Monet Paris & Giverny Painting Holiday

Living The Spirit of Impressionism

Giverny is a tiny village about 75 km north of Paris, in Lower Normandy. Claude Monet, the father of Impressionism, lived in Giverny the last 30 years of his life.

Me painting in the Monet's garden, July 2013

There he built his mansion and designed in person a luscious flower garden and the lily pond. Later the lilies became the subject of a series of large paintings. These paintings – we can now admire at Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris -- become his most famous masterpieces, after Impression du Soleil Levant, which gave birth to the Impressionism and constitutes our legacy as painters.

Next July I'll have again the privilege to paint right along the lily pond in the colourful garden of my muse Monet. Believe me when I say you can feel his spirit and something enormously greater in the air as you paint in the quite late afternoon of Giverny. The sky becomes peach rose thru the trees and you can only hear the frogs splashing in the pond. We feel as witnesses and humble carriers of  his Art. We become aware and grateful for it seems he made all this to share his inspiration with us!

12 -- 19 July, 2014

The Japanese Bridge --
Watercolor 33 x 46 cm (c) Francesco Fontana

I’ll offer this 4 day workshop in Giverny – after a brief tour in Paris. Dry and water media are preferred -- but oil is welcome if you have a basic gear and painting know how outdoor. I pre-booked only 8 rooms at the hotel we stayed last year, just around the corner of Monet’s house. Are you going to miss this chance?

Be part of this memorable experience! Sign up now!. 

Hotels in Paris

Talk to me and share your passion

So much happened since my last newsletter in September. My workshop experience in Bali was so surprising and intense, it took me a week to recover from those overwhelming emotions. After a passage to Tuscany and then in Sicily -- I am back to the studio to put new inspiration into a new large painting series, as well as planning workshops.

The Bali Workshop 2013

As an art lover and collector you will receive frequent updates about currently available paintings, in the next newsletters. I will soon offer a special selection of my inventory to my email subscribers only.

If you paint and wish to be updated about my travels and workshop opportunities, California, Virginia, Italy, Paris and Monet's Giverny are just some of the fabulous destinations for 2014. A return to Bali will likely be schedules soon. Please check my calendar and inquiry now about my painting holidays and workshops.

Live in painting! : )) Francesco Fontana

Skype: fontasco | www.francescofontana.com | workshops@francescofontana.com

Let Me Visit You

Next Custom Workshop: Bali, Indonesia

I am so thrilled to be preparing my travel to Bali, Indonesia where a local group of internediate oil painters is waiting for me next October 14, 2013.

This event is one of the results of my announcement some time ago, when I sent out e newsletter offering custom workshops. In other words I am ready to fly to join groups and art centers around the world -- in addition to my self-organized painting holidays in France and Italy.

Are you a member of an artists club or school of art?

If you are part of an art organization, please consider booking me to teach a workshop next year or further on. It's never too early! Let me visit you at you place. I'll love to meet you and share my method and my experience! Talk to me

I have a talent for teaching. I’ll never stop learning but one thing I know for sure: I know how to share what I know. I got the right words, the timely gesture, the lively example for you to get the insight you're looking for. I believe a master is the one who allows you to become what you are. Empathy first of all: your struggle is my struggle.

Francesco's Floral Demo from Life at the Public Library, Feb 2013

>> Francesco offers a well-run workshop with solid instruction, tailored to suit individual levels – from beginners to professionals. His skill with language makes it possible for a multi-cultural group to share artistically.  I came away with improved painting skills.  Bruce Bingham -- USA / Malta <<

Dynamic Brushwork & Color Mixing are the main focus of my program through demos, individual work plan, assignments and assistance, painting along, general critique and six month personal email follow up. 

Take notice

~ Length can be 3 days or longer, 6 hrs daily

~ Media oil or watercolor at your choice, all level
~ Subjects: landscapes en plein air; still life & floral indoor
~ Fluency in English French and Italian

Hire Me for a Workshop

I'll be available in the USA mid April 2014. Write me a line to make workshops@francescofontana.com to make a plan.

Live in painting ; )) Francesco

PS. If this is the first time you hire me, I am happy to either offer money off my fee, or put on my charge the airfare or alike.

PPS. If you wish to both sponsor the event and attend as a painter, you might come to up with little to zero fee! Learn how. Email me now: workshops@francescofontana.com

Find the Answers to be the Painter you Want ~ Workshops 2013

Dynamic Brushwork & Creative Mixing 

The holiday season is approaching. This year I double my workshop proposal. I offer my beautiful destinations in Italy and France, for those who visit Europe and wish to include the creative and social experience of plein air painting. On the other way around I made myself available to fly and join art centers and painters clubs worldwide, to teach custom designed workshops.

My program will focus on Creative Mixing & Dynamic Brushwork. You know, I have been teaching the alla prima method long enough, to be fully aware of the painters who will benefit from my instruction:

~        Those who do everything right and nevertheless their paintings still look 'cute'
~        Those who have some experience but their palette is never large enough
~        Those whose paintings are not as vivid as the expensive paint tubes in the box
~        Those who can't resist licking the canvas twice or more, at every paint load.

The painters qualified for my workshop are many more and the spots limited to eight per workshop. Be the first to get my help to discover your own personal answers (not the formulas) to be the painter you want to be!

Check out my 2013 Painting Holidays Tours here: http://www.francescofontana.com/network/Workshops_Plan.asp

Learn how to hire me for Your Custom Workshop: http://www.francescofontana.com/English/Painting-Workshops-Custom-Art-Centers.htm

Live in painting : )) Francesco

PS. New entry in the Painting Holidays Tours include Elba Island, Toscana and Marche

www.francescofontana.com
workshops@francescofontana.com

Make a gift to your artist friends: buy their art!

The best gift you can do to an artist is to choose one of their works. The choice is an implicit sign of respect, appreciation, even affection. Artists - creatures with emotional issues, childhood trauma, or at least a wheel out of place - live in constant need of these confirmations. The applause is the mother of all confirmation, the purchase of a record, or a book, or a ticket, is its father.

Furthermore the gift is mutual. Nothing better than a work of invention and love, rewards the intellect and soul of those who buy art. It's the only case in which you give a gift to someone and keep it in your home to admire and show. It's time for a good work. We created it. Now do the right thing: buy it!

Please visit my on-line Portfolio!

PS. Thanks to Emma Thurgood for the insight 
PPS. I just did it with my artist friend Bruce. Can't wait to receive her painting in the mail

Free Like a Bird

I wish my friends and family to vote for the best on Novembre 6th, 2012, to make America an equitable Country and more people  'Free Like a Bird'!

What a lovely day in New York City! The cherry trees are blooming in Central Park and I feel free to fly on my bicycle!

Mixed Oil & Acrylic on Linen | 26 x 26 cms (10,4" x 10,4") |

How to Buy this Painting | Comment and Share

[http://www.francescofontana.com]

Palazzo Carafa

The Good Will

It was a sunny Sunday in the heart of Lecce and I was inspired by the flags waving against the blue sky. 

As I sat up my easel at the corner of the sidewalk, I realize I had brought no turps to thin my paint. I lifted a tip to the porter of a nearby fancy hotel and after a while he got me some stain remover from the hotel storage. Sorry, I have to 'stain' the canvas not clean it! Wait -- he said, and 20 minuts later he brought me some kind of detergent. Never mind -- at least I can clean my brushes! Thanks for the good will.

 

Love all the ancient names of 2000 years old city: Palazzo Carafa (ex Monastero delle Paoline, right flags) and the Palazzo di Giustizia (left). In the background the Chiesa del Gesù or Chiesa del Buon Consiglio

 

Oil on Linen | 16 x 26 cms (6,4" x 10,4")

How to Buy it Now | Comment and Share | Bid at the Auction

[http://www.francescofontana.com]