Copyrighted © 2008 Linda Warner Constantino - 10"by 8"-oil on board.
If you are interested in taking my plein air painting workshop this summer at Spannocchia please contact me. I can assure you it is not just a painting experience but also a cultural immersion. My recent trip there confirmed that Spannocchia is an exceptional place.
My last day at Spannocchia. It is cloudy so I painted the interior of the dining room that has been so warm and inviting. This has been a trip I will never forget, the friendliness of the people, the views, the aroma of food and the food itself, the gardens and overwhelming sense of a reverence for the land. I highly recommend this place to enrich your soul and connect with the Earth.
I will write more when I return home.Ciao!
It was a rainy morning so I went to shop in Siena for presents for my family that I miss so much. The sun came out in the afternoon and I saw how it hit this little building in an area called the "secret garden." It had a sprawling lavender bush in front and some of those great cypress trees.
It was a gorgeous sunny day, the best so far. I ventured down the hill to paint this farmhouse surrounded by vineyards. I could not resist including the brush tipped cypress trees so perfectly located.
Wednesday was pizza night. The smell of the dough rising and the sauteeing of ingredients was indescribable and intoxicating. I will write more about it after I get all the images up.
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This is a little painting of a little garden with this stone shed or root cellar and a flash of late afternoon sun running across it.
The forecast was for rain so I played hookie and took a cooking class. We began by taking a tour of the vegetable gardens conducted by Carmen, the head gardener. I could write a whole blog just on the gardens.
She has a system in place for rotating crops that is phenomenal because even if it is written down some where, it is obvious that it is all in her head. She knows all the vegetables” growing traits and tendencies as if they were her own children. If that were not enough she has the growing synchronized with the kitchen cuisine and vice versa.
It was great fun watching our chef Loredona maneuver in the kitchen with such a natural ease. We started off by making dessert first – chocolate salame - looks like salami but made with chocolate and crushed cookies. Then we prepared baked squash with rosemary. The meat course was saltimbocca made with veal, goat cheese, sage and garlic. For the pasta dish we made gnocchi. I learned that the secret is to peel the potatoes while hot – do not let them cool- and rice them and knead them very little. I finally learned how to roll the gnocchis off the end of the fork to create ridges in them to hold the sauce. They were served with a basic tomato sauce. We also put together a pear and gorgonzola crostini for an appetizer. Of course we got to eat the fruits of our labor! Delicious!
Surprisingly enough, the sun came out after class and I went out and did two little paintings (5” by 7”). This one was done so quickly because I was so cold. The building cast a shadow on me and the temperature dropped.
By the way, the easel I chose to take is a lightweight Openbox M pochade box that takes up to 8” by 10”. I also bought the wet canvas carry case. I pop both things in my backpack along with my easel, paints and gamsol and I am off. I highly recommend it. I have been using an alkyd walnut oil painting medium to speed the drying time. It leaves a gloss finish but I like it and it is non-toxic.
I woke up and headed up the hill behind Spannocchia to a large open field. It was breezy and cold and I perservered with the weather as long as I could. The clouds were changing constant causing the sun to play an ongoing game of “hide and seek.”It was a painting with fingerless gloves day
I woke up in disbelief that all that was required of me was to paint. Am I really in Italy or am I dreaming? I am overwhelmed by all there is to paint. The first thing I painted was the view out of my window. It was cold outside so I was getting a slow start and the radiator was located just under the window. It was a nice way to ease into painting and the day.
Later in the morning was on my way down to and orchard to paint when I stopped in my tracks at this lovely Tuscan farmhouse which houses guests here at Spannocchia. The weather was overcast and windy but this place was idyllic so I decided to paint it instead. The people staying there liked my painting so much they are buying it. I was not expecting this to happen!
In the afternoon the day I went to the front grounds of Spannocchia. I just had to do a painting with those tall cypress trees in it. The weather totally changed from the morning and blue sunny skies abounded casting long shadows from the cypresses across the grass.
All of a sudden I noticed three gigantic pigs walking into the grounds. They acted like they owned the place. I was not sure how to behave around large pigs with a 3:1 advantage. Could they be aggressive? I decided to take a “Dog Whisperer’ approach and act like I was in charge. I was ready for a stare-down if it came to that. Evidently the pigs were NOT supposed to be in the yard but had gotten loose. You could have fooled me. It turns out these pigs are an endangered species called cinta senese. I named them prosciutto, salame, and capocello.
The day was still not over but the weather was cooling off so I decided to switch to watercolors and painted the wall of pots and pans in the kitchen. I loved all the variety of round shapes. Believe there are plenty of interesting nooks and crannies to paint inside the house. More paintings to come.
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