Our guests are settling in nicely on their online, interactive ‘virtual’ week at the Watermill. Yesterday’s task for the group was to paint the warm and welcoming Watermill courtyard. That’s tutor Mike Willdridge’s demonstration picture above. As ever, as well as painting along with Mike, our 90+ guests, from many different countries, enjoyed the convivial […]
An even more compelling reason to visit the Watermill: Uffizi Gallery paintings are coming to the nearby town of Fivizzano (we hope!)
The Mayor of Fivizzano, the walled mediaeval town near the Watermill, where we go for an introductory dinner in the main square the first Saturday of our creative courses and to visit the weekly market on Tuesdays, has written to the director of the world-famous Uffizi gallery in Florence, saying “we are ready when you […]
We’ve arrived! Day One of an exhilarating virtual week at the Watermill
More than 90 guests arrived yesterday for the start of our latest online, interactive ‘virtual’ week at the Watermill, in which they will spend two or three hours each day painting scenes from the Watermill and its beautiful surroundings in rural Tuscany with our tutor Mike Willdridge. On Day One they arrived at Pisa and […]
Time for you to shine: Rebecca shows how to get the most out of pastels and charcoal
It’s time for you to shine: we would love you to join us for our next convivial online painting session, with Rebecca de Mendonça. It will be full of tips and techniques for getting the most out of your pastels. Using a mixture of charcoal, soft pastel, hard pastel and pastel pencil, Rebecca will work […]
Announcing a special online event with watercolourist Tim Wilmot: you choose which Italian piazza to paint!
The online painting sessions run by the Watermill and its renowned tutors continue to provide inspiration, relaxation and happy conversation as more than 100 guests painted along with us every Thursday. And we’ve an exciting new innovation for you next Tuesday: you choose which subject you are going to paint. This special Watermill online event […]
This time tomorrow this is where you could be, painting under the Tuscan sun
Yes, on the latest Watermill online interactive ‘virtual’ painting week you can spend a couple of hours every day painting in glorious locations in sunny Tuscany Italy. And within a short time of your arrival you will be painting this sunny street scene in Pisa. Then, during the week, you will capture with your brush […]
Are you dressed like an onion in this doggy weather? And watching out for the basins?
In this wintry weather, in the northern hemisphere at least, this blog from 2017, which I unearthed in my clear out, is very apposite today: The picture above was painted en plein air above Florence yesterday by our friend Tom Byrne. He says: “My head is beginning to thaw out. It’s really cold although there’s no snow. […]
Join the online adventure and paint every day for a week under the Tuscan sun –in your own home!
Yes, on the latest Watermill online interactive ‘virtual’ painting week you can spend a couple of hours every day painting in glorious locations in sunny Tuscany Italy. You will capture with your brush the two ladies gossiping in a town square, as in the picture above; visit a market in the wonderful walled town of […]
Why Italian hotels don’t have a Room 17 (or a 17th floor). Mere heptadecaphobia!
Continuing my series of Blogs Revisited, stories from the past unearthed during my recent clear out, I thought it was appropriate to republish this one today, 17 February: Have you ever noticed that Italian hotels never have a 17th floor. (Yes, I know, most of them don’t go that high, but when they do, they […]
An ancient hilltop village, spectacular mountain views – and an Italian washing line! The final venue on our exciting ‘virtual’ online painting week
On the last day of both our ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ painting weeks we visit the village of Monte dei Bianchi, hardly changed through a thousand years of history. There are spectacular views of the towering Alpi Apuane, the marble mountains of Carrara. But what attracted Mike’s attention (as it has done for many of our […]