THE ART OF TRAVEL with David Savellano

Imagine 14 magical days… Savoring a gelato in an Umbrian village cafe – as your eyes drink in the panorama of the Valnerina. Discover the legend of St Francis of Assisi in ancient frescoes as you explore the beauty around you with sketchpad and easel. How you see and experience the world matters – especially when you can combine art and travel. The combination of travel sketching and painting gives you the best of both worlds; the immediacy of travel sketching and the spontaneity of plein air painting.

The travel sketching sessions will focus on the use of ink and watercolor, The plein air and studio time will enhance your watercolor painting techniques. Participants will leave La Romita with smiles on their faces knowing they received extensive group and personal instruction, successfully faced their artistic challenges, experienced Umbrian culture, and most importantly had fun.

Students will leave the workshop with specific exercises and instructions to improve their art and gain confidence with on-going practice.

“The real work begins at 4pm on the last day of the workshop”.

For beginners, develop and improve your drawing and painting skills while surrounded by the Umbrian countryside. For advanced artists, there are scenes in the hill towns that will push you towards ever higher levels of your own individual artistic expression. You will experience a supportive work environment for facing new artistic challenges that is also conducive for learning from the work of your fellow artists. Learn and practice basic design principles and composition to enable you to self-diagnose and correct painting problems.

The two week lesson plan includes:

• Basics of Travel sketching will review basic drawing, linear perspective, people, buildings and landscape elements. These skills combined with basic watercolor technique will enable everyone to create a journal of travel sketches.
• Creating value studies and compositional design options
• Plein air specific watercolor painting techniques

The typical day will include:

• half day plein air sketching and painting at a nearby hill town or village, followed by afternoons back at La Romita for a studio session to create your art and receive individual coaching
• full day excursions to the historic cities such as Spoleto, Assisi, Orvieto, Montefalco, and Perugia where we will be devoted to the plein air experience.