(May 19th, 2015 - May 20th, 2015)
The first day of my painting and drawing workshop was a pretty exciting one. That morning, the two other girls who I traveled with checked out of our hostel, and walked over to the hostel where we were supposed to meet the rest of our group and our instructor, painter Bruce Aiken. This proved to be very easy, since this new hostel happened to be directly next door to the one we had just spent the night at. We were the first ones to arrive, but soon after, Bruce and the other students showed up as well. In total, there were nine of us attending the program, all girls. To begin our time here in Italy, we were assigned rooms in the hostel where we'd be staying during our time in Siena. Since there wasn't enough room in the primary hostel, my two other travel companions and I were asked to room at a different place across the Piazza del Campo (the main plaza in the city), a B&B. We followed Bruce as he led us over there, and when we finally finished climbing the 4 or 5 flights of stairs up to our quarters, we were amazed by the view. From our rooms, we had a breathtaking panoramic view of the city that made all the stairs completely worth it.
The first couple of days in Siena began early in the morning at 7 am. The mornings were spent walking around the town to beautiful locations that highlighted the character and charm of the city. Once there, we would take out our art supplies and draw or paint for a few hours. As far as art supplies goes, I brought along a variety of drawing mediums (watercolors have never appealed to me) including chalk pastels and graphite pencils; the two which I used most often over the course of the trip. Fortunately, these first two days proved to be great in terms of weather; however, this became a very different story as the week progressed.
The first work of art I started during the workshop.
My first genuine Italian pizza!
All of these above images were taken from the B&B where I was staying. The last image captured the sunrise from an open window, which I got to witness every morning due to the fact that we had to wake up pretty early.
Probably my favorite panoramic view of Siena! It captures both the cathedral and the characteristic geometric buildings; various tones of 'sienna' with green shutters.
The first work of art I started during the workshop.
My first genuine Italian pizza!
Yet another photo taken from the B&B; this one shows just how close we were located to the Siena cathedral, and how beautiful it looks lit up at night.
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