Before our workshop started in Lecce, we stopped over in Milan. The weather ranged from brilliant sunshine to pouring rain which made getting around a little difficult. The upside was the city looked amazing with the heavy skies, reflections and scattered umbrellas.
From Milan we made our way to Lecce to meet all the people for the start of our painting workshop. Our hotel was just outside the walls of the old town so it was an easy walk in to paint, sketch and wander around.
Lecce – Monastery DoorLecce Cafe
We left Lecce and moved on to Matera – the oldest continuously inhabited settlement on the planet. Really interesting city with great shapes and textures to paint.
Matera Matera
From Matera we travelled to Polignano a Mare – a beautiful town perched on cliffs above the Adriatic. From Polignano we took day trips to Monopoli, Gallipoli and Alberobello to paint and sketch. We also visited a local vineyard and were treated to some beautiful wines and a wonderful, home cooked Italian meal.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
