Archives for September 2019

On Thursdays, after the excitements of their Wednesday excursions, we take our creative courses guests to the calm Convento del Carmine, a little beyond and above the nearby town of Fivizzano, with views over the town and the surrounding hills.

The convent (that’s what they call it, although the former inmates were monks, not nuns) is of the Carmelite order dates back to 1568. The Renaissance-style building has cloisters with sandstone columns and lunettes decorated with murals attributed to Stefano Lemmi of the Bolognese school of artists. It is surrounded by lovely gardens and 17 secluded hectares of pines, walnut, chestnut, cypress and fruit trees, meadows and streams and is now used as a venue for romantic weddings. (Incidentally the President of Italy and the president of Germany lunch there recently when they were in this area to commemorate the tragic events of August 1944, a dreadful time in northern Italy as the Allies pushed back the Germans.)

The convent, which was closed down in 1782, certainly is calm and peaceful, and our guests enjoy the exclusive use of its cloisters, gardens and grounds, and a delicious, gourmet picnic.

Many of our painting guests prefer to paint in the gardens and grounds, finding the curves and the perspective of the vaulted cloisters somewhat daunting, but many rise to the challenge. Here, for example, is a lovely watercolour sketch by one of our guests, Robert Christopher.

And a few more guests concentrating on getting it right.

Or you may prefer to enjoy fresh air in the gardens and paint the views. Lou Renner took these pictures on last week’s painting course tutored by his wife Maggie Renner Hellmann.

Here is Maggie herself capturing the curves undaunted.

Whether you want to tackle complicated perspective or just enjoy tranquil surroundings, you will find the convent a marvellous place to be. Why not join us and see for yourself on one of our sun-filled, fun-filled, inspiring painting courses. You can find out all about them by clicking here.

Places are filling fast for 2020, so if you’d like to reserve a place, now really is the time to book, especially as you can take advantage of our Early Bird Discount Offer: if you book before the end of this year there is £75 (English pounds) per person off any of our courses.

On Tuesdays, after they have enjoyed the sights and sounds of the weekly market in the mediaeval walled town of Fivizzano, and savoured a panino and home-made ice cream in the gelateria in the town’s main square, our painting guests often like to wander down to the Piazza Belvedere, and the terrace with lovely views down the Valley of the River Rosaro towards our village of Posara.

It’s quite a difficult subject to paint, but our guests go for it with gusto. The photograph at the top of this post is of Mary King, a guest on Maggie Renner Hellmann’s course, getting to work last Tuesday afternoon. And here’s Maggie’s demonstration picture in progress, already a colourful painting, even though it’s only half finished!

Maggie describes her painting week as a Courageous Color Workshop and we are looking forward to welcoming her back next year for not one, but two, weeks, capturing the wonderful scenery of Lunigiana surrounding the Watermill in colourful pictures. Her weeks will run from Saturday 12 September to Saturday 19 September 2020 and from Saturday 19 September to Saturday 26 September 2020. We would love you to join us.

You can find out more about Maggie and her courses in 2020 by clicking here. As I always say this time of year, now really is the time to book to be sure of your place, and to take advantage of our Early Bird Discount Offer: £75 (English pounds) per person off either of Maggie’s inspiring Courageous Color workshops. Come for one week if you like, or double the fun by booking two!

Artists have the capacity to make the mundane interesting, to ‘see’ something we ordinary mortals pass blithely by. And at the risk of being accused the Brummism*, nothing could be much more mundane than the passenger concourse of Birmingham’s New Street train station in the Midlands of England.

But in a couple of pages of his sketchbook, Watermill painting tutor Carl March has turned the mundane into something vivacious. Above are the two pages of the sketchbook and below I have isolated and enlarged the left- and right-hand pages.

Carl tells me: “During the summer I entered some work for the Stratford Upon Art Society 60th annual exhibition. I was very fortunate to receive the ‘bronze award’ from the President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, for an ink drawing of mine called ‘New Street Station passenger concourse’. I was chuffed to bits, especially as it was the first time I had submitted work for this prestigious exhibition.”

Carl March will be with us next year for a week-long painting course called ‘Drawing and Painting for Pleasure’. It will run from 18-25 April 2020.

Drawing and design are Carl’s passions: he likes to experiment with various drawing mediums, combining them with traditional watercolour painting processes to create distinctively subtle works. They are regularly to be seen at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions in London. The evocative watercolour below is called Hotel Garden and was painted in Paphos, in Cyprus.

Carl is also a great teacher. He says: “I love the genuine satisfaction in passing on my knowledge to others. For example, demonstrating a ‘step by step’ exercise, then witnessing students repeat the exercise for themselves. Suddenly the penny drops, and it all makes sense. Surely this is the real reward for any teacher.”

Here’s a comment from a previous student: “Carl has a gentle but effective way of teaching and we have learnt a lot from. Most importantly, however, under his guidance the class always becomes a very sociable and happy group. Quite simply, his classes are not only well planned and informative but also great fun.” 

We already have eight people signed up for Carl’s 2020 course at the Watermill, so if you’d like to join us, now really is the time to book. And don’t forget our Early Bird discount offer: If you book before 31 December 2019 there’s a £75 (English pounds) per person discount on this fabulous 2020 painting holiday.

You can find out more about Carl at his course at the Watermill by clicking here. We would love you to join us.

(*For our American and Australian friends, Brum is a slang name for Birmingham and Brummies are natives of that city. I made up the word Brummism, antipathy to Brum, but I hope to see it in the Oxford University Dictionary in the fullness of time.)

I love seeing how artists interpret the landscape, adding colour and emotion to the scene before them. The picture above, by painting tutor Maggie Renner Hellmann, is a fine example of what I mean.

It’s a demonstration in progress of the castle and village of Verrucola, where we go on Mondays during our painting weeks. Aren’t the colours vibrant? That’s hardly surprising since Maggie describes a week as a Courageous Color Workshop. (She’s American, sorry about the spelling!) Here’s a photograph of the same scene, picturesque and imposing, but by no means as colourful.

Our guests on Maggie’s course seem to be having a colourful week and we are looking forward to welcoming Maggie back next year for not one, but two, weeks, bringing the wonderful scenery of Lunigiana surrounding the Watermill, two glorious life. Her weeks will run from Saturday 12 September to Saturday 19 September 2020 and from Saturday 19 September to Saturday 26 September 2020.

We would love you to join us. You can find out more about Maggie and her courses in 2020 by clicking here. As I always say this time of year, it really is the time to book to be sure of your place, and to take advantage of our Early Bird Discount Offer: £75 (English pounds) per person off either one of Maggie’s inspiring Courageous Color workshops. Come for one week if you like, but thinking of birds, just think what toucan do! (Sorry about that!)

Every Friday evening on our painting courses we have an impromptu and informal exhibition of the work our students have produced during the week. It’s very relaxed and unpressurised and we add to the enjoyment by providing a glass or two of prosecco to give even more sparkle to the proceedings.

Our guest Jennifer Horn, who was on Claire Warner’s lovely painting course a week or so ago, sent me some pictures of the animated proceedings, like the one above. Thank you very much, Jennifer.

And here’s our manager, Karsten Muller, admiring some paintings with tutor Claire.

And here’s Bill Breckon, looking as if he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to art!

Why not put your pictures in the picture and join us on one of our sun-filled, fun-filled, inspiring painting courses next year? We would be delighted to welcome you here. You can find details of all our courses by clicking here.

Bookings for next year are already flowing in, so now is the time to book your place, especially as you can take advantage of our Early Bird Discount Offer: £75 (English pounds) per person off any of our creative courses in 2020, if you book before the end of this year. If you want to be sure of a particular date, however, or a particular tutor, or a particular bedroom, it would be wisest to do so quickly, as we are beginning to fill up.

We will raise a glass of prosecco to you too!