This workshop is for both experienced and beginner artists who would enjoy both structured tuition and time to be self-directed. At Casole d' Elsa, with the beautiful landscape around the centre and the spacious studios and terrace at Verrocchio, there is never any shortage of inspiration and subject matter. If you prefer to be studio-based and work from windows, or set up a still life, or start from your imagination, that is fine too. Bella does not mind what your subject matter or medium is, and, if you need guidance choosing, she is happy to help you find what might suit you best.You should bring your favourite mediums. Bella is very experienced in oils, acrylics, mixed media and all kinds of drawing materials. She is also very familiar with using gouache and collage.
Every other day Bella will offer illustrated talks about the painting process - covering topics such as colour - how to observe and use it expressively; composition - different ways to approach the art of placement in a painting; and gathering visual information - the best ways to sketch and do studies in situ in the landscape to work from later. Bella always gives extensive notes to take away, so you can continue your explorations after the course.
There will be demonstrations of technique, on how build a painting in layers using acrylics, oils, and mixed media, as well as instruction in drawing media for those who would like it. Demos may also requested by the group. Slide talks about Bella's own work and process, and on artists relevant to what is going on in the studio, will be part of the course.
On the self-directed painting days Bella will be available for the whole day for one to one tuition to help you with whatever you are doing, or, just have a chat about going forward with works in progress. There will be one staff day off, where we eat out , with optional trips to Siena or San Gimignano.
So, if you are a relative beginner and would like help getting started to explore painting, as well as time to work at your own pace, then this workshop is for you. If you are an experienced artist, the optional talks and demonstrations could be just what you need to nourish your creativity, or spark a new direction, and the one-to-one tuition and critiques can help you go deeper into your own process and journey as an artist.
Optional Extra
Bella‘s partner Jack Cove, also an artist, accompanies her to Verrocchio. He often sets up informal portrait drawing sessions and has been requested to make these available to any student who would like to have a go. So this year, on 2 to 3 of the self-directed painting days, there will be the option of portrait and figure drawing classes, using charcoal and gouache. You can see examples of Jack’s work using this method below. You don’t need to decide now, but can take the opportunity to explore this approach if you feel like it while you are at Verrocchio with Bella.
Elizabeth Robson:
Course Content and Tuition: This is not just any art course it is Bella's course at the Verrocchio Art School. Bella is a wonderful teacher and tutor, ambitious for each student to succeed. For the student this is not a holiday but a chance to really work on making progress in painting.
Centro In general - Food, accommodation, staff: Verrocchio is one of the rare places with a unique golden atmosphere. The food this year was even better, lots of vegetables and fruit and salad and lovely Italian cooking. The rotating staff are friendly and the permanent staff are brilliant.
Casole d'Elsa and environment: Casole is authentic Italian. It is a constant sources of life and music with markets, festivals, varied restaurants to fit all purses, bars to chat over coffee and the warmth of Italy and Italians.
Any other comments/feedback/suggestions: The sheet on scumbling and glazing put me off the process last year!! Bella needs a new projector or at least a new bulb - this is a colour course we need to see the genuine colours.
Nigel Robson (non-participating)
Centro - general, food, accommodation and staff: Love the Centro It has a extraordinary quality and sense of individuality which is liberating. Nigel, CAro and all the staff/helpers are just so friendly, supportive and hard-working. the food has been very good, and plentiful. I love just allowing the courses and conversation to unfold each evening.
Casole d'Elsa and environment: Casole is my favourite place in Tuscany. Spent 3 euros on a 'Sentiare' map, and have walked from and around the village during the day as my wife has worked on her painting. The paths are well marked. It has enabled me to unpack a little more of Casole and its surroundings.
Barbara Mace
Course Content and tuition: Exceptionally well prepared and generous teaching from Bella. Personal attention at an appropriate and relevant level. I learnt a lot.
Centro - general, food, accommodation, staff: Loredana provided excellent supper every day, delicious. Staff not up to usual level of experience. Centro facilities improved generally including more en suite bedrooms. Unusual charm still present.
Casole d'Elsa and environment: Charming village, friendly inhabitants, most requirements available. Good baker,butcher etc. Very good ice cream shop. Unusual entertainment in the evenings from singing to "mini Miss Casole!"
Any other comments: An excellent, good value holiday in charming village and environs, close to San Gimignano and Siena - not too far for a day trip.
Peter Clarkson
Course Content and Tuition: Beyond reproach. A lucid exposition of colour and how to use it. Personal encouragement and exciting new development of my own painting.
Centro: Simple locally sourced food brilliantly cooked with local wine as well.
Casole d'Elsa: Lively village - in the summer markets, dances, concerts and sitting outside the bar in the sunshine. Students return here year on year.
Sheila Carey
Course content and tuition: Bella is a wonderful teacher, she cares about her pupils and structures her courses to their needs. her knowledge of colour, painting methods and materials is unrivalled.
Centro: Verrocchio is atmospheric, beautiful and friendly. the food is excellent and the accommodation is good. Particular thanks to Caro and Loredana the cook.
Casole d'Elsa: I've been coming back for years. I think that says it all.
Margie Barton
Course content and tuition: Serious, wonderfully thouhgt out but accessible content with excercises and ideas to work on for months. Not only does this course help in one's own work, it enhances one's enjoyment of art in general.
Centro: Really delicious food, kind staff and simple but adequate accommodation.
Casole d'Elsa: Once comes to love Casole for the people in the shops and bars as much as for its stunning views and great walks.
Other comments: Every year something new, but without spoiling the essence and magic of Casole.
Jackie Conradi-Robertson
Course Content and Tuition: Well research and expertly presented teaching materials and concepts. Every student is assisted individually by an excellent teacher - Bella. The course content can be adapted to every level of ability.
Centro: The accommodation is simple yet full of interesting books, artefacts and art throughout the centro. The chef - Loredana - is excellent at preparing a great variety of superb meals for the vegetarian and the carnivore alike.
Casole d'Elsa: Casole provides an interesting small town environment with vistas for painting, and walks to get closer to nature. The town has welcoming bars and restaurants with friendly staff.
Other comments: I would highly recommend Casole and Verrocchio for a safe and interesting learning art experience among friendly felllow students with an excellent teacher and welcoming environment.
Celia Talbot
Course Content and Tuition: Course very full day. Lots of classes, lectures, demonstrations slide shows and very useful IT information. Terrific atmosphere between tutor and group and with in group members. Tutor led the day well and set that good learning, sharing atmophere from day one.
Centro: Food - to die for - loved it. Enjoyed the simple arrangement for breakfast and lunch. The evening meal - 3 courses with wine - on the terrace was always full of flavour and wonderfully cooked. The best Italian meals ever. Freedom, trust, studios open 24 hours, library, building (tithe barns) create a very creative, gentle atmosphere - life slows down here. I savour every minute. Love the tango!
Casole d'Elsa: Old buildings, warm stonework, friendly people. Enjoyed the beauty of the old town - felt very safe day or nights, wandering on my own around the castle walls, and through alleys and narrow streets. Local church had music evenings, good museum and of course all the wonderful sculptures everywhere to enjoy. Shops, bars, - everything I need.
Any other comments: I like the way Bella dn Caro deal with difficult situations and resolves them asap. Sometimes almost overload of information with no time to try out new methods - perhaps another workshop day during the week without classes - no criticism at all of the professionalism of Bella's course and the very hard work she puts in.
The Verrocchio Art Centre is delighted to be working in collaboration with the RWA Drawing School, Bristol to offer this week-long residential creative holiday "Locating a Personal Practice in Landscape", led by artist and former President of the RWA, Stewart Geddes.
Through a mixture of individual and group tuition, and en plein air and studio-based techniques, the course will assist participants in identifying and developing a personal way forward in their painting. The environment of the Verrocchio Art Centre, the ancient town architecture, and the surrounding landscape will form the basis for ideas.The character of the environment and the quality of light will particularly encourage thinking about colour.
Because the emphasis will be on locating a personal way forward, the course will embrace a breadth of painting styles: abstraction, figuration, observation and imagination. It is anticipated that by the end of the course the participant will feel more confident and clearer about their own painting, and be able to take this new insight beyond the week-long course.
Stewart Geddes is formerly Head of Painting at Cardiff School of Art and Design (now Cardiff Metropolitan University) and is currently an Associate Lecturer at Gloucester University. He has works in a number of public and private collections both nationally and internationally. He is an Honorary Academican of the Royal Scottish Academy.
Comments from previous holidays with Stewart at Verrocchio
Ability levels: Some painting experience is desirable
Includes acrylic paints in a spectrum of colours including earth tones and black and white, easels, painting boards, paper, pencils, charcoal, erasers, sharpeners, and various sizes of greyboard and canvas board on which to paint. Excludes paint brushes. Participants are advised to bring their own brushes. For details regarding recommended brushes, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or after December 2019 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Non-participating Friends and Partners - are very welcome. See activities for non-participants
The itinerary for the holiday is as follows:
Sat 4 July 2020
Outbound travel day - please see Travel section below
Tour if the village led by Nigel Konstam during the afternoon
Sunday 5 July - Tues 7 July
Tutored sessions, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm, and 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm each day
Wed 8 July
Break day. Self-led time in the studio, or an optional excursion* to Siena or San Gimignano
Thurs 9 - Sat 11 July
Tutored sessions, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm, and 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm each day
Sunday 12 July
Return travel day
Participants must arrange their own return travel from Bristol airport to Pisa airport (outbound on Sat 4 July, return flight Sun 12 July 2019).
Once Easyjet have published their flights for the summer (this usually happens during Sept) we will arrange the transfer to meet the flight. Our driver meets the group in front of Famoso Bar in the arrivals area. You should reach Casole d'Elsa 1.5 hrs later.
We will arrange the return transfer to Pisa to fit with check in for the return flight on 12 July 2020.
For those travelling from London or other airports
We will do our best to accommodate for other arrival / departure times but please aim to arrive before 4 pm and depart after 11 am.
See RWA web site for full Terms and Conditions and further details.
Known as an artist & teacher working from the life model, Andy Pankhurst has always continued to be a landscape painter, the principles being no different - within this philosophy the course is based. Painting either directly from within the beautiful surrounding Tuscan landscape of the Verrocchio art centre, or amongst it's medieval streets of Casole d’Elsa, the tuition will focus towards your personal self-expression while working perceptually from the motif – how to make your equivalent in paint? The abstract language of the old masters & concepts of colour, light & space will be our daily diet. Each participant will also have their own individual studio space ‘base’ and easel, etc, giving those wishing to revise and rework ideas a possibility to do so. Teaching will be on a one-to-one basis to suit individual needs. It will further include: a group introductory colour talk & demonstration, village and landscape painting recce, seminar talks and selected evening slide lectures - All levels of experience welcome.
Seven days tuition, plus two untutored, one of which will offer the opportunity for a days optional trip to nearby Siena or San Gimignano. Teaching times: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm & 3 pm – 5:30 pm. (Regarding adverse weather conditions. We can always take refuge if ever required & continue from your ‘base’ within Verrocchio’s magnificent and beautiful studios with views overlooking the classic landscape).
*Oil or acrylic paints. Suggested basic colours: Titanium White, Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine, Cobalt & Phthalo Blue. A fully comprehensive materials list will be sent out to all participants approximately two months prior to the course. *Although the course is primarily about working with paint on canvas, those wishing to use water colours, chalk or oil pastels, etc will be encouraged and advised - either as materials & mediums for studies, or as works in their own right on paper.
Studied and taught at the Slade School of Fine Art. Presently teaching at the Royal Drawing School, the London School of Painting & Drawing & freelance artist and lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Co-authored (with Lucinda Hawksley) ‘What Makes Great Art’, published by Apple press.
A figurative painter with work represented in various public, corporate & private collections in the UK and USA.
Represented &exhibits with Browse & Darby, London. www.browseanddarby.co.uk
"I wanted to thank you so much for your tutoring and encouragement during the course at Verrocchio. Your enthusiasm and love of art is infectious and your generosity in sharing your wealth of knowledge was a privilege to partake in. It was a truly memorable week that I will remember for a long time to come." NP, London
"Andy Pankhurst completely understands not only the complex joy, but hard won accomplishments in the world of painting. He has an incredible gift for teaching and sharing his knowledge and experience as a brilliant artist in his own right. Andy guides and draws out his students unique vision calmly, deftly, and with understanding. He is an exceptional teacher ,and I feel lucky and privileged to be taught by him, and inspired by his talent." SB, London
"I first went to Verrocchio Art Centre 19 years ago, and have returned every year since. The Art Centre and the village is unique and magical, and of all the courses that I have taken elsewhere nothing compares to Verrocchio. The medieval setting, food, ambience and facilities are wonderful, and it has become a 'home from home' to me. The atmosphere is relaxed and caters to all standards of artists and beginners. The Centro D'Arte Verrocchio attracts the highest standard of tutors such as Andy Pankhurst. Andy, who will be running a course this summer is a fantastic knowledgeable and caring teacher. I have been under his tuition at The Royal Drawing School for three years. As a hugely accomplished artist himself, it is very exciting that he will be teaching this summer at Verrocchio, and I highly recommend his course." Sylvie, London