Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tuscany dreams




Do you dream of going places?

I do. The more I travel the more I want to travel. Europe has been my intrigue and with luck and a few dollars, I'll return again. My sights are on Tuscany next...

I was checking out some of my followers sites and came upon Roisin O'Farrell's post titled In a bit of a Jam! Love the title and the painting. In this post Roisin talks about artists bartering. I think its a very cool idea. She starts out with little things like jam for gesso boards and ends up with weekend stay's for paintings.

I'm all up for that one!

It's been in my mind to travel for art. How wonderful that would be! Last summer I was online searching for villas in Tuscany that might offer me a room if I painted their vineyards. I was even connected with a man in Italy who was assisting me in trying to find such a place. We were unsuccessful...

That doesn't mean such a thing doesn't exist. It also doesn't mean we can't make it happen. I do remember years ago a place in Bar Harbor, Maine would invite artists during pre-season to come stay for a week. The owners were busy preparing their establishment for the summer and they allowed artists to use an entire floor during this time. The artists were free to paint and the only charge was to donate a painting at the end of their stay.

It was perfect for all involved. The owners received beautiful original art to decorate their rooms, while the artists painted for free in amazing scenery! At the end of the week, the owners hosted an "art show" in the grand-room showcasing the artists work from the week. One artist would paint a beautiful painting at her leisure during the year to bring, so her room and board was accounted for upon arrival.

If artists started to offer such deals, do you think we could begin a trend?

It isn't a far cry from my artists hosting artists idea. I know this sort of thing could work. Maybe we should talk about this some more... I'd love your ideas on the matter?

Where do you want to go?

4 comments:

  1. No comment... You know what i think about that... only good things... I go on you... Kisses

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  2. Hi Susan,

    Thanks for the mention.
    Have you heard of house swapping? We've had many highly sucessful holidays this way. How about House swapping with an artist? They would obviously have a studio or place to paint already and would know the best places to go etc. for plein air work. You could swap accomodation and cars. How's that for a idea?

    Best wishes


    Róisín

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  3. No Roisin, I never thought of house swapping. I thought that only existed in movies! My house is not empty when we go. I wonder if they would feed my son?

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  4. That's OK that you ate those blueberries! You made them sound so gooooooooood!!!!

    You should come to Italy to paint in our workshop this fall! Check it all out on Carole's (My Sis) and my blog: http://caroleandclaire.com

    We are taking 8 and one lady had to drop out for health reasons, so there's one spot open! Just letting you know!

    Thanks for the fun comment!

    Best,
    Claire

    ReplyDelete

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