Last Painting Days in Italy – 7/30 - 31

On our last painting day with Jason on Wednesday, we picked up with the same strategy as we started with on Monday: Paint a scene in Corciano; although this time we painted one in the morning then came back at 7:00 to paint the sunset. In between time, we could use the time to work on our final painting. I did not start the day out very well because I was thinking about it being our last painting day with Jason. My morning painting that day was a flop and I wiped it off when I got back home. In the evening, I was in better spirits and I had more success this time.
The sunset was beautiful but it changed rapidly. I laid in my foreground when I first got to my spot so I could focus on the sky. After I blocked that in, the sky got interesting but the sun moves fast as it gets close to the horizon so I worked fast and furiously on it. It’s funny how the sun just didn’t wait for me! Fortunately, I did get some pictures of the beautiful sky. Between my color study and the photo references I have good sources to do a studio painting at some point in the future.

Thursday was our last painting day of the Italy trip. I think everyone was burned out from the exhausting week and bummed by it being our last painting day. We stayed in Corciano again today. Craig’s goal was for us to paint alley ways. Everyone ended up painting in pretty close proximity to each other. During a break I went around and took pictures of some students working along with Craig. The one with no one at the easel is my setup and painting just before I took it down. As you can see, Sam was rather frustrated.

We only did one painting that day so we would have time in the afternoon to work on our final painting. It was due the next morning. Needless to say, there were a few students working into the wee hours of the night to complete their painting. I finished my about 8:00 that evening and wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate being done. Judy was also done with hers to we went to dinner together. Just as we were finishing, Craig joined us and we sat around talking and reminiscing about the class to that point.