…..coming on her fifth visit to the mill

This year we are delighted again to welcome Laraine Simpson for her fifth visit to the watermill. She’s proved to be one of our most popular tutors, with her courses always full.

During the week-long painting holiday, which runs from 4-11 September, Laraine will be tutoring in oils, pastels, watercolours etc.

And, as always, Laraine’s partner Paul will be on hand to help entertain you and to inspire your painting with a little gentle guitar playing on location.

Laraine is a Fine Arts-Painting graduate of Central School of Art & Design (now Central St. Martins), London.  She is highly regarded as a perceptive, patient and encouraging tutor working with beginners and advanced students alike, her main aim being to teach people to ‘see’ the relationships of line, tone, shape, colour etc which are fundamental to drawing and painting.  Laraine works in oils, pastels, watercolours, and a variety of drawing materials.  Her main inspiration is the wonderful interplay of light on surfaces, particularly the human form and landscape, and also animals and architecture. 

Here’s a rather nice oil Laraine painted in the UK, called Hawnby Summer Heat. It was executed en plein air using palette knives.  Laraine says: “It was a very hot day and having quickly blocked in the main shapes of the composition with washes, the use of the knives speeded up the painting process and created luscious textures. The simple arrangement of the tree line and subtle changes of the rich greens in the landscape are complemented by the inclusion of strategically placed reddish ochres.”

And here’s a painting of the nearby castle of Verrucola, painted by one of Laraine’s students:

If you’d like to see the castle yourself and enjoy the unique delights of a famous Watermill at Posara painting course, now’s the time to book. We already have six students booked in, so places are filling up.

To recap, Laraine’s painting holiday with tuition oils, pastels, watercolours  and drawing runs from 4-11 September.

If you would like to come on Laraine’s painting holiday at the watermill, see our website to find out more.

Don’t forget:  If you book your place under the Tuscan sun at the watermill for a 2010 course before the end of February there’s a £50 ‘Winter Warming Allowance’ discount. Just call us on (UK number) 01888 568 375 or email us using our secure Contact Form (quoting blog 2001) and we’ll make sure your place is reserved.

To celebrate us all surviving the deep freeze in the northern Hemisphere, we’re offering everyone a special Winter Warmer Allowance, of £50 off any painting holiday or creative writing course, if you book before the end of February. (Our picture shows Lois enjoying the Winter snow but, on the whole, sh’d rather be in Tuscany!)

That should help warm you up – as well as the anticipation of a week’s pampering at the sunny Watermill of Posara.   Email us on our secure Contact Form or call (UK number) 01888 568 375 and we’ll reserve your place.

Sharon is currently in Paris; gathering new material for her next novel and being inspired by all that she sees……so why don’t you inspire yourself and enter the competition on her website to win one of her books! 

PS  She looks forward to seeing you on her course in Posara in May….

Bill gave me a fantastic book this Christmas:  The Italian Cookery Course by Kate Caldesi.  It’s beautifully produced, with mouth-watering colour pix of finished dishes, as well as panoramas of the region and snapshots of chefs at work in their kitchens.  The book is broadly arranged by course, with lots of sidenotes on specialities of particular regions.  I particularly like the chapter on bread (probably because I like bread, full stop!).  In fact, I feel the urge to go and make my own starter dough even as I write.  

One of my favourite bready indulgences is chickpea fritters.  You can buy them freshly made from Vladimiro’, the pizza place in Fivizzano, to be eaten as a starter.  They make them in the pizza oven rather than deep-fry them, so I suppose they might be less calorific (dream on!). Totally delicious.  And here’s a recipe for peperonata (serves 6) which would be a delicious accompaniment to the fritters (or farinata as they call them in the Vladimiro’ - or to any other type of bread you have to hand…

Ingredients: 4 large peppers (red and yellow), 200 ml water, 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 red onions (finely sliced), 4 bay leaves, 2 garlic cloves (sliced), salt, 100 ml red wine, 200g passata (or 6 fresh ripe plum tomatoes, chopped), salt and pepper.

Cook the peppers in a large pan with the water until it evaporates.  Add the oil and cook for 15 minutes.  Add the onions, bay leaves and garlic, and fry for 10 minutes.  Salt to taste.  Pour in the wine, reduce a little, then add the passata.  Cover and cook until soft, around 20-30 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Here’s a beautiful New Year’s greeting from Freda Alschuler, one of our tutors at the mill this year.  Freda will be teaching watercolours (and pastels, if you want to dabble!) from Saturday 24 July to Saturday 31 July, 2010.  If you would like to make a booking, contact us through our website.

Happy New Year from us all at Forglen!  We’re in very snowy Scotland and the temperature is now a balmy minus 12 degrees Centigrade (it was minus 17 at breakfast!).

Jessica Hart, one of our lovely creative writing tutors, writes to tell us that she has just had her 55th book accepted. She says: “So, I am having a very nice week being a writer (which is so much more fun than the pesky business of actually writing!) and  I am revelling in the lack of any imminent deadline - bliss! 

“I’m off to London tomorrow to have lunch with my current and very first editor, who pulled me out of the slush pile exactly twenty years ago.  I never made it to celebrate 50 books last year, so this will be a double celebration and I am really looking forward to it.”

Jessica adds: “As icing on the cake, I’ve just learned that Cinderella’s Wedding Wish is a Romantic Times finalist for Best Harlequin Romance 09, and even more excitingly, that I’ve been nominated for a Romantic Times Series Career Achievement Award.”

Jessica’s first Writing Romance course at the watermill this autumn was very successful and the  “Ladies of Posara” have set up a very supportive Yahoo group, to keep in touch and to discuss the triumphs and disasters of the writing process. Jessica tells us: “We’re currently celebrating the success of the first member to have a historical novel accepted by Harlequin Mills & Boon. 

“Sadly, I can’t claim any credit as her book was written long before the September course, but I am still thrilled for her, and confidently waiting to hear from the others …”

Jessica’s course at the mill next year runs from Saturday 22 September to Saturday 2 October 2010

And don’t forget our Early Bird discount: if you book on any of our creative writing courses or famous painting holidays before 31 December, there’s a £75 discount. Sending us an email to reserve a place could be one of the best bits of writing you do this year!

Our picture above shows the North American cover of Jessica’s next book, out in March 2010.

Having a tough time, what with the Winter weather and the chilly economic climate? Feeling stressed out as Christmas fast approaches and there are a thousand and one things to do?

What you need is something really warm and relaxing to look forward. And there can be little better than a wonderful Spring or Summer holiday at The Watermill at Posara. Our five beautiful self-contained apartments are available for peaceful holidays in unspoilt Lunigiana, where you truly can enjoy the best of the Italian lifestyle.

Just like a couple from Cheshire did last year. We’ve just had a email from them: “We had such a great time on our last holiday there, we had decided we couldn’t go again as it could never be as good.”

But they added: “We have just got through a very difficult month, and are in need of something to look forward to – so we would like to book again!”

They say: “The weather there was perfect this year – and it should be the same next. And the place will be just as relaxing.”

So, if you’ve been before, can you resist going again – and if you haven’t isn’t it time to find out what you’ve been missing?

And don’t forget our ‘Early Bird’ discount – if you book before the end of the year, there’s a generous 10% off the rental price. Banish those Winter Blues and book your watermill apartment right now!

One of our Australian guests has just written to us, full of praise for Charles’ course this October:

“Just writing to thank you and let you know that my trip to the watermill was a great experience. It was very well organised, Kerstin and the staff do such a great job. The watermill was beautiful and well worth the trip from Australia. I have had the opportunity of painting with Charles before and always enjoy his techniques and ability to teach. He worked in some extra time in the studio, which Kerstin accommodated into the programme without fuss. I am considering coming back again next year. It was nice to meet people with similar interests from around the world in such a relaxed setting.

“Thanks again to you, your staff, Charles and the wonderful group of people who I had the pleasure of meeting and sharing a week of my life with.”

Charles’ dates for 2010 are 2-9 October and it’s filling fast - so book now if you want to be sure of a place!

Play Pictionary to improve your drawing skills!

We are delighted to welcome Charles Sluga, the celebrated Australian watercolourist, back to the mill for another painting holiday next year. 

After this year’s course Charles tells us: “Scenery is everything on a painting course and you can’t beat the mill and the surrounding countryside for scenery: mountains and hilltop villages, vineyards, trees, gardens alive with flowers – there’s everything you need and more.”

He adds: “We had a great group on my painting course this year and we all had good fun. We even played Pictionary together in the evenings to improve our drawing skills!”

Charles will be back for his third visit to Posara for his week-long course in watercolours, which runs from 2-9 October 2010.

Charles is a highly respected and sought after artist and watercolour teacher in Australia. He has gained a reputation for his versatility in both his technique and choice of subject matter. His friendly and enthusiastic approach, and eagerness to impart his wide knowledge, is reflected in his popularity as a tutor and the waiting lists for his regular classes.

As on all our painting holidays, Charles and his students take an excursion by train mid-week to the wonderful walled Italian city of Lucca. He says: “I never tire of visiting that place. I particularly love the traffic-free centre – and I always take loads of photographs for painting reference, to work up into pictures at home later. Lucca has a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere and the light in the main square [the Piazza Napoleone] is fantastic.

We make no excuse for showing you again Charles’ wonderful watercolour ‘Lunch in Lucca’, which captures the light and the relaxed atmosphere of the place.

Charles says: “I was having lunch in Lucca with some of my workshop pupils from the Watermill and we all noticed the lovely view from our table. The dappled light on the yellow-coloured wall was an instant attraction and demanded to be painted. We all took photographs and I completed this painting when I returned to Australia.

“The verticals of the trees contrasted nicely with the diagonal patterns of the shadows on the wall. The yellows of the wall were first painted and while this was still wet a thicker mixture of violet was applied, making sure that it didn’t bleed too much and that I didn’t lose the light-struck areas of wall. The same violet (but watered down) was used for the shadows on the tree and umbrellas. The figures were the last things painted and are crucial in adding a sense of scale and life to the painting.”

We are sure you’ll all agree the end result is lovely – and Charles is not so bad at Pictionary either!

If you would like to come on Charles’ painting holiday at the watermill, or any other courses, now’s the time to book.

Don’t forget:  If you book your place under the Tuscan sun at the watermill for a 2010 course before the end of the year, there’s a £75 ‘Early Bird’ discount. Just call us on (UK number) 01888 568 375 or email info@watermill.net  (quoting blog0911) and we’ll make sure your place is reserved.