Faculty Information:
Program Instructors:

Louise Bourne holds a BFA from Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art), and an MFA from the University of Michigan. Her work is in collections throughout this country and in the UK. Louise teaches at the college and elementary school levels, as well as privately. She lives on the Maine Coast with her family, and loves to be outdoors.

Artists' Statement:

My paintings are attempts at coherent response to situations I find stunning. Light bounces over the subjects, both close and at a great distance. It comes to our eyes as a pattern of color. To our brains and our hearts, as a sensation. We want to keep looking and feeling. I hope for my paintings to have a similar pull.

Other Activities:
We will be in an artistic setting experiencing the creative process, sharing ideas, motivated by the creative energy surrounding us. We will paint and draw with portable materials: watercolors, colored pencils, oil pastels, water-color crayons, graphite, and anything people feel they can bring. We will spend the morning working with guidance. The afternoon, we will work on our own, with a critique at the end of the day.

Our daily painting will be combined with other adventures such as:
- Picnicking, walking through vineyards, orchards and villages
- Visiting medieval Siena to paint, wander or shop
- Tasting the wine that is growing all about us
- Exploring other small hill towns to paint or just relax at a coffee.

Stay with the group or go off on your own. Our purpose is to paint, explore and enjoy the beauty of Italy. We'll use our authentic Tuscan farm-house as a home base, returning each evening for a home-made Tuscan meal and good company. We will hold friendly afternoon group discussions/critiques. We'll share our techniques, discoveries, views on painting and Italy. All media are welcome: oils, watercolor, acrylics, pastels even journal sketching and collage.

Limited to ten people, this is an intimate artistic experience like none you'll ever have.

Facility Information:
Our spring programs take place on a vineyard estate in the Chianti area of Tuscany. Le Lodoline is the name of a fattoria, or working vineyard and olive orchard, set in the Chianti hills of Tuscany overlooking the medieval city of Siena. This is an authentic Tuscan country setting filled with rustic charm. The property, owned by a Contessa (who still lives here) is designated an agriturismo. It is composed of a series of traditional stone farm houses with terra cotta roofs. You can almost imagine yourself in another century as you walk down the dirt lanes and through the gates that connect the houses.

For our workshops taking place at Le Lodoline, accommodations in the farmhouses consist of shared double rooms with shared bathrooms. There are a limited number of single rooms and some doubles with en suite bathrooms, which are available for a small supplement. There are also limited double room accommodations with private bathrooms available next door in a bed and breakfast in what was once the principle villa of the property.

Notes:
Price Includes:
- Shared double room in country villa
- Daily traditional breakfast and dinner, including wine
- Daily plain air excursions
- Excursion to Siena
- Half day excursion to nearby hill town (Monteriggioni, Radda, Volpaia)
- Pick up from Florence train station at 3:30pm on arrival Saturday
- Transfer to bus/train station in Siena on final day

Price Excludes:
- Airfare
- Lunch
- Art supplies
- Local bus transportation
- Independent meals and sight-seeing.

Also see Vacation Schools in:
Art and craft workshop   Europe   Italy  

Email it to a friend:
Click here to email this vacation to a friend