Living Through the Arts

We can’t wait to see you again!
Monica Marquez
art retreat | Art workshops | Food | Cooking | Painting | plein air | painting workshops Italy FranceJune 7, 2021

We can’t wait to see you again!

Painting the landscape in Italy, now it is the time!

Travelling to Italy to paint and eat! This is what we want! We are optimistic about our upcoming art workshop in Tuscany, Studio Italia 2021 (October 1–10). So far, the European Union has approved the entering of vaccinated and pre-tested travelers. It is great news that all of Italy is now considered “low risk” and travel between regions is unrestricted. While face masks are still worn, life is finally returning to a sense of normalcy. On our side, Canada’s vaccination rate is not yet at the US level, but it is certainly advancing very well.

In the meantime, while getting ready for our in-person Italian fall painting workshop we keep offering our zoom live virtual art classes. Our two online art classes address “perspective drawing” and “personal artistic interpretation”, both essential for attending any painting workshop.

Also, meanwhile, we are dealing with Italy and France in turmoil concerning their tourism industry. They are trying to catch up with a whole year of lost revenues. However, despite an increase in our rental fees, we managed to keep the price of our upcoming art retreat in Tuscany at the same level as last year.  In 2022, our prices will be slightly adjusted. Anyway, Studio Italia is still one of the most affordable art workshops in Italy considering its length (9 nights) and quality (in terms of content and all items included).

Of course, we can paint anywhere, but the Italian landscape is so unique and inspiring. Here an anecdote shared by Christine, one of our returning participants from Michigan, who wrote us this: “Your workshops energize me, and I find such peace painting in Italy.  When I returned from Tuscany, the Homeland Security officer asked me what I was doing in Italy; ‘painting,’ I said. He replied, ‘but can’t you paint here?’ And I said, ‘if you ask that question, it means you’ve never been to Tuscany!”  

In a nutshell; we cannot wait to meet everyone, to see you again, to have this morning coffee together in Tuscany, to do art as a group, and to enjoy life around gourmet meals and excellent wines!

This pandemic has taught us many things, and certainly, we are more aware of the fragility of life. There is no time to waste; we need to let go of all that is holding us from being genuine and creative.

By the way, we have three places left!

 

by | Jun 7, 2021 | art retreat, Art workshops, Food | Cooking, Painting | plein air, painting workshops Italy France

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Who are we

We all make art! It is part of culture. It is deeply rooted in human nature as a way of communicating with others. We all need to tell our stories because it is stories that link us all. We are all one, one creative mind! Though, all unique and equipped with unique ways of expressing ourselves. We live in constant search of that unique liberating voice. At Walk the Arts we aim to facilitate our art makers to explore new territories. Our painting classes and art history trips on three continents are meant to be rounded art experiences among small groups of like-minded adults. We offer an environment that fosters creativity. As we always say, art as religion is just a matter of faith. This blog is about living fully the experience of art, about finding our single artistic path, about the joy of art-making. We believe that making art accessible to all will lead to a betterment of our society.

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My painting workshop in Tuscany

Nov 11, 2022

 

Already a month since my return from a fun-filled art-learning experience in Tuscany, Italy! The workshop went far beyond what I even imagined, or hoped it would be. The roughly eight hours per day for most days of art instruction gave me a new perspective on my art: where I was and where I wanted to be, the past and the future. But, together as a group, we were living in the present.

What is “metaphysics”?

May 26, 2022

 

Since the advent of History, there has always been metaphysics: the Greek, the medieval, the rational, the modern. Each of these metaphysics answers to the other. The metaphysics of Plotinus responds to that of the Stoics, as that of Spinoza responds to that of Descartes, etc. (p. 80). Metaphysics is a deep reflection on things.

I return to visual art, especially to the matter of the intelligible aspect of painting: doesn’t Monet’s thought meet that of Turner, Picasso’s to Cézanne? Doesn’t Monet’s thought respond to Turner’s, Picasso’s to Cézanne’s? Shouldn’t we feed our own work of art from a greater one, which has withstood the test of time? Would metaphysics be evolutive? Would my current work necessarily prevail over the one of yesteryear?

Are We Jugglers of Life?

Jan 13, 2022

 

I am currently in Colombia on a beach, far away from the crowds because of the pandemic. And every year that I am on that beach, Picasso’s painting Les pauvres au bord de la mer (title in French) comes to my mind. More than a century passed by, and we still witness the same inequities. I keep thinking about them, the reason I wrote, during the pandemic, a novella on our society today’s conditions of which I am sharing this dialogue.

“Perseverance” is the key to all successful artists

Dec 11, 2021

 

Perseverance is the key to all successful artists.

I always ask my painting students to memorize … “Until then, we will not rest or falter. Hand in hand with others thirsting for a better life, no matter how long it takes, regardless of support or persecution, we will joyfully respond to a savage need for liberation”.

Studio Italia, a painting vacation with…

Nov 12, 2021

 

If our art workshops focused mostly on painting techniques, then why traveling to Italy and spending money when you could stay at home and learn everything you need through the Internet for free?

Art and Neurosciences

Jan 13, 2021

 

When a subject becomes familiar, the brain activity shuts down like when viewing a lovely chickadee painting…

Can we talk about the neuroscience of art? This is the question that French neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux addresses in his beautiful book The Beauty in the Brain or La Beauté dans le Cerveau (Odile Jacob, 2016). Prof. Changeux describes how the human brain behaves when making or contemplating a work of art. To make a long story short, he argues that the neural bases of aesthetic pleasure are the product of the link between cognitive and emotional brain functions, in other words, the harmony between reason and emotion. Moreover, he gives some tips on how artists can maximize the impact of their works on their audience.

Evolving in art is just a matter of faith; only believe!

Dec 11, 2020

 

We refrain from teaching painting techniques easily found on the Net. We prefer taking the necessary time (36 hours) to fully involve the participant in reflecting on her or his art — including all levels, all media […]
Rest assured that having attended one of our online classes, you will be more confident in taming the landscape in your own way while on a plein-air painting workshop.

May I see the instructor’s works?

Dec 21, 2019

 

So why do we attend a painting workshop In Tuscany, Provence or South America? We attend a workshop to learn from each other, to share our passion, to live an art experience and to enjoy the power of knowledge through creation. This is what we offer at Walk the Arts.

Plein Air Painting = Trapping the Moment

Jun 17, 2019

 

Here’s a curious paradox: stopping time by painting quickly. Can one set a trap to catch the moment’s impression? Can the artist’s canvas trap the beauty and the wonder of observed events which melt all too quickly in the flow of time? Can time be halted? Yes, says Michael Findlay, obviously, this is what artists do…

Let Go! The Artist’s Way of Cooking

Oct 14, 2018


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Ten years ago, here in Tuscany, we decided to write a recipe book but with so many good cookbooks in the market, we needed to propose a new idea. We had to find a modus operandi close to who we are and what we do as visual artists. The answer was in front of us and painting gave it to us: art and color!

Travelling with meaning : a painting workshop in Italy

Sep 30, 2017

 

More and more travellers from the developed world are looking for meaningful travels. We are aiming for journeys that allow us to learn something new, to deepen our culture, to enhance our lives. Purpose, inspiration and self-discovery are now vital elements in our traveling choices. Probably, this is why our quality painting workshops offered since 1997, have become more and more popular.

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