Posted in Adventures in Italy Teachers, Art instruction, Learning Vacations, Orvieto Experiences, Small group travel Italy on September 21, 2016| 1 Comment »
We took our group to our friend Simona’s house for cooking. We went an hour early so they could sketch for the work they are doing with our teacher – Junelle Jacobsen.
The country around Simona’s house is beautiful. A short rain brought is a stunning double rainbow.
We made a ricotta/pear/walnut/pancetta appetizer, pasta, a pumpkin/sausage/fennel flower ragu, and tiramisu.
Sweet dreams!!
Posted in Adventures in Italy Teachers, Art instruction, Learning Vacations, Living Slow, Orvieto Italy, Small group travel Italy on June 6, 2016| 1 Comment »
Orvieto is a city with incredible mosaics. The cathedral is particularly stunning and visible to all. But there are others, less visible, like the mosaics under St. Andrea church dating to the Byzantine period, and sitting on top of Roman and Etruscan ruins which are clearly visible. So we were excited to have Pam Goode back a second time to lead a mosaic workshop. She called it Postcards Home because she had her students do a postcard size piece.
Mosaics are slow. That is one reason it appeals to Pam. And I love the notion in our fast paced world – an art form that requires you to think and be patient and go slow. And so the students started their piece but will finish them at home.
We learned a lot from Pam. She doesn’t like to use grout. Her work is meticulous, the pieces fitting incredibly tightly together – look in the image above. She is also a poet. At our closing she read a stunning piece she composed during the week about why she loves Orvieto and travel and what she will miss. I was in tears because it so beautifully captures what this wonderful town and the gorgeous people we know here do for us and give us. She is working on the poem to get it just right. But when it is done she will send it to us and I’ll post it here. I think it perfectly describes the incredible experience people get on our trips.
Pam is a beautiful soul and you can read a wonderful interview with her here: http://www.lunamosaics.com/pamela-goode.html Visit her website here.
So, pics of the group and it’s work.
Thank you Pam, Susan, Sharon and Mary. What a wonderful week you gave us!
Posted in Art instruction, Learning Vacations, Orvieto Italy on October 4, 2015| 3 Comments »
Melissa Harris’s watercolor week just finished. I always stand in amazement of what is produced and the individuality of each artist. Wish I could do this!!
Posted in Adventures in Italy Teachers, Art instruction, Orvieto Experiences, Orvieto Italy, Umbria on October 23, 2014| 1 Comment »
We had a beautiful week with Tracie Huskamp. She led her group in creating beautiful journal pages, while a Discover Orvieto group explored other places. Here is some of the art from the group.
Then there were the other activities.
Unloading grapes at the harvest
Just bottled Orvieto Classico at Palazzone
Delicious food at the olive orchard
Visit to magical Civita
Incredible food every day!
Sheer bliss! Thank you Tracie and to all who traveled with us this week!
Posted in Art instruction, Learning Vacations, Orvieto Experiences, Orvieto Italy on June 1, 2014| 2 Comments »
Sue is just a fabulous teacher. She creates magic. We got to see the beginning of the work from her class this week. Each reflects the artist’s views and experiences of the week. Each so individual and compelling. As these pieces are finished we have been promised pictures!
Wonderful, simpatico group. Such a memorable week. Thank you all for a fabulous time.
Posted in Adventures in Italy Teachers, Art instruction, Orvieto Experiences, Slow travel vacations, Small group travel Italy on September 22, 2012| 1 Comment »
Tracie Huskamp’s group just finished up. Most of them are headed on to
Venice and Rome. One of the group started out on the west coast, traveled to China and South Korea, then here, and will return via New York to CA. Around the world! What fun it is to have such interesting and fun people in our groups!
Tracie led the group around Orvieto where they took pictures. She then helped them select just the right photos, crop them to a good size, have them printed and use that as a base for painting on fabric. I don’t know how she did it but the results were stunning. She brought mats to put each picture in, setting off the beautiful work. Here are some samples.
By Molly Gehring (Plastic cover over the matted picture creates the shine)
Debbie Smith
Glenda Hoagland
Maryann Villavert
Outside of class the group visited the market and shopped for a picnic lunch.
In the market
They visited some of the 1200 Etruscan and medieval caves under the city.
Before going down into the caves
Then they cooked at Zeppelin Ristorante.
Putting bread they made into the oven
Fresh veggies
Rolling out the pasta
Foccacia and bread sticks we made and sat down to eat
Bombe with gelato for dessert
We made a visit to Palazzone Vineyard on a sparkling day.
Giovanni tastes the wine from the stainless steel tank
A sparkling day at the vineyard
Which we enjoyed on the patio of the locanda built in 1290
With views back to Orvieto
We wish the group a fun next week as they travel on for more adventures. Thanks to all for joining us!! Tracie will be returning to teach in 2014. It isn’t too early to sign up!
Posted in Adventures in Italy Teachers, Art instruction, Learning Vacations on May 30, 2012| 6 Comments »
Jane LaFazio led her second workshop in watercolor sketching. She is so amazing at how she can teach her students to produce the most beautiful pieces. This is a case where pictures do speak more than words. Look at what her students did last week!
Beautiful!
More
And even more!!
Jane asked each of her students to show one of their pieces at a show and share at week’s end. Each had done a half dozen or so, so it was hard to choose just one. But each is an amazingly beautiful piece of art.
Bob
Donna
Karen
Kathy
Kaye
Kerri
Marti
Nancy
It was a great group and a wonderful week. Thanks to Jane for her exceptional teaching and to her wonderful students for their inspiration!
Posted in Adventures in Italy Teachers, Art instruction, Learning Vacations on May 22, 2012| 1 Comment »
Sue’s workshop is over. What a talented group we had. Each person made various degrees of progress on their pieces. Each project was completely individual, and each reflected some of what they experienced and/or were struck by during the week. Gorgeous work by gorgeous ladies.
Adrienne
Baukje
Cathy
Chris
Jenny
Karen T.
Karen F.
Kathy
Nancy
Sandi
Sandra
Sue
Also part of the group, but not taking the workshop was Sara, seen at the lower right of the group shot below.
Sue Spargo’s Travel Journal Workshop with Adventures in Italy 2012
Thanks to all for traveling with us, for the fun, and the wonderful memories.
Posted in Art instruction, Orvieto Experiences on May 15, 2012| 2 Comments »
Sue Spargo’s class has begun in Orvieto. Today is day two of the workshop. Sue arrived a few days early along with other folks. And they wasted no time in getting out their stitching.
Stitching at Scarponnis
We love going to Scarponni’s for coffee and a beautiful day led to stitching time over a cappuccino.
Lunch at San Lodovico
Yesterday was cool, so the minestrone soup prepared for us by Giovanna was the perfect call for the day’s lunch.
Wine tasting
As always, Graziella did a superb wine tasting for us. She is so skilled at pairing foods with the wine. The mashed fava beans on the bread came from her mother’s garden and the fennel came from Graziella’s garden. Two fabulous wines complemented the food.
Early morning stitching
Early risers were found in the classroom this morning eagerly working on their projects.
Anniversary
This is the 405th anniversary of the order at San Lodovico. So they had a ceremony in the chapel. Here some of our crew look on. We also had a returning student from last year look in.
Festa!
After the ceremony there was a lunch party in the courtyard. We were invited and enjoyed all kinds of home made goodies, from antipasti to pasta to pork to Giovanna’s homemade tiramisu. How lucky are we! Cooking class this evening!!
Posted in Art instruction, Learning Vacations, Orvieto Experiences, Orvieto Italy, Small group travel Italy on June 4, 2011| 3 Comments »
I am late getting to the final group that was with us this spring. The blog software was agonizingly slow in Orvieto so I gave up doing it there. So here I am.
Sue Spargo led ladies from Australia, Ireland, Holland (living in France) and the U. S. in a delightful week of embellishing fabric. What I absolutely loved is how completely different each piece was, and how every single person captured bits and pieces of Orvieto in their work. The other thing I love about these workshops is that the work produced reveals things about Italy and Orvieto I haven’t seen. Everyone sees different things, and to suddenly see what you have been looking at, but not seeing for these past 9 years, is always fun.
So let me give you just a bit of a taste of the week and then show you what Sue’s students produced. Before the workshop started Sue had laid things out in the classroom – color and texture hinting at what was to come.
Some of Sue's work
In the classroom
Learning a little about wine
We cooked an amazing meal with Simona
A visit to Palazzone Vineyard
Final multi course dinner at Zeppelin
And now for the beautiful work of the week.
What an amazing collection. Truly beautiful work! While some of the images you see displayed are obviously traceable to Orvieto and Italy, many are not unless you have been there. This is the beauty of what comes out of the workshops: true mementos of this idyllic city and experience. Sue is returning in 2012 on May 13-19 to lead another workshop, and her trip is already nearly full. We are also working with her to identify dates for fall of 2013. So stay tuned to our web site.
Make Haste Slowly 