DISCOVERING ABANDONED PLACES IN TUSCANY
A watercolor workshop with focus on Values

September 16 – 23
(apply before the end of July)
Volterra/Italy

Conducted by the visual artist Majid Modir
Guest artist: Kelly Medford
in association with Urban Sketchers

Welcome to a creative workshop in the heart of Tuscany, Volterra!
A whole week with 5 days of drawing and painting in good company, learning watercolor techniques, finding different values in motives and discovering the soul and beauty of some abandoned places. Meanwhile meeting interesting people and taking the pulse of the Italian lifestyle, eating and drinking Tuscan delicacy, enjoying the colourful pure nature, and maybe a swim in the Tyrrhenian sea. Simply a delightful experience and a memory for life!

Watch a glimpse of the event here!
Contact info@majstudio.se for information and a Registration Form.

Background
I have always been fascinated by lonely, old and forgotten places which have many tracks and stories to tell. I started my first plein-air watercolors with motives from abandoned houses in Iran at age of 17. Now I have located some favourite spots in Tuscany where we will visit and paint on spot. There will be different locations with different characters for each day.

Primary aims & Learning goals

• Improvement of watercolor technique (as plein-air painting)
• Discovering the Values, Contrasts and Colours as the basis (instead of lines)
• Achieving the character of a desolated place (with traces of people instead of the figures)

Workshop location & accommodation
Historical city of Volterra, Tuscany, Italy.
Hosting institution: Villa Le Guadalupe is an association dedicated to arts by German dramatists Wolfgang Storch and Klaudia Ruschkowski that hosts workshops in arts, theatre, design and music, with an international program. The association is located in XIX° century villa with a view on the southern hills of Volterra, beautiful gardens around, interiors covered with frescos and a private chapel from 1850.

Dates
September 16 – September 23, 2018

Language: English

Number of participants: Minimum 6 Maximum 12
All levels are welcome (preferably with basic experience of water color painting).

Program
– 7 days of accommodation including 5 workshop days.
– The workshops starts with lecture in the villa’s studio, followed by field trips to the locations.
– Demo and instructions at locations, followed by sketching & painting outdoor individually or in small groups.

– Morning: 3 hours (10.00 – 13.00) / Afternoon: 3 hours (16.00 -19.00)
– Lunch break and own time between 13.00 -16.00
– Day review 18-19
– 20.00 supper in Villa Le Guadalupe

Daily workshop schedule
Day 1. Welcoming and introductions followed by demos in the studio. Lunch break and discovering the villa’s garden and the chapel.
Learnings: Basics in watercolor techniques, Choosing the best compositions.

Day 2. Field trip to the Ex Hospital of Volterra (Ferri) with a guided tour.
Learnings: Finding Values in Contrasts (Basics in Light and the Darkness)

Day 3. Field trip to the historic monastery, Abbey of San Galgano in Monticiano nearby Siena
Learnings: Finding interesting and vital details in wide views (Defining the size & distance relations)

Day 4. Field trip to the Abandoned Spa facility center Terme del Corallo) in Livorno with guided tour.
Learnings: Finding Values in shadows.

Day 5. Field walk to the abandoned residence and farm house in Mazzolla nearby Volterra.
Learnings: Finding Values in Colour Palette (Basics in colour knowledge)

Additional activities
– Final works public Exhibition in The Volterra-Detroite Fondation (Day 6)
– Visiting & swimming in the rocky beaches of Livorno (optional)

Supplies
Following materials and tools are included!
1. Top Quality Hahnemühle Watercolor Paper Block (Cézanne, 30X40cm, 300gsm, rough, 10 sheets, mould made)
2. Top Quality Moleskin Watercolor Pocket Notebook (60 pages, 14X9 cm, 200gsm)
3. Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Paint Set (Sketcher’s Pocket Box, with 12 half pans)
4. Léonard Watercolor Brushes in 3 sizes (round #10 with 3.5 mm brush width, round #20 with 8mm brush width, and flat brush #6 with 8mm brush width)

Some other supplies will be available for all participants to borrow and use during the workshop:
Watercolor paints as tube, Additional watercolor Papers & Brushes, Sketching Paper Sheets, Palettes, Water Containers, Paper Towels, Masking Tape, Pencils, Erasers, Sharpener and Viewfinder.

The whole arrangement is as a package and you just need to buy your flight tickets, the rest will be taken care of:

– 7 days lodging including breakfast
– 5 days course, workshop and trips
– 5 lunches and 5 dinners (you have 2 free days to explore the town and the restaurants by own)
– Transport from Pisa airport to Volterra & Back, and between the villa and the locations
– Painting & sketching supplies
– Guided tours in the ex hospital area and the ex spa facilities
– Final public Exhibition

Total cost: 985€ per person
Contact info@majstudio.se for information and a Registration Form.

About the instructors

Majid Modir is a visual artist (painter, photographer, graphic and motion designer), born 1961 in Iran, moved to Sweden 1986 and 2016 to Italy. He graduated in Master Fine Art (Graphic Design & Illustration) at The Swedish University College of Arts, Crafts and Design (KONSTFACK, 90-94). He has been working as Art Director in Swedish TV-Channel 4 in 12 years. As creative director he runs his own Design Studio and teaches motion graphic at The College of Design (Beckmans) in Stockholm. He is a member of The Swedish Artists Association, Swedish Center of Photography and a jury member of the European Broadcast Design Award (BDA & Promax). Multiply awarded, he has been showing his various works (watercolors, posters and photographs) in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Scandinavian countries during last 30 years.

Latest exhibitions in Italy:
– “Paradise Doubly-exposed” photographs in Pinacoteca Art Museum, Volterra 2016
– “Windows 2 My Heart” watercolors in Turazza Municipal House, Volterra 2017
– “Paradiso Doppio-esposto” photographs in Kromia Galley, Naples 2018

Artist Website
Selected watercolors in Flickr

Kelly Medford is an American artist who has been working as a plein air painter in Italy since 2005 after attending the Florence Academy of Art. She paints and sketches the streets of Italy daily as a way of getting to know the country, its culture, people, art, history and places. In 2012 she started Sketching Rome Tours as a way of offering this experience to everyone. You can see her work on her website

Other Links
Find some images from previous Volterra workshops in collaboration with Urban Sketchers HERE. Read more about the hosting Villa Le Guadalupe.

Please apply by sending an e-mail to:
info@majstudio.se

Kelly and Majid at the workshop ”Framing the world, Differently!” in Volterra, May 2017