artists in italy

I thought I’d wait till later- you know, like, when plans have been confirmed- before sharing the news, but I just can’t wait… a while ago the idea of travelling to italy to learn to paint came to mind. I’m not sure where it came from, but it came full force and it was all I could think of (even though we were in the middle of planning a cruise vacation for later this summer). I obessively googled painting/art/watercolour courses in italy and finally found Artists In Italy which offers (at more affordable rates than some other painting workshops) week-long courses of “painting and drawing in the delightful hilltop towns of Tuscany and Umbria”. imagine, painting for days interrupted in the beautiful rolling Tuscan countryside and travelling to little nearby towns for art, food and wine... oh the dream!

(picture source: vetrovka on flickr)

(picture source: Artists in Italy)

I corresponded with Julian and Amanda (the couple that run artists in italy). I requested more information. I perused their website and blog, visiting at least once a week. I daydreamed about being there. I wrote hopeful entries in my journal. I told daniel about it. I created spreadsheets to forecast our finances and to determine whether taking the course would be feasible. I thought of different ways to save my pennies.

and then we decided to go, just go, despite the costs of the course + flight, despite having to move some our other travel plans, despite needing to be very diligent with our spendings and savings.

we decided to go together, as in both him and I will be traveling to italy for a week. I will participate the painting course but daniel will be going just to keep me company. I guess, I could go alone, but I really wanted to share the experience with him. plus, he’s never been to that part of italy. we’ve already come up with a list of things for him to do while I paint: explore the area by foot and bike, learn to use alexis (the camera), play golf, compose romantic ballads on his little travel guitar. we’ll be experiencing tuscany and art together; could anything be better???