Now the weather is turning Spring-like, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, our passionate plein air painting tutor Randy Hale has drawn up a a series of short and simple tips to help you when you venture out to paint in the fresh air again. Here’s Randy with Tip number 3, where he reveals the secrets of success: Simplify - only include what’s important, abandon less significant Continue Reading
Irresistible Watermill flowers to photograph
Spring is doing its thing in the Watermill gardens and grounds – birds singing lustily, trees leafing rapidly and flowers blooming everywhere – and it is providing irresistible subjects for photographers. Watermill guest Tina Rose and our social media factotum Gina Shearston have been among them, to say nothing of our gardener himself, Flavio Terenzoni. Above is a montage of some of Tina’s Continue Reading
Our turquoise Facebook cover picture, thanks to Ali’s artistic vision
Our thanks to Watermill painting tutor Ali Hargreaves for this month’s colourful cover picture on the Watermill’s Facebook page. Isn’t the River Rosaro, which bustles past the mill, a glorious shade of turquoise, a vibrant colour to brighten our day? No matter that, after strong rainstorm churned up the mud, to make the river look more like milk chocolate than its normal ‘clear as a mountain Continue Reading
Non vedo l’ora! Looking forward to your company on our Italian language course
I suppose a literal translation of non vedo l’ora might be ‘I can’t see the time…’ And you might think that it’s someone giving you the brush-off when you suggest a meeting. But far from being negative, it’s actually a very positive response. It means ‘I can’t wait’ or even better ‘I am .looking forward to it.’ We suppose the underlying implication is that you are so excited about the Continue Reading
A brilliant show in the walled garden
Above is Lois Breckon’s brief video of part of the Walled Garden this morning, The irises, a symbol of Tuscany, are particularly fine this year. And it is that time of year too, when the poppies, sprung from seeds scattered last autumn by Flavio Terenzoni, are bursting into colourful bloom. Behind them, a vibrant display of our white wisteria, planted by Lois a few years ago. The joys of a Continue Reading
Watermill high-tech: 19th and 21st century style
Following our conversion of part of Mill Two to the poshest laundry in Tuscany we are going to create a small museum based around the two 19th century millstones at the end of that building, to be able to show and tell our guests something of the history of Il Grande Mulino di Posara. But I was struck, as we reviewed the space, that we are not only displaying the state-of-the-art milling Continue Reading
Did you spot the word of the week?
It was it was much easier to slip in a hidden word in last week’s blogs. The week before ‘symbiosis’ had given me a headache and created convoluted prose. This week was much easier. The word was nurture. And given the nurturing nature of our creative courses here the Watermill I was able to say, for example, about our plans for the new land we have bought beside the river below the Watermill: Continue Reading
The Watermill’s Lippi suite: commemorating a scandalous monk who was a sublime painter
Continuing our tour of the Watermill bedrooms we move today to the first of our self-contained apartment suites, the Lippi suite. The suite is named after Filippo Lippi and his son Filippino Lippi, painters in the mid-15th century. Filippo, a monk with a scandalous private life, was a sublime painter and, incidentally, taught Botticelli. Filippo’s Madonna Continue Reading
Another inspiring female painter who initiated the ‘distant gaze’ in portraiture
Ever mindful of the instructions of La Capa (Lois Breckon) to seek out and celebrate female painters from the past, I am delighted to be able to present to you the extraordinary life and times of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, the 18th-century French portraitist, once the most highly paid in Europe. Her position as Court Painter to Queen Marie Antoinette was, ahem, cut short by the untimely death of her Continue Reading
The latest availability on the Watermill’s 2023 creative courses
The Watermill creative courses this year are filling fast, but we still have a few places left if you would like to join us for inspiring tuition, warm hospitality, stunning scenery, delicious food and wine and the convivial company of like-minded people. Now is the time to make your reservation. If you see a week that you particularly like the look of and it is fully booked, don’t despair: there Continue Reading