Our inspiring 2022 painting tutors
Here is the complete list of our painting tutors for 2022. You can find out more about each of them by clicking on their Profile page link in their entries below.
Mary Padgett - fully booked, waiting list open
30 April – 7 May 2022
Pastels (and other portable materials) en plein air
To learn more about Mary and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Keiko Tanabe - fully booked, waiting list open
21 – 28 May 2022
Watercolours
To learn more about Keiko and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Maggie Renner Hellman - fully booked, waiting list open
28 May - 4 June 2022
Courageous Color Workshop’ Your choice: oils, acrylics, pastels and/or watercolour travel sketches
To learn more about Maggie and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Ruth Korch - fully booked, waiting list open
4 - 11 June 2022
Art journaling
To learn more about Ruth and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Randy Hale - two or three places left
11 - 18 June 2022
Watercolours
To learn more about Randy and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Ted Dansey - still plenty of places
25 June - 2 July 2022
Watercolours and drawing
To learn more about Ted and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Vicki Norman - fully booked, waiting list open
2 - 9 July 2022
Oils and watercolours (and other mediums)
To learn more about Vicki and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Pamme Turner - still plenty of places
9 - 16 July 2022
Watercolour and gouache en plein air
To learn more about Pamme and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Carl March - three or four places left
16 - 23 July 2022
Drawing and watercolour en plein air
To learn more about Carl and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Paul Talbot-Greaves - still plenty of places
20 - 27 August 2022
Watercolours (and acrylics)
To learn more about Paul and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Rebecca de Mendonça - still plenty of places
27 August - 3 September 2022
Pastels
To learn more about Rebecca and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Mike Willdridge - fully booked, waiting list open
3 - 10 September 2022
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics, with a special emphasis on drawing on location.)
To learn more about Mike and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Varvara Neiman - still plenty of places
10 - 17 September 2022
Water-based oils, acrylics and watercolours
To learn more about Varvara and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Milind Mulick - one or two places left
17 - 24 September 2022
‘Colourful watercolours’
To learn more about Milind and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Cynthia Armstrong - fully booked, waiting list open
24 September - 1 October 2022
Watercolours and gouache
To learn more about Cynthia and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Tim Wilmot - fully booked, waiting list open
1 - 8 October 2022
Watercolours
To learn more about Tim and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Grahame Booth - fully booked, waiting list open
8 - 15 October 2022
Watercolours
To learn more about Grahame and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Featured painting tutors of the month: Rebecca de Mendonça and Paul Talbot-Greaves
In last month’s Watermill blogs we also featured some of the work of another two of our great Watermill painting tutors: Rebecca de Mendonça and Paul Talbot-Greaves.
Focus and relax, Says Rebecca
On the Steps.
One of our favourite pastels by Rebecca
Rebecca de Mendonça produces paintings that are full of life and energy, helping the viewer to feel that they are there, ‘in the moment.’ But how do you achieve that vibrancy?
Some time back, Rebecca wrote an interesting article about this on her blog, which is as true today as it was then, and we’re pleased to reproduce some highlights here.
She says: “People often comment that my paintings look ‘real.’ But the more I paint, the more I wonder what we mean by ‘real.’ The temptation is to go really detailed... but whatever I draw and paint actually looks more ‘real’ if it isn’t all filled in and finished off." How is it that leaving part of it unfinished or smudged make it seem more real than a photograph full of detail?
Rebecca adds: “…what is ‘real’? What do we mean by this? Is this about conveying more than just what it looks like? Do we need to tap into our other senses to feel that energy, and not just the visual? What can we do to connect with the emotion of the moment? And even more interesting, how can we connect the viewer to that feeling?”
To connect to that emotion Rebecca finds she has to relax, and ‘let go’ of that need to copy everything: “I think of it as ‘tuning in’ to my subjects, but as I’m really not sure how I do this, it can be difficult to achieve!"
While she works a lot from photographs, Rebecca increasingly finds she needs to take them herself: “They are only part of the process of inspiration and connection. What also informs my painting process are the memories of what it felt like to be there. Was it cold and windy on top of that hill? Or hot and noisy in that street in Barcelona? How bright was the light? What sounds could I hear?”
A busy street: steady on the detail
And when looking at the photograph, it is important to focus on what is important at that particular moment and what story you, as an artist, want to tell: “A photograph will capture all the detail of the scene in the same way, whether it is important to the story we are telling or not. In real life we focus on something, specifically what is important at that particular moment.” When we talk with someone we tend to concentrate on their eyes and perhaps their mouth, says Rebecca. “We aren’t really bothering about their hair, ears or chin, or what is behind them, so on our drawing or painting we can soften those features slightly, and sharpen the contrasts and colours of the eyes and mouth. Just by varying our mark making we can change where the focus is."
So, Rebecca’s favourite way of working is to start in a loose and flexible way, and then gradually heighten the detail on the area of focus, which will draw the eye in. The areas that are loosely suggested are filled in by the viewers’ imagination.
Fascinating stuff! Learn more from the artist herself: Rebecca will be with us from Saturday 27 August to Saturday 4 September 2022. To reserve your place just click the link below.
Rebecca de Mendonça - still plenty of places
27 August - 3 September 2022
Pastels
To learn more about Rebecca and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Sheep may safely graze with Paul and Johann
Our Watermill painting tutor Paul Talbot-Greaves has posted some charming pictures of sheep grazing safely in the English countryside. If you click here you'll not only you be able to enjoy Paul’s paintings, but also listen to some of Johann Sebastian Bach’s peaceful Sheep May Safely Graze.* music as well.
Paul says: “Now that autumn is here and we drift towards winter, I decided to warm things up a bit with the heat and light of summer. Really enjoying working in acrylic again.”
We look forward to seeing Paul for another inspiring week at the Watermill next year. Paul will be with us next year for course in watercolours (and acyrlics) from Saturday 20 August to Saturday 27 August 2022. We can’t promise you sheep in the fields in Italy, although there are many of them above us in the mountains producing the wonderful pecorino cheese, but we can offer inspiring teaching, warm hospitality, wonderful scenery, delicious food and wine and the company of like-minded people. Come and join us.
Paul Talbot-Greaves is a professional English painter who works primarily in watercolour: “I seek out compositions employing patterns of light, shade and contrast and I aim to achieve vibrancy in the colours that I use.”
As well as receiving many accolades for his work, Paul is also an inspiring and sympathetic tutor. He says: “I get enormous pleasure seeing people improve and enjoy their own work.”
As one of the students on Paul’s last course here said: “The combination of the place, the excellent art course with Paul and the care from you and your staff made a really lovely experience.”
His pictures above were painted on his last visit here. On the left is the country road from Posara to the walled town of Fivizzano and on the right, Paul's painting of sunshine on the cloisters at the old monastery where we go to paint on Thursdays.
*Sheep May Safely Graze: Adagios played by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, England, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.
Paul Talbot-Greaves - still plenty of places
20 - 27 August 2022
Watercolours (and acrylics)
To learn more about Paul and his course at the mill, please visit his 2022 Profile Page.
Waiting lists open for our popular knitting weeks
Norah Gaughan - fully booked, waiting list open
23 - 30 April 2022
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Norah and her course at the mill, please visit our 2022 Profile Page.
Louisa Harding - one place left
7 - 14 May 2022
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Louisa and her course at the mill, please visit our 2022 Profile Page.
Debbie Abrahams - fully booked, waiting list open
14 - 21 May 2022
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Debbie and her course at the mill, please visit our 2022 Profile Page.
Don't forget your partner!
And don’t forget that your friend or partner doesn’t need to participate in the creative course, whether it’s painting, language or writing.
We offer them a range of Alternative activities for partners on all our 2021 courses, as well as a generous £GBP 250 discount if they share a room with you.
How The Salami Boys helped Sue Reed on her literary journey
Sue Reed and tutor Jo Parfitt
at the Salami Boys stall
We are always delighted when guests on our Watermill courses go on to blossom creatively, helped by what they have learned from our inspiring tutors during their time with us.
So it was great to have feedback from Sue Reed, who was with us for Jo Parfitt‘s last Writing Your Life Stories course*. She told us at the time: “Jo has been an inspirational teacher I am heading home with a head full of writerly plans.” And the inspirational Salami Boys helped, too.
Now we’ve heard more from Sue about how those ‘writerly plans’ are coming to fruition. She tells us: “I’m busy writing for literary magazines, largely around nature and rural life, and will shortly be having a piece in Heritage Tractor Magazine of all things! Working away at my novel,The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn and have an excellent mentor to help me with this. Hoping to have it ready to pitch to agents by the middle of 2022.”
We love the sound of The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn and can’t wait to hear more (not that we have anything against Heritage Tractor Magazine.)
But back to the Salami Boys. Sue bumped into them during her writing week, on market day in the main piazza in the nearby walled mediaeval town of Fivizzano. We’ll let her take up the story: “Over on the far side of the square, I found the ‘Salumi della Tana’ stall, run by what appeared to be three brothers. Maybe they weren’t brothers at all, but I liked to think they were, and feel it adds something to my story.
“What is it about Italian men that makes them so darn good looking? As I write this, I realise I didn’t take any photos of the guys in question. I was far too shy for that! You will have to rely on my description and story to build up a picture in your own mind’s eye.
“The three brothers were stood behind the counter of their smart trailer in ascending ages, from the shy, skinny youngster, to the more confident tanned and muscular older brothers. I do doubt their blood relationship to each other as one had deep dark brown eyes, and the other, eyes of piercing blue. Tight t-shirts and tight jeans added to the allure, and smiles that twinkled and made this old lady quite flustered!
The market in Fivizzano:
cobalt sky, church tower and all
“Salamis of varying widths and lengths hung from the ceiling of the van. Whilst on the counter, cheeses, hard skinned and soft, full moons and half-moons, some with Tom and Jerry like holes, mature and ripe were tempting my taste buds. Cured meats, and a sign advertising the bresaola which was on offer, sent me scurrying for my phone to look up the Italian I needed. I was not going to speak English, that was one thing I was sure of!”
Want to know what happens next? Of course you do. But you’ll have to go to the article on her website, Sue Reed Writes by clicking here.
*Jo Parfitt’s courses, for which we have had fantastic feedback, not only give participants insights into techniques to improve their writing, not just for blogs and memoirs, but for all genres. They are designed to help people reduce their best work, find their true ‘voice’ and to write authentically, Jo will be back from Saturday 8 June to Saturday 15 June 2022.
At present this course is fully booked, but there are often cancellations and if you like to be placed on the waiting list, please click on the link below and send us your Booking Enquiry form below.
Jo Parfitt - fully booked, waiting list open
18 – 25 June 2022
Write your life stories
To learn more about Jo and her course at the mill, please visit her 2022 Profile Page.
Italian word of the month: brindisi
In these chilly months (in the northern hemisphere at least), where the news seems to be as gloomy as the weather, we thought we all needed cheering up. So here is a brindisi to warmer weather and happier times.
The English-language online newspaper The Local tells us: “The word is from the Spanish brindis, and according to the dictionary it originally comes from the German bring dirs, meaning ‘bring thee’ (as in, I’ll ‘bring thee’ a drink, a speech, etc.).
“The custom dates back to at least the ancient Greeks, with several references made in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey to raising a glass in honour of a table companion. The Greeks in turn brought it to the Romans, and it remained popular in Christian Rome.
"The custom subsequently fell a bit out of use, but became popular again in Italy in the 16th century, along with reciting verses of poetry you’d composed for the occasion.”
So, toast to you and yours: Here’s to awarmer and happier future. Salute!
And here’s something else to warm your winter months: a picture taken in May of the sun shining through the roses of the Watermill rose pergola.
If you’d like to share an aperitivo or two with us on the vine verandah the Watermill walled garden and learn more about the Italian language, we still have a few places left on our Italian Language course next October and we’d love you to join us.
The Watermill has teamed up again with the wonderful Italian language tutor Francesca La Sala, to produce a week in which you can learn Italian in the most natural and enjoyable way. Your immersion into the language and culture of real Italians will be also be individually customised, to suit your curiosity and your interests, helping you to treasure everything you learn and make it a seamless part of who you are.
learning the language in the sunny Watermill walled garden
This exciting language course is suitable for all levels of ability because of the special approach of the Langues Services language school in Florence, who initially developed the workshop at the Watermill. The philosophy and method are inspired Professor Bertrand Schwartz of Paris University, who overturned the concept of teaching to adults with a method that not only develops theoretical knowledge, but practical know-how as well.
The aim is to enhance the personal qualities of each student, tailoring the teaching to their needs and ambitions, establishing active and confident relationships, where the student is the true protagonist in the course.
One previous course participant said: “A super language week: well organised, giving us a taste of the ‘real Italy.’ Despite the disparity in ability our tutor managed to help all of us towards a better understanding and production of the Italian language. The lessons were fun, interactive and helped me enormously.”
Our 2022 Italian Language course
Francesca la Sala - still three or four places
15 - 22 October 2022
Learning Italian with the Italians
To learn more about Francesca and her
2022 course at the mill, please click here.
Everything's included in your watermill painting holiday, creative writing holiday, knitting week or Italian Language course
Don’t forget that everything is included in the cost of a painting holiday, writing, knitting, or language holiday: tuition, accommodation (including all linen and towels), pre-dinner aperitifs, all meals and local transportation (including transfers to Pisa airport; an excursion by train to visit the ancient walled city of Lucca or the stunning seaside villages of the Cinque Terre).
All you have to do is to get to Pisa airport and we do the rest.
Whether you're travelling alone or with a partner you can be sure of a warm welcome, and that you'll be well looked after. We have built our reputation on the comfort of the mill and the care we provide.
Become a Patron of The Watermill at Posara
Visit our Watermill Patrons website (Link below). Just follow the instructions to subscribe and enjoy special privileges. By becoming a Patron you’ll enjoy many exclusive benefits, including practical and inspiring tips from our international painting and creative writing tutors, recipes from the watermill’s mouth-watering menus, and podcasts on Italian life. And there are also exclusive offers at the higher tiers for our courses and holidays.
We very much look forward to welcoming you to the mill and, for those of you who have already tasted the many delights at The Watermill at Posara, we look forward to welcoming you back.
With very best wishes a tutti
Lois and Bill Breckon