabs will return us to our hotel. Perhaps a beverage on the roof top terrace would be an appropriate way to end another wonderful day in Rome and our 2012 Summer Workshop.

Note: All materials to do Silverpoint drawing including a silverpoint stylus and paper that has been prepared with a ground especially formulated to accept the silverpoint, (we will give you this and many more recipes and formulas for drawing and painting in Bill’s demonstrations. Pigments and gessoed panels, one for egg tempera and one for under painting and glazing experiments will be supplied to each participant. We also will supply mediums oil, liquin, special painting mediums etc.) and solvent for oil painting.

Bring your oil paints, watercolor paints and watercolor blocks Canvas pads are excellent for travel. A proposed supply list will be sent upon registration. Bring your French or portable easel.

REGISTER FOR THE WORKSHOP >>>>

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