Painting in Tuscany with Watercolour artist Cathy Earle
🗓️ September 25th to 2nd October 2027
🎨 Watercolour
Language: English
Full Board Accommodation: From 2295€ for 7 nights at our other venue Borgo Burlamacchi
Tutor's Fee: €500
Partners & family may join the trip as non-participating guests without the teaching fee.
Course Description
Immerse yourself in sunny Tuscany, Italy for five days of painting outdoors en plein air. You will learn to capture the movement of the flowers, and the shape and form of the landscape and architecture to tell a story with your images. Throughout the course, you will paint diverse subject matter including flowers, landscapes, architectural elements, and more.
We will start each day with a demonstration on how to approach the subject. I will help you to break everything down to seeing simple shapes of colour. You will do a practice exercise to figure out the best composition for each subject.
You will use a limited palate of three tubes of paint (red, yellow, blue) and mix all of your own colours to make all the different values needed for light and depth in your painting.
At the end of each day, you will have a chance to share your work with your peers and have a supportive and constructive critique. With each lesson, you will progressively develop more confidence and personal expression in your work.
Studio space is available in case of inclement weather
Course Outline
Saturday
16:00 Check-in, estate tour
19:00 Welcome dinner at Bagni di Lucca
Sunday
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
10:00-12:30 Painting in the gardens, demonstration
13:00-14:00 Farm-to-Table Lunch
14:00-16:30 Continued painting
19:00 Wine Aperitivo followed by dinner
Monday
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
10:00-12:30 Painting the Tuscan landscape
13:00-14:00 Farm-to-Table Lunch
14:00-16:30 Continued landscape painting, class critique
19:00 Wine Aperitivo followed by dinner
Tuesday
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
10:00-1:00 Lesson in architectural perspective at a local town
13:00-14:00 Farm-to-Table Lunch
14:00-16:30 Continued painting
19:00 Wine Aperitivo followed by dinner
Wednesday
08:30 - 9:30 - Italian breakfast
Class Break — Stay at the retreat and relax, or visit Florence/Lucca for the day
Thursday
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
10:00-12:30 A visit to Bagni di Lucca to paint and explore
13:00-14:00 Farm-to-Table Lunch
14:00-16:30 Continued painting, group critiqueo
19:00 Wine Aperitivo followed by dinner
Friday
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
10:00-12:30 Paint in the gardens
13:00-14:00 Farm-to-Table Lunch
14:00-17:00 Studio time to work on unfinished work and group critique
18:00 Class Exhibition & Wine Aperitivo
19:00 Dinner
Saturday
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
10:00 Checkout
About Cathy
Cathy Earle is a full-time watercolour artist and art instructor. She earned her Fine Arts degree at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) in Toronto, Canada where she learned her signature watercolour technique that she continues to use and teach, mixing all her paint colours and values from the primaries.
Cathy has been teaching beginner to advanced art classes to adults for over 35 years. Cathy’s focus for her students is to teach them to break things down into seeing the shapes and colour values from light to dark to get depth in their paintings.
She is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, The Ontario Society of Artists and the Colour and Form Society. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Canada.
Accommodation & Inclusions
Bedroom with shared bathroom:
Single occupancy: €2,295
Double occupancy: €3,295
Bedroom with ensuite:
Single occupancy: €2,590
Double occupancy: €3,590
Suite
Single occupancy: €2,890
Double occupancy: €3,890
Two bedroom suite
Double occupancy: €4,550
Extra person: €1,000 each
What's included
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7 nights accommodation
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Daily breakfast 5 lunches and 6 dinners with wine
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Pizza making experience
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Daily Aperitivo
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Painting Easel
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Arrival & departure transfers
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Infinity pool
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Wifi
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Laundry facilities
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VAT tax
What's not included
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City tax (€2.50 per person per day to be paid in cash on arrival)
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Day trips
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Art supplies
Optional Add-ons
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Massage
Materials to bring
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2H, 3H Pencils
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A water jar with a lid
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Arches 140 lb. watercolour paper (rough or cold press)
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Pads or blocks of Arches paper available in different sizes. Ranging from 8’’ x 10’’, 9” x 12’’ to 11” x 14”
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Two sheets of paper per day
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One good folding plastic palette with lots of large mixing areas.
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You will be doing a lot of mixing and you will need lots of mixing spaces in your palette..
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3 brushes to start, with a good point
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Medium size like an 8, or 10 (synthetic is fine), or 1/2 natural hair 1/2 synthetic
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I personally use Princeton Neptune brushes, which have a really nice point. It is helpful to have a larger brush such as the Princeton Neptune size 14, or 16 or 18, which hold a lot of water, have a great point, and are perfect for doing washes.
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3 tubes of watercolour paint either (DaVinci, Winsor Newton, or Daniel Smith brand)
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Yellow: Hansa Yellow Light, or Cadmium Lemon Yellow.
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Blue: Pthalo Blue, or Pthalo Blue Red Shade.
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Red: Red Rose Deep or Alizerin Crimson.
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Avoid any paints with the word “hue” on the label. These are cheaper in price but lower in quality.
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