Before setting out on this trip spanning two months and four workshops, I thought about what it might be like to paint outdoors from life nearly every day for such a long period of time. I’ve noticed before that whenever I can schedule other parts of my life to allow a number of days in a row to paint—whether in the studio or out, whether from life or from photographs—it has a positive impact on my work. But while I enjoy plein air painting and get outdoors at every opportunity, I’ve never had such a long stretch of strictly outdoor painting. It has had a profound effect; I find I’m quicker to make decisions about composition, and that I come closer to finishing each study in the time I allow. (As a general rule, on a sunny day, I try not to work more than an hour to an hour and a half on each piece, as the light changes and the shadows move in that amount of time.)

Drawing buildings has also gotten a little faster, though it’s still not easy. I want to get the elements of perspective and angles right, but if I spend too much time fiddling with that, then the pattern of light and shadow that originally caught my attention may be gone. So I’m pleased that I’m getting a little quicker with architectural subjects.

It’s also interesting to paint the same thing or similar things more than once. After completing the painting Distant Villa (above), the light on the hillside just to the left of that composition changed and the village of Cortona began to be lit by the afternoon sun. I only had about 45 minutes left to work, so I turned my easel just a little and quickly painted Cortona View (below). What I learned about painting the trees in the first piece was useful in the second, and in the end I liked the second, quicker, study best.

In both the Scotland workshop and the one in Italy, we averaged 7-8 days of outdoor work. Now we are in Spain, and the first workshop group will arrive tomorrow. That 8-day workshop will be followed by another of the same length. It will be interesting to see what my plein air work is like by the end of the trip, and it will also be interesting to see how my studio work is affected when I finally get home to paint indoors over the winter. Next: painting the white villages of the Genal Valley in the Andalucian mountains of Spain.

--Maggie Price

Our first few days in the workshop in Cortona, Italy, have flown by. Our workshop sponsor, Patrick Mahoney combined painting locations with a taste of Tuscany. We started with a painting day in Cortona, painting the views from the Piazza Garibaldi in the morning and in a nearby park in the afternoon. Patrick makes sure we get a literal taste of Tuscany, as well, so each day features lunches and dinners at different restaurants, which we then try to work off by hauling our painting gear up the steep cobbled streets of Cortona.

Rain was threatening one day and we found an archway to paint under, which gave us a good view of the central Piazza Republica and the famous Cortona clock tower and steps, a building dating back to the 12th century. After a couple of days of painting, we took a break for a day trip to Firenze, where we walked, shopped at a couple of fascinating Italian art supply stores, and visited the Uffizi Museum. Some artists who hadn’t previously been there, went to the Academie to see Michaelango’s David and other works, while others walked across the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, for a fantastic view of Il Duomo and the city.

Back in Cortona, we continued to explore new areas each day, painting in the morning and afternoon, while trying to keep up with our hectic restaurant schedule. One evening we had a cooking class at Il Refugio, a beautiful Tuscan villa outside town which also hosts workshops in addition to cooking classes. We got to get our hands in pasta instead of pigment, and had a great time making pici pasta (pronounced “peachy,” it’s a kind of fat spaghetti noodle) for our dinner. The location was so beautiful, we’ve arranged to go back there and paint before the week is over.