Here we go - diving down towards an incredibly beautiful and sacred place. You know you can't stay, yet you want to return to the surface with a kind of rebirth. That will be us, in Tuscany, as she explodes with a cacophony of color. You wonder how does one study all this amazement and yet view with sensitivity AND excitement?

To begin, we will work to understand the place and embody sensitivity. This involves really being there, walking, sensing and working with a series of painting exercises that transform your experiences, feelings and observations into a new understanding of the character and atmosphere of place. We will quiet our minds and learn to be attentive to the moment. Dispense with the needless projection of naming things. Instead, we will contemplate sentient, sensate color!

Loriann will help you to see light and color and to compose it beautifully and honestly on your surface. We will learn to see what is actually there - before us, to look the way a young child with little vocabulary might see colored forms in relationship with other colored forms. Learn to be attentive and open your senses to beauty that is everywhere.

There will be studio component in Florence where you will have opportunity to experience a few days of bringing it all together. Here we will study the cornerstones of painting: value/color/composition. With the gathered works, photos and written observation you will be inspired to paint for years to come.

This workshop is a mix between outdoor awareness and studio inquiry. We will paint in fields and gardens, creating a series of small paintings. Perception will widen with a written component that will help us understand more deeply. Vast exploration can happen when you just listen to your heart and allow yourself to be guided by the soul of place.

We will engage in a day trip to the medieval city of Siena in the Tuscan countryside. Observing the rainbow of hues that abound at this time of year.

In this intensive workshop with Loriann you will encourage your ability to embrace and translate the Italian landscape into sensitive pastel work. Some experience is necessary, and Loriann will help guide you into a deeper understanding of what it means to paint intuitively. Join us for an exploration into light, color and simplicity within abundance!

Your accommodation in Fiesole is in a modern apartment a few miles above the excitement of Florence with wonderful views of the Mugello Hills. From there you'll move to Florence - where you'll be in the artisan section which is removed from the hustle and bustle of the popular tourist areas, but still just minutes away from the major landmarks. You'll experience the hilltop breezes of Fiesole and the excitement that is Florence. 

​We'll get plenty of time for painting, exploring, tasting and basking in all that is Tuscany and the heavenly Italian experience!