KEY
POINTS OF THE WEEK
The
Ways of Seeing week is a light hearted week for those who
enjoy drawing and painting and those who do not know how to
draw and paint.
It
involves morning sessions of theory with slide shows or historical
visits followed in the afternoon by sessions of drawing or
painting (whatever the person prefers). Exercises will be
suggested to those interested but there is no stipulation
that they must follow these. People are there to enjoy themselves
and sometimes they are quite happy painting and enjoying what
they are doing without somebody interfering all the time.
The
week is not restricted to couples who draw or paint If one
partner does not like art there is a separate
walking itinerary available where there will be a
guide and a donkey/pack animal. These walks run very much
according to the normal walking safaris that we do.
Cars
will be the primary transport for the artist. If there is
a situation where an artist really would rather not walk when
it is suggested to do so then there will be a vehicle ready
to drive them to our destination.
The
first slide show will be introducing everybody to the ways
in which artists throughout the ages have interpreted what
they are looking at. For instance how Picasso would paint
a portrait and how Titian would paint a portrait. Looking
at Picasso alone one can see how different the classical representation
of the face differs to the cubist representation. We will
deal with 'still life' and 'landscape' in the same way and
look at how mood affects the way the artist portrays what
he sees.
The
second slide show will be more to do with the treatment of
light and colour looking at the Monet's cathedrals and haystacks,
Renoir, Seurat and Matisse amongst others. How light can be
produced by certain tonal uses of colour and what else can
be achieved by certain ways of using colour. For instance
what effect painting on a coloured piece of paper has as opposed
to painting on a white piece of paper.
The
vertical
We
would expect all artists (beginners and non-beginners) to
bring their own equipment. A list of essentials will be provided.
We
will be staying in and visiting parts of France of outstanding
beauty. The Quercy Blanc, the Célé valley and
Saint Cirq Lapopie. All incredibly picturesque.
We
will be bringing the walkers into our home and luncheoning
on the terrace for fun light-hearted discussions with stunning
views over the distant bastide hill top village of Lauzerte
down to the Pyrenees.
We
will be visiting the four star Pre-historic painted cave of
Pech Merle. This, along with Lascaux and Font de Gaume is
one of the most important caves of the area.
We
end the week with a visit to the Bemberg Collection in Toulouse.
A unique collection of beautiful pictures from the Gothic
(Lucas Cranach etc.) to the early twentieth century (Bonnard,
Derain, Gauguin etc.).
Click
here for the full itinerary
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