- This workshop has passed.
WATERCOLOR AND WATER-BASED MEDIA PRINTMAKING – with Frances Valesco
June 1, 2023 - June 11, 2023
With fresh eyes, we will center each day on experiencing the environment of La Romita and nearby villages using plein-air painting and sketching or working in the studio. Each day will begin with demonstrations of distinctive printing techniques or preparatory studies using non-toxic materials, such as watercolors, water-based pencils, gouache, and crayons. We’ll experiment with these processes that make multiples or unique images possible, and they are exceptional idea-builders. By the end of ten days, you will have a body of work that consists of a series of connected ideas.
Through field trips, we’ll be inspired by encounters with living history, the profound sense of Italian craftsmanship, and their care about materials. We’ll visit Fabriano, the home to the eponymous paper factory operating since 1264 (Michelangelo, Fellini, and Beethoven are some of Fabriano’s most famous clients). We’ll take a day trip to a nearby monastery to experience the beauty of medieval illuminated manuscripts. We’ll visit various natural and historic sites where you can spend most of the day wandering, painting, and having lunch in the village. You can return to La Romita to work at the printing press or paint in The Chapel Studio, which is open 24/7. You’ll have flexible time for early morning and late-night creativity.
I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
John Muir
We are thrilled that Awagami and Hahnemuehle will be providing samples of their excellent watercolor and water-based printmaking papers for the workshop!
Fran’s workshop is organized through the City College of San Francisco Extension program. Registration is open to anyone, and you can register via the button above.
About Frances
I work from observations of the environment and of particular nuances of place. My research leads me to new understandings to create visual metaphors. Small items, carefully observed, then drawn and painted, can become representations for abstract ideas. I can interpret them in either narrative or abstract ways.
I travel to artist residencies in many parts of the world and find myself moved by and influenced by the landscape I find myself in. My works have evolved from those experiences in places where nature triggers my emotional response. I am inspired by John Muir, whose activism saved Yosemite Valley in California.
As La Romita School caters to multiple levels of instruction and various forms of the arts, prices will vary by session, season, instructor, and offerings.