‘Windswept umbrellas on Verrucola bridge.’

The painting above, by Sandra Strohchein, hangs in the in Tutor’s Gallery in the Watermill sitting room. It is a watercolour of a blustery rainy day at one of our painting locations, Verrucola. We love the way that Sandra caught the effects of wind on the umbrellas.

But it’s a cheat! It was a typical Italian sunny summer’s day when Sandra and her group were there (as you can see below), but she wanted to demonstrate how to capture a scene in different weather conditions.

Umbrellas in art – from Lunigiana to Renoir

We remembered the picture following a couple of blustery, rainy spells in Posara this January, and we also recalled an article in our favourite online art magazine DailyArt about other artistic umbrellas. I suppose the first that comes to mind is Renoir’s Les parapluies:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Umbrellas, c. 1880–1886, National Gallery, London, UK. From DailyArt magazine.

But my favourite, from Aniela Rybak-Vaganay’s selection in her article in DailyArt is this Japanese woodcut, Beauty in the Rain, by Kitagawa Utamaro.

Kitagawa Utamaro, Beauty in the Rain, 19th century, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. From DailyArt magazine.

You can see all of Aniela’s choices by clicking here.

Watermill painting courses – places available

Below is another, unusually rainy, Watermill painting by tutor Randy Hale.

(Randy’s 2026 painting course is currently fully booked but there are often cancellations, so if you would like to put on the waiting list, please click here. We still have places on Randy’s 2027 course, details of which can be seen by clicking here.)

The Watermill in the rain. Randy Hale

More often, though, the ambiance is like the glowing watercolour of the Watermill courtyard by another our renowned tutors, Maggie Renner Hellman. We still have a few places left on Maggie’s 2026 painting course. Please click here for more details.

Join a Watermill painting course in Italy

Come and join us for inspiring creativity, warm hospitality, delicious food and wine, stunning locations and the convivial company of like-minded people. For more about all our painting courses, please click here.