ITALY 2025

Posted on October 27, 2025 by splashingpaint

The textures and colors of Italy have made it one of my favourite painting locations. We spent a few days in Florence before heading off to Tenuta di Sticciano, between Florence and San Gimignano, for an 8 day painting retreat. I had a small, enthusiastic group of artists, a spacious studio and beautiful surroundings right in the middle of some of the best Tuscan villages and landscapes.

Early morning light on the Ponte Vecchio is one of the treats of Florence

Florence Cathedral built in the 14th century without power tools, cranes, laser levels or computers – just a lot of hard working, skilled craftsmen with a hundred years to get the job done.

Plain air painting at Tenuta di Sticciano

Our chef spoiled us with some fantastic traditional wood fired Pizzas

The painting studio at Tenuta di Sticciano was a great room. It was good to be able to display everyones work on the last day and enjoy what we had achieved with a glass of local wine.

Beautiful Tuscan sunsets from our accommodation…

…and some heavy Tuscan fogs before the sun rose.

Hats off to Tori who managed to swim laps every morning – undaunted by fog and low temperatures!

We visited a number of wonderful Medieval Tuscan villages, sketching and taking photographs which formed the basis for our paintings back in the studio.

Always lots of geraniums.

San Gimignano – Amazing textures, wonderful earthy colors and the worlds best Gelato’s

Beautiful brick and stone wall in Castellina in Chianti

We couldn’t have a painting retreat in Italy without including a red Vespa.

After the retreat in Tuscany Dianne and I caught the fast train to Rome. We made our way slowly through the Vatican Museum and enjoyed wandering around the city for three days.

From Rome we headed up to the hill town of Cortona. The town’s history goes back to Etruscan times and it’s location, on top of a steep hill surrounded by flat plains is spectacular. The highest point in the town is dominated by a Medici Fort which is now a series of galleries presenting some fantastic photographic exhibitions.

View of the only level street in Cortona from our apartment window.

Breakfast with a view across the plains to distant mountains was amazing.

Not far from Cortona by train is the city of Arezzo – full of narrow winding streets and in the Piazza Crande is the impressive 12th Century church, Santa Maria della Pieve

Our stay in Italy was over way too quickly. Europe to Australia without a stop over is not a pleasant trip. We arrived back in Brisbane airport full of great memories but feeling like exhausted zombies.

FRANCE

Posted on October 22, 2024 by splashingpaint

From Marrakesh we flew to Toulouse where we had a couple of days to explore the city. We were then picked up by a driver and taken through the French countryside to Domaine d’En Naudet, the beautiful venue for our week long painting retreat hosted by Uptrek.

Winding streets of Toulouse.

Bridge over the river Tarn, Toulouse.

View of the countryside from the tower at Domaine d’En Naudet. The foreground trees are oaks planted to grow truffles.

Domaine d’En Naudet

The tower at Domaine d’En Naudet was originally built for protection then in the early 1800’s converted to a pigeon house. It now serves as tall, thin accommodation.

Our painting group gathered under the tower

We were spoilt with a huge, well lit studio with attached kitchen and bathrooms and views from every window. Our hosts, Sophie and Nicholas, spoilt us with cakes, pastries, biscuits, cheese, fruit and coffee while we were busy painting in the studio

One of the downstairs windows at Domaine d’En Naudet.

Our host Nicholas arranged for us to visit his nearby neighbour, Madeline. She lives in a wonderfull old Medieval house with attached barn. It was a magnificent, unspoilt building and a pleasure to sit and paint the rustic details

The town of Albi was a spectacular surprise

Ancient brick and stonework reveals the history of these fantastic old buildings. Centuries of alterations, renovations and repairs create an amazing texture and expose the skill of these tradesmen over the centuries.

A modern steel gate blends beautifully with the ancient brickwork.

Saint-Salvy Cloister – Albi

Painting Albi from across the river Tarn

Sainte-Cecile Cathedral in Albi sure is an impressive building – lots of intricate, intersecting curves built entirely of brick.

Next to the Cathedral Sainte-Cecile is the Toulouse Lautrec museum. Another massive, construction all built from brick with a great collection of Lautrec’s paintings drawings and posters.

Château Lastours sits on the banks of the Tarn River surrounded by beautiful vineyards. We had a tour through their winery one afternoon, and sampled some fabulous wines – all stopped with cork, unlike the screw caps that have taken over in Australia.

Château Lastours old store room

Old church in the grounds of Château Lastours

Not far from Château Lastours, on the way back to Domaine d’En Naudet, Nicholas took us to the village of Lisle-sur-Tarn. The village dates back to the 13th century and many of the old Medieval buildings are still intact. Taxes were paid on the footprint of a building, so it was common practise to build a small footprint ground floor, then cantilever a larger second story.

Southern France’s Occitanie region is a beautiful landscape filled with well preserved medieval towns and villages that make visible its long and fascinating history.

A wonderful place for a painting retreat.

Many thanks to Nicholas and Sophie for being such wonderful hosts, to Uptrek for organising the retreat and to the fabulous group of people who made the retreat so memorable and enjoyable.

MOROCCO

Posted on October 10, 2024 by splashingpaint

A short five day stay in Marrakesh between workshops was a lot of hectic fun. The city is a labyrinth of busy, narrow alley ways lined with merchants trying hard to sell stuff. The bicycles, donkey carts and pedestrians all seem lost and in a hurry.

Everything stationary eventually acquires the red/brown color of the desert which makes the colorful products of the merchants appear brighter and more saturated. It is a fantastic looking city with spectacular sunsets and sunrises.

We hired a driver to take us up into the Atlas Mountains to see some of the small villages. The driver was recommended by the people running the riad we stayed in. He was great – he knew what we wanted to see and avoided the tourist places where everyone wants to sell you something or sit you on a camel.

Morocco is still suffering after the earthquake that struck the country a year ago. Many buildings were destroyed or damaged and rebuilding is still going on in Marrakesh and in some of the small villages up in the Atlas Mountains. Concrete block is replacing the traditional mud and terracotta brick, but they are rendered and painted the earth color of the original materials so the repairs are not too obvious.

I would love to visit some of the small villages on the flat country around Marrakech but five days is just not long enough!

PORTUGAL

Posted on September 29, 2024 by splashingpaint

After a three year postponement due to covid, our Portugal workshop finally went ahead. We were joined by our guides Amanda and Gordon and around twenty keen painters. The workshop started in Lisbon where we all got to know each other and some great friendships were formed. A mixture of painting, sightseeing, shopping, wining and dining kept us all very busy.

The view from the rooftop bar at our hotel in Lisbon was stunning. It’s a densely packed city and most of the population seem to be out walking.

Most towns we visited in Portugal had beautifully tiled streets and pavements – time consuming work to lay all these tiny stone blocks by hand but it looks fantastic.

Lisbon’s vintage trams move people around the city centre pretty efficiently but walking seems to be the preferred mode of transport.

Fancy neon

The streets and alleyways are a great place to take photographs. There is always somewhere catching just the right light and the bends, twists and undulations make interesting compositions.

Stacked wine glasses in a restaurant window

Interesting machine parked outside a high end store

Porto was clouded in smoke from nearby bushfires. It was hard to breathe, it stung your eyes, but looked fantastic

Strange red sun as it set through a curtain of smoke

Traditional river boats in Porto are still built and maintained on the riverside slipway

Fantastic old buildings perched along the riverside in Porto

Washing day

…Cant resist a pink wall

We toured the palace in Sintra then painted in the town square.

This beautiful building was tucked into the hillside above the town of Sintra

Azenhas do Mar was a beautiful seaside town where we spent a day painting and enjoying the warm coastal weather.

Lunch on the beach with Amanda and Gordon – Azenhas do Mar

Most abandoned buildings eventually attract a coating of graffiti

Dried, salted Cod waiting to be turned into a tasty delicacy.

Bridge over the Douro River in Porto.

TASMANIA

Posted on March 27, 2024 by splashingpaint

What a lot of fun, six weeks of workshops and travel in Tasmania. We had two workshops in Hobart and one traveling from Launceston to Smithton then on to Strahan and finally back to Hobart. We were spoilt with fabulous food, great accommodation, wonderful company and a coach to take us to the numerous painting locations.

We had some great painting locations and also did a lot of sketches.

While in Hobart we traveled down to the village of Franklin – Famous for it’s wooden boats

Beautifully built from Huon Pine

Life on the river

Late afternoon light was amazing.

The old boathouse where wooden boats are built and repaired.

Parked carefully in a shed, this old Suzuki still has a lot of life in it yet.

I cant resist photographing houses painted this crazy green

Strahan Evening

Strahan early in the morning

Hells Gate lighthouse

There are some fantastic old wooden boat sheds, apple sheds and huts south of Hobart – some in better condition than others.

After the workshop Dianne and I drove down to Cockle Creek, the southern tip of Tasmania. Great camping spots, beautiful beaches and inlets.

We were lucky to see this Spotted Quoll out foraging

Great birdlife too.

Tasmania is a great place to travel. It is small and easy to get around, it has a huge variety of attractions. We travelled from the cold dramatic Western Tiers and Highland Lakes down to the sunny comfort of the coast in a couple of hours. The forests of the extreme south are unspoilt and beautiful. Tasmania’s history is dramatic and well preserved, and the state has some of the best food, wine and beer in Australia.

Well worth a visit.

WEST TO WINTON

Posted on June 29, 2022 by splashingpaint

A workshop in Blackall and another spread between Longreach and Winton saw us load up the truck and head off to central Queensland for six weeks. The country was incredibly green after all the rain and flooding. Many roads were still closed and venturing off the bitumen was a slippery, muddy exercise.

Silos on the road to Roma

This old pub at Wallumbilla looks less than inviting soaked in rain and surrounded by mud, but the local graziers couldn’t be happier.

Retirement green confusion – Morvan.

Early morning – Morven waterhole

Disused railway crane – Morven

Camping out of Tambo was a little tricky – where there wasn’t grass there was thick, sticky mud.

Sunrise through a layer of fog, Tambo

Union Hotel Blackall – still sells cold beer, but not much else

The weekly cattle sale in Blackall saw some fat’ healthy cattle, happy sellers and not so happy re-stockers.

Lisa and Bruce, from one of the big sheep stations out of Blackall, invited us out to see the end of the shearing.

These guys work flat out, fired up by loud, fast music, high demand and and a competitive attitude.

Shearing their way through several thousand sheep is hard, back breaking work.

Ancient Technology from the Isisford Picture Theatre.

Drowned caravans camped in the Barcoo River, Isisford. Ignore the locals at your peril.

An empty paddock next to the old Langenbaker House in Ilfracombe made a great place to paint

DC3 at the Qantas Museum Longreach

Retired Catalina at the Qantas Museum

Before the workshop in Winton, Dianne and I went out to the clay pans at Bladensburg to find a painting location

Willy Mar’s old market garden store, Winton

We painted Willy Mar’s old truck (now up on blocks next to his old market garden and store.

We spent a morning in the old Bladensburg woolshed painting the ancient wool press.

This was the demonstration painting I did. (Couldn’t help using Phthalo Green!)

Looking west towards Winton – an unusual sea of lush, green grass

At the Winton Dinosaur Centre, volunteers work tirelessly separating rock from fossil to reconstruct the skeletons of dinosaurs.

After the Winton workshop Dianne and I headed back out to Bladensburg to camp and watch the sun go down.

Heading east, we found this lake with amazing sunsets and fantastic birdlife.

Our camp, just visible from the top of a nearby hill

Sunset one side, full moon the other.

FLINDERS RANGES WORKSHOP

Posted on May 9, 2021 by splashingpaint

We left Arkaroola and headed down to Adelaide, exploring Wilpena, the southern Flinders and Burra, on the way. Our truck was parked in secure parking for the two weeks of the workshop. We spent a night in Adelaide, then we joined the painting group and travelled back up to Wilpena Pound Resort by coach for our first 5 days of the workshop.

The Flinders Ranges are a great place to paint – interesting buildings, spectacular gorges and a backdrop of magnificent purple mountains.

Here we painted the old Wilpena Station store where all the stations provisions were secured back in the 1800’s

This old door has been patched and repaired over the years, keeping the blacksmiths cottage secure for over a hundred years.

We painted the stony outcrops surrounding the Aroona Valley before going down into the Brachina Gorge to explore the rocks and pools

Brachina Gorge

We had two great indigenous guides to show us around the Brachina Gorge area. They took us to see these ancient rock engravings with all sorts of interesting details.

Leaving The Flinders, we moved on down to Burra, a beautiful little town with magnificent stone buildings built in the boom days of the towns copper mine in the 1800’s. We spent a few days in Burra exploring the area and painting.

Burra Main Street.

South Australia has a lot of old abandoned railway stations, some with old rolling stock, some with wheat silos and most of them built beautifully from local stone

One of our group has explored all the old abandoned stations in the lower Finders. He got permission from the owners of this beautiful old station for us to visit.

We spent a morning painting the old Farrell Flat Station.

Skillogalee Vineyard made a good painting destination. We sampled their wines, had a fabulous meal and painted in the vineyard garden – What a great day.

Lunch on the Skillogalee verandah.

Our last couple of days were spent in Hahndorf in the Adelaide hills. We visited The Cedars – the home and studio of Hans Heysen.

A beautiful studio with huge, frosted, south facing windows and a large open fireplace

We were lucky to have “The Two Marks” on board as we travelled around South Australia. Mark One , the driver, had a terrific knowledge of the area and kept us entertained and informed with some great stories. Mark Two, a local watercolourist and long time traveller through the region led us to some great painting locations we would have otherwise missed.

The passing vista of old abandoned buildings, big skies and bare rolling hills is unique to South Australia and is something that keeps drawing us back to this part of the country.