Overview

It has been three full days since we have been home, and we have unpacked our many purchased educational books, CDs and DVDs, downloaded and printed photos, and revisited our many pieces of artwork. We are still on ‘Cloud-9’ after spending four days in Florence and two weeks painting many of the medieval towns of Umbria. Over a course of almost three weeks, we have visited and seen numerous Etruscan and Roman ruins, beautiful elaborate Duomos (churches), medieval hill towns, historically significant artworks from the medieval to the Renaissance, and painted magnificent views. We drew our inspiration from this incredible journey and each of us created 30 – 40 pieces of artwork. Our travels started in Florence and then brought us to Terni, Valle San Martino, Orvieto, Carsulae, Todi, Massa Martana, San Gemini, Assisi, Montefalco, Spoleto, Cascata delle Marmore, Piedluco Lake, and Perugia.

The New Directions in Watermedia workshop not only provided us the opportunity to paint on location in some of the most beautiful medieval towns of Umbria, but in the evenings we learned various art techniques, which included: pouring watercolor, making and painting with tempera (with real egg yolk), gold leafing (imitation gold), exploring with Caran d’Ache and watercolor pencils, and working with conte. Also, don’t forget, we had the opportunity to make marbleized paper in Florence.

We have so much we want to share with our students, which will include lessons on:
A. Plein-air Painting
· History of plein-air painting
· Watercolor techniques
· Elements of a landscape
· Using a view finder
· Aerial perspective
· Linear perspective
· Packing a plein-air backpack
· Keeping a small sketchbook
· Field trip to paint on location
B. Italian Painting from Medieval to Renaissance
· Giotto, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Luca Signorelli, Michelangelo, Raphael
C. Descriptive Writing Based from a Painting
· Describing a landscape, Telling a story
D. History/Architecture
· Estrucan Ruins, Roman Ruins, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance
E. Science of Art
· How to make tempera paint, and painting frescoes
· Conservation of a fresco
· Gold leafing
· The process of making marbleized paper

Perugia, July 26th

The city of Perugia is built on a hill-top some 500 metres high with the oldest part of the city dating back to Etruscan times. We visited the National Gallery of Umbria which houses the most important and complete collection of Umbrian painting, embracing a period from the early 13th to the late 16th century. We saw a number of important paintings by Perugino, who taught the famous Renaissance artist, Raphael. We ended our visit by painting the Fontana Maggiore (fountain) in the Piazza Quattro November, one of the most beautiful squares in Umbria.

On Monday, July 27th, we pack and get ready to leave on Tuesday, July 28th, for a long flight home.

Piediluco, July 24th & Cascata delle Marmore, July 25th

Piediluco Lake is situated on the south eastern tip of Umbria and is the largest natural lake in the region. It closely resembles an Alpine lake, and it was interesting to see the Italian cypress trees growing along the shoreline. While we were visiting we watched the national Italian rowing team practicing for competitions. We spent the morning painting the lake and the boats.

The next day we went to Terni to visit the Cascata delle Marmore (Marmore Waterfalls). These falls are formed from the Piediluco Lake. In 271 B.C., it was the Roman consul, Manlio Curio Dentato, who created an open pit canal dug out in the rock that created the Cascata delle Marmore that spill into the Nera River below. The waterfalls are a beautiful site praised by artists, painters and poets. The misty spray from the waterfalls cooled us off while we painted.

Spoleto, July 23rd

Spoleto was at one time the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. You will observe the ancient Roman remains still evident in the restored first-century Roman Theatre, the Roman remains of arches such as, the Arco di Druso (dating back to 23 A.D.), the fourth century church San Salvatore, and the Roman engineered Ponte delle Torri (also known as the Roman aquaduct). We also visited the Duomo, whose facade is carefully designed of Romanesque and Renaissance elements. Inside this church, you will find fresoes by the great Florentine artist Fra' Filippo Lippi dating from 1469. Check out the photos and drawing.

Montefalco, July 22nd

On the way to Montefalco we stopped briefly at a sunflower field for a photo shoot. You can see from the photo that the sunflowers were almost as tall as us. We arrived at the ancient city of Roman origin. It's name means, "Falcon Mount", because it is so high up and provides spectacular views of the Umbrian landscape. We visited the church of San Francesco and studied the frescos of the Florentine painter, Benozzo Gozzoli.

Assisi, July 21st

Assisi is a Medieval town high up on the top of a hill. It is known as the "green heart" of Italy. The landscape includes the silver green on the valley floor from the olive groves, emerald green from the grape vines, and deep green from the evergreen oak trees. It was here that St. Francis was born and founded his new religious order. The San Francesco Basilica is frescoed from top to bottom by the leading artists of that day, such as: Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini, and Pietro Lorenzetti. These artists painted the life of St. Francis on the walls of the Basilica. A quote from St. Francis states, "slow down and be joyful...you have reached the hill of paradise and this church will knock you spiritual socks off". Which it definitely did!!!

Studio Day , July 20th

Today we got to spend the day in the studio and a chance to create art based on all of our experiences and everything we have seen so far. We have taken the plein-air painting techniques and combined them with some of the fresco compositions and architecture that we have seen in Florence , Siena, and the various Umbrian small hill towns.