Archives for May 2019

Sue Ford – multitalented, multimedia, multicoloured, multi-inspiring!

We have a couple of places left on Sue Ford‘s delightful painting course in July: in the Uccello bedroom and The Lippi Suite. (We’ll let the suite out for a single occupant, but it is ideal for a couple, so why not bring your partner, whether or not he or she wants to participate in the painting course. We have lots of fun activities for partners, or they may simply want to relax in the delightful surroundings of the Watermill.) You can find out more about Sue and her course at the Watermill by clicking here.

Sue Ford loves creating pictures in any medium – and she loves passing on what she’s learned to other people to help them release their creativity. She will with us from 13-20 July 2019 and will teach in watercolours, pastels, collage and mixed media plus acrylic. That’s one of her colourful, vibrant collages above. And here’s a pastel of Monterosso, one of the five villages of the Cinque Terre, an excursion venue during your Watermill week.

Relaxed, friendly, patient

As well as a multitalented, multimedia artist Sue is a very keen teacher. One of our previous guests on a previous course at the Watermill said: “Sue has a relaxed, friendly and very patient approach to tuition and encouraged us all to achieve as much as possible at our own level. She gave demo’s and one to one tuition when required. There was a wide choice of subject matter for sketching and painting both at the Watermill itself and on our excursions. All in all a most enjoyable week.”

Sue says: “Each student will be guided carefully throughout the day, from initial demonstration to getting started, followed by patient, professional tuition. I aim to help my students to create paintings which will give them the confidence in their abilities and help them to develop their own artistic vision.”

And the Watermill setting? One of our guests said: “I had a wonderful time. Everything was superb – the accommodation, the trips out and the food! Utterly wonderful. It was an experience that I will treasure.”

Put yourself in the picture

You can find out more about Sue and her course at the Watermill by clicking here.

Painting by Sue Ford, a tutor at The Watermill at Posara painting holidays/vacations, Tuscany, Italy.

Verrucola castle, from Sue Ford’s sketchbook

Everything is included in the cost of your holiday at the watermill: tuition, accommodation (including all linen and towels), pre-dinner aperitifs, all meals and wines (including outings to charming local restaurants) and all local transportation (including transfers to Pisa airport and an excursion by train to Lucca or the Cinque Terre). You get to Pisa, Italy, we do the rest!

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Enjoy a convivial, caring and inspiring week painting in Tuscany with Jude Scott

24 May By Bill Breckon

This is our enthusiastic and inspiring painting tutor Jude Scott, painting in her garden in Australia. Soon she will be bringing her skills and enthusiasm to teaching in our garden, too, and we still have a (very) few places left on her courses with us at the Watermill this year.

The Watermill at Posara for painting, knitting, creative writing, Italian language, yoga holidays/vacations, Tuscany, Italy.

The Watermill rose pergola, just waiting for you and Jude to paint!

Jude, from Western Australia, will be joining us for two weeks this summer. She will be teaching in watercolours (& acrylics and oils) from Saturday 17 August to Saturday, 24 August 2019 and from Saturday 24 August to Saturday 31 August 2019 and there are more details below. We have two or three places left for Jude’s first week (17-24 August) but just one place for her second week (24-31 August). We’d love you to join us on her convivial, caring and inspiring course. There are more details and links below.

Watercolours – and acrylics and oils

Jude loves watercolours for “their immediacy, unpredictability, translucency, dazzling colours and powerful tones,” but she also paints in, and is happy to teach in, acrylics and oils. She says: “I love a new challenge and paint all subjects.” Her favourites are serene landscapes and vibrant floral works. Her watercolour below is called Riverside.

Jude says: “A trip down to the river with the grandies resulted in this painting-they were having such a marvellous time spotting the enormous jellyfish! Sketches on site were used for a painting the next day. I began drawing the figures first from photographic references, flooding the background and foreground with water, dropping in the colour and allowing to dry. Then the figures and the shadows were painted and, after drying the darks were strengthened.”

Relax, be brave and don’t forget to breathe!

As for teaching, Jude says: “I love sharing what I have learnt over many years of painting and it is always a thrill watching ‘the artist within’ emerge from each individual student. I strongly encourage students to develop their own unique style of brush strokes and mark making: just relax, be brave, don’t forget to breathe and the rest will surely follow.”

One of her previous students said: “Jude was truly amazing, great tempo, strong knowledge base, strong interpersonal skills, just the right mix of doing and listening.” And another added: “She catered for the individual, encouraging a personal approach of expression, whilst at the same time teaching sound techniques. Her outgoing and bright personality really made her classes fun.”

The Watermill at Posara for painting, creative writing, knitting, and Italian language holidays/vacations/workshops, Tuscany, Italy.

Some lovely roses by Jude

Everything is included!

Jude Scott
17 – 24 August 2019 Two or three places left
24 – 31 August 2019 One place left
Watercolours (plus acrylics and oils)
To learn more about Jude and her courses at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

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Good morning from a sunny Posara!

23 May By Bill Breckon

Yes, it’s sunny at last. And above is a picture to prove it! Watermill guests Biddy and Clem Danin sitting in the warm Watermill courtyard, waiting to go out painting on location in the glorious Tuscan countryside. And here’s’s a picture of the newly renovated South facing watermill façade, basking in the early morning sun.Once the scaffolding had come down were amazed how large an area the façade is. It is the last but one major piece of restoration that we will undertake here. Next year we moved to the frantoio, the old olive press (below, suitably in the shade in the early morning when I took this photo), where Lois has wonderful plants to create a new sitting room with a terrace overlooking the millstream as it gushes down to the river.

Meanwhile, in the picture of the façade, you may just be able to spot the new photovoltaic cells which we have installed on the roofs of the restored 19^th century mill and on the studio. Here’s a close-up of some of them. We’ll be using the sunny days to produce our own electricity.

You will notice that we been able to save all the old tiles and replace them on the rebuilt roof. Now we are waiting for the Italian electricity company to connect our photovoltaic system to the National Grid. Once we are up and running, we think we’re going to be more than self-sufficient in electricity and hopefully, as well as saving the planet, will also have no electricity bills. We’ll wait and see whether that plan becomes reality: we have monitoring systems to assess just how much electricity we are making. As we get the photovoltaic system underway, will also be slowly extending our air conditioning system, which provides warmth as well is coolth. We have units in the studio, which proved useful in the unseasonably chilly weather in May, and in the dining room where, last night we needed to cool down! And we are keeping the cooks cool and calm in the kitchen! There are also units already in The Lippi Suite and in the Brunelleschi and Donatello bedrooms. It will be disruptive to try and do more during this season, but from next October onwards will move to putting air conditioning in all of the bedrooms. In the meantime, we will keep you cool as necessary with our highly efficient, good-looking, retro-design fans.

We’d love you to come and see everything for yourself, joining us in our idyllic setting in unspoiled rural Tuscany: Secluded gardens, sun-drenched terraces, a cool vine verandah, a gurgling river, beautifully restored historic buildings … bright airy bedrooms with new en suite bathrooms, and lovely views over the river, the gardens or the mountains … delicious food prepared from fresh local ingredients…

Just some of the delights of the Watermill. We specialise in relaxing, inspiring and fun-filled painting, creative writing and Italian language weeks, with internationally renowned tutors. “The most wonderful week, in a most beautiful and unique setting. One of the best holidays I have experienced.”

To learn more, please click here.

ere’s the latest list of what’s available. It’s followed by details and links of the other courses that are currently fully booked. But there are invariably cancellations, so if there’s a tutor or a date in whom/which you are particularly interested, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll put you on the waiting list. And why not bring your non-participating partners well? Not only is there a generous £250 reduction for them (sharing a room with you), but we have plenty of activities for them. Find out more about that by clicking here.

What’s available: Painting courses

We’ve listed the painting courses where we still have availability first, the others that are full, but for which there is a waiting list, follow these.

Sue Ford
13 – 20 July 2019 Two or three places left
Watercolours, pastels, collage and mixed media plus acrylics
To learn more about Sue and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Jude Scott
17 – 24 August 2019 Two or three places left
24 – 31 August 2019 One or two places left
Watercolours (plus acrylics and oils)
To learn more about Jude and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

The painting courses below are currently fully booked fully booked, BUT there are always cancellations. If you’d like to come on one of them, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: we will put you on a waiting list and let you know as soon as there is a space.

Sandra Strohschein
1 – 8 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
8 – 15 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Sandra and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Vicki Norman
22 – 29 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Oils en plein air
To learn more about Vicki and her course at the mill, please see our 2019 Courses Preview page.

Mike Willdridge
29 June – 6 July 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics with an emphasis on sketching and drawing on location)
To learn more about Mike and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Claire Warner
14 – 21 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours, oils and acrylics
To learn more about Claire and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Varvara Neiman
31 August – 7 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Water-based oils, acrylics and watercolours
To learn more about Varvara and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Maggie Renner Hellmann
21 – 28 September 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Courageous Color Workshop’ in oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolors
To learn more about Maggie and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Charles Sluga
28 September – 5 October 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours, acrylics and oils
To learn more about Charles and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

Tim Wilmot
5 – 12 October 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Tim and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

David Taylor
12 – 19 October 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about David and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.

What’s available: Knitting courses

The knitting weeks below are currently fully booked fully booked, BUT there are always cancellations. If you’d like to come , please don’t hesitate to get in touch: we will put you on a waiting list and let you know as soon as there is a space.

Debbie Abrahams
25 May – 1 June 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Knitting and La Dolce Vita
To learn more about Debbie and her knitting week at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Marie Wallin
6 – 13 July 2019 Fully booked, waiting list open
Knitting and La Dolce Vita
To learn more about Marie and her knitting week at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page

What’s available: Writing courses

Some of our guests on Jo’s 2018 creative writing course at the village of Verrucola

Jo Parfitt
15 – 22 June 2019 One place left
Write Your Life Stories
To learn more about Jo and her course at the mill, please visit her 2019 Profile Page.

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran
7 – 14 September 2019 Four or five places left
To learn more about Laurence and Maurice and to register an interest in their course at the mill, please visit their 2019 Profile Page.

Jumping for joy on a Watermill painting course!

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Good morning from the Watermill and a bunch of fascinating figures: 8, 70, 250, 25

22 May By Bill Breckon

Painting by Keiko Tanabe, a tutor at The Watermill at Posara painting holidays/vacations, Tuscany, Italy.

Evening shadows on the vine verandah, a painting by Keiko Tanabe.

After a wet and rainy couple of days, we have at last been able to get outside to paint and to enjoy our aperitivi under the vine verandah, serenaded by a couple of young local musicians as we sipped our Watermill cocktails and gins and tonics. Hooray!

Undaunted by the weather

As I surveyed the group, I noted that this is our most international gathering yet. We had no fewer than 8 different nationalities gathered for Keiko Tanabe’s painting course: Japanese, Portuguese, Israeli, American, Canadian, Swiss, Italian and British. Our reputation is spreading! A few years ago, we calculated that people from 70 different countries had visited the mill. We haven’t done a count recently, but it must be many more by now.

The Watermill at Posara for painting, knitting, creative writing, Italian language, personal development and yoga holidays/vacations/retreats, Tuscany, Italy.

Sunny, at last!

Another tremendous figure yesterday was that our bookings for 2019 have reached a record 250, beating the previous total of 232. So, our heartfelt thanks to everybody for supporting the Watermill. We enjoy your company and would like to meet many more of you in the future.

Which brings us to our final fascinating figure today, 25. That’s the number of people who have already booked for our 2020 courses. That’s not least because of the wonderful tutors who are coming next year but also because we have a special offer: if you book one of our 2020 creative courses before this September, you can enjoy it at 2019 prices. For a preview of next year’s courses and the link for you to reserve your place, please click here.

In the meantime, we still have a few places left on our painting and writing courses in 2019. There are details and links below. We’d love you to join us in our idyllic setting in unspoiled rural Tuscany: Secluded gardens, sun-drenched terraces, a cool vine verandah, a gurgling river, beautifully restored historic buildings … bright airy bedrooms with new en suite bathrooms, and lovely views over the river, the gardens or the mountains … delicious food prepared from fresh local ingredients…

Here’s the latest list of what’s available. It’s followed by details and links of the other courses that are currently fully booked. But there are invariably cancellations, so if there’s a tutor or a date in whom/which you are particularly interested, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll put you on the waiting list. And why not bring your non-participating partners well? Not only is there a generous £250 reduction for them (sharing a room with you), but we have plenty of activities for them. Find out more about that by clicking here.