I love this photo because it captures the happy, sweaty me who tromped around Florence and Umbria and who ran up and down the castle steps and surrounding fields, visiting the easels of the painters who had come to learn from me at The Winslow Art Center travel workshop. It really was a magical, joyful experience to get out of my routines and meet new people and see new things.
I wandered through ancient streets amidst buildings that had been preserved and incorporated into modern life, rather than levelled to make way for the new. And I saw artworks that had survived centuries to look as fresh and bright as newly made.
This Barocci is one of the most memorable pieces for me for the joyful, characterful people that he immortalized in paint.
But, really, how could I have favourites when around every corner in the Uffizi or Pitti Palace, there were more wonders? Each day brought an overwhelming amount of visual information and excitement for a brain that had been too long in the new world.
The workshop at the castle went well and the painters threw themselves whole heartedly into the challenge of learning my approach. One likened it to “drinking from a firehose - in a good way”! I do tend to give a lot of information when I teach:)
The weather held and we got to spend every day working outside, painting landscape, still life, and even a model. We covered a lot of ground and there were some really lovely paintings produced over the course of the week.
The final stop on my journey was London for a few days of museum going.
Because I’ve seen many of the works in the National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery before, I could take my time and stand in front of certain works for longer than I did on my first visit without feeling like I was missing out on the rest of the works in the museums. I studied Sargent (whose thoughts on painting I’d referred to so many times in the workshop) and lingered in the spectacular Frans Hals exhibit where I gained a new appreciation for fine detail married with broad handling.
And, always, I looked at the faces on display and was aware that the sitters and artists were long gone, but their collaborations keep them alive in the world.
It reminded me of the power that art has to transcend time and space. It also made me incredibly grateful to the people who have collected art over the centuries and kept those artworks safe despite human and environmental upheavals.
Collectors are blessed people!
So I’ve come back refreshed and eager for my studio, hoping, as always, to make work that will be worthy of preservation beyond my meagre lifespan.
For those of you who travel for art, I salute you. It’s worth every difficulty and frustration of travel to stand in front of a sculpture, painting, or carefully-preserved piece of paper and connect with the artist who poured their skills into creating the strongest work they could. They hoped to make a living, of course, but they also hoped to enhance the lives of everyone who saw their work. They certainly enhanced mine!
Happy painting!
Oh how I love this post, Ingrid! You have expressed so eloquently thoughts and feelings I have had about beautiful art for many years. Thank you for your words. For your photos. For sharing so much of yourself. Those of us who are one of your students from time to time are fortunate indeed.
I'm grateful for you, too, Helen❤️
Thanks for reading and relating to this post:)