Midsummer Newsletter / Exciting news!
Hi friends! As I’m sure you can tell, it’s been a hot minute since my last updates. Multiple factors caused me to take a step back from work for a while, but now I’m back and ready to roll. And back with some exciting news at that. Now that our little munchkin Lucie has started daycare, I’ve had time to get back to work. Aside from finishing up a few pet portrait commissions, I’ve been spending some time practicing the Bargue drawing method - inspired by the fact that come September I’ll be attending an oil painting intensive workshop at the Florence Academy of Art!
That’s right, I’ll be studying art for a few weeks in the most artistic city in the world. Ryan and Lucie will be joining me, and we’ll also get to spend a couple weeks traveling around Tuscany after the workshop is over.
Florence is already my favorite city in the world, and I can’t wait to spend so much time there getting inspired by the architecture, sculptures, and of course the oil paintings. The food, wine, and gelato will be the icing on top.
The workshop I’ll be attending focuses on figure painting(full body) in the morning, and portrait painting(close up) in the afternoons. All of their studios have been designed to maximize the northern light exposure, and all of the painting will be from life. As someone who almost always paints from pictures, I’m so excited to spend so much time practicing this new skill (though I’m doubtful I’ll be able to translate this to pet portraits given the adorably unruly nature of the subjects).
The Florence Academy of Art is known for their classical academic style of painting, and as someone who has been mostly self-taught, I can’t wait to add these new technical skills to my toolbox. I’m confident this will open the door to human portrait commissions, larger canvas sizes, and maybe the occasional from-life painting(on that note, hit me up if you’ve ever wanted to sit for a portrait painting :)).
I can’t even express how incredibly grateful I am to get to learn - even for a short period of time - at such an esteemed art school, in such a historically significant city, in my favorite country in the world. And to get to share it with my little family! I’m just beyond excited.
So, to wrap this up - I can’t wait to share what I learn and paint while I’m there. And in the mean time, while I prepare for the trip, I’ll only be taking on one or two more pet portrait commissions…so if you’re interested let me know sooner rather than later.
And while there are so many northern and southern parts of the country I would love to explore, we’re trying to keep the travel as low-key as possible while Lucie is still so young - so if you have any Florence or Tuscan recommendations for us, please let me know!