Painting in the Val d’Orcia – Studio Italia

What does Studio Italia offer that you cannot find on the Internet?

OK! During the last few days, we have received a few phone calls and emails asking the same question about our painting workshops in Tuscany: “do you teach the following techniques…?” or “I want to learn this technique…”Of course, we teach techniques! But since teaching painting tips and techniques take only a few minutes (let’s say 10) and our workshop lasts 10 days (14,400), we have to offer much more than mere techniques. Moreover, we are in the era of the Internet. Offering a painting workshop today is not the same as it used to be in 1997. We all have evolved. For example, if you type on YouTube, “oil painting techniques”, you will get 267,000 results; “encaustic techniques” > 12,600; “How to paint a landscape” > 179,000; and wow, look at this one: “How to paint an Italian landscape” > 8,360. And many of these videos include step-by-step tutorials on topics as specific as “how to achieve heavily textured paintings” or “glazing oil painting technique the fast way”. Furthermore, you can even learn how to paint like your favorite artist: “how to paint like Van Gogh” > 18,000 results. And we could go on and on!

If our art workshops focused mostly on painting techniques, then why traveling to Italy and spending money when you could stay at home and learn everything you need through the Internet for free? So, why participating in one of our sessions of Studio Italia? Because art is more than techniques and we all know that. Art is the link between the painted subject and yourself and this is what we stress in Italy. One of our former participants described it as “a thought-provoking, reflective, and inspirational learning experience”.

Our small groups comprise artists of all levels, from beginners to advanced ones, who receive personalized instruction. Some need more technical instruction than others, but all are looking to move forward with their art. This is why our art theory lectures play a very important role because they help to foster creativity through a personal constant dialogue and the building of catwalks between distant ideas. These relationships are being constructed through “interaction”, “philosophical views”, “harmony”, “great conversation over candlelit dinners”, “gourmet meals”, “breathtaking views”, as written by some of our former artists of all levels (see testimonials at: https://walkthearts.com/_icscis/testimonials.shtml)

Italy, like the canvas, is a meeting place, a sort of Champ de Mars battleground on which we are all confronted with our true selves. Going there, stepping out geographically, allows us to step back from our own story, from our own history; it gives us permission to know another space, another time, with which we can compare. A 10-day stepping-back in Tuscany with a small group of like-minded adults in a fun and fulfilling environment the first step to let go and start painting our own stories in a personal manner. To find our own voice as an artist is imperative to grow and to push forward our art. And this takes more energy and reflection than simply learning techniques.

Group critique – Studio Italia June 2014

For our upcoming art workshops in Tuscany, please visit our website at:https://walkthearts.com/_painting_workshops/art_painting_workshops_italy.shtml