Heading Back to Venice!

Although I haven't posted to this blog in a long time, I'm back....because I'm headed back to Venice in May 2015 with painting students again!  I do have one spot left if you'd like to snag it!

Meanwhile, you can read about my painting escapades on my Art blog (www.helenKbeacham.blogspot.com).  It's where I offer painting tippettes and other insightful perusings.  And my paintings can be seen at:  www.helenkbeacham.com.

Sign up to receive my posts via email (see column on the right) or contact me directly to have you added (helenKbeacham@gmail.com).

Gondolas moored in Venice.  Photo by Helen K. Beacham Fine Art.

Home of the Gondolas

My Italian painting partner (Kelly Medford, who lives in Rome) took a short visit up to Venice last week...(Kelly, I'm so jealous that you can just hop on a train and visit Venice!)

While she was there, she had the opportunity to visit a gondola shop (!) where she painted this unique spot.

The Gondola Yard, Squero di San Trovaso

9x12"

oil on paper

©Kelly Medford

Kelly wrote about this experience on her own blog (which you should check out and sign up to receive her great posts).  When Kelly paints a particular spot, you get the added pleasure of reading all about the history and insights that she gleans from the people that live and work wherever she's chosen to paint for the day.  Kelly wrote this about the Gondola Yard:

If you have not seen this place, it's such an odd jewel on the corner of a canal next to the church in San Trovaso. It's odd because it is built entirely of wood and looks like something straight out of the Dolomites.

 That's because it is.

Traditionally the workers came from the Dolomite region of the Alps and the structure is Tyrolean in style.

This gondola shop was built in the 17th century and is the oldest of the 3 shops of its kind left in the city. Mostly they just repair gondolas rather than make them anymore. There are on average just 350 gondolas on the canals of the city today compared with the 10,000 in the past.

Making a new gondola is a feat and requires 8 different kinds of wood: mahogany, cherry, fir, walnut, oak, elm, larch and lime.

And if you are wondering about the color black, that became...read more by clicking HERE.

Come with me (Helen K. Beacham) and Kelly Medford to paint Venice this October...

Click HERE for details!

Read my latest post HERE.

Nestled

Tuscany offers a bazillion opportunities for artists to capture in paint.  I remember flying over the ocean, thinking "what if I get there, and it's not as great as I hope it will be?".  Man, oh, man.  Every turn in the road was a picture.  The simplicity of it all is what makes it so great!

"Nestled II" (watercolor by Helen K Beacham)
Framed size:  18 x 21 (Image size:  8 x 11) $595.

Come with Helen K. Beacham and Kelly Medford to paint Venice this October...

click HERE for details!

See my latest post HERE.

Collaboration - Venice (Italy) Art Workshop

Social media is terrific for connecting with other artists around the world. That's how I met Kelly Medford, who lives and paints in Rome.  

As a result of her obvious dedication to daily plein air paintings, she and I are collaborating on teaching a painting workshop this October in the lovely and seductive VENICE!  (...you may take a virtual tour of Venice HERE).

Kelly will teach the oil & acrylic painters, while I'll teach watercolors, gouache, pen & ink, and graphite.  Details for the workshop may be found here:  WORKSHOP.

This is a picture of Kelly, doing what she does every day!  Do you see her mode of transportation?

Kelly Medford (www.KellyMedford.com)

In Kelly's words....
"I first came to Italy to take a landscape painting workshop in 2004. Little did I know that only 6 months later I would move to Italy and call it my home. In 2005 I had a scholarship from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga where I was to study art abroad for 1 year, so I took the opportunity and went into the drawing program at The Florence Academy of Art.

After that year, I decided to stay and experience Italy, and I lived in Florence for 6 years. In the fall of 2010 I had the opportunity to move to Rome."

Via del Crocifisso, Rocca di Papa (20"x15")
Oil on Linen (by Kelly Medford)
Click HERE to purchase this painting.

She continues..."Rome is a world of marvels and, to break it down into smaller bites, I started my journey as a full-time painter in Rome with a project exploring the neighborhoods and streets, one painting at a time.

In the fall of 2012, I held my first solo exhibition in Rome with over 25 of those paintings done on the streets around the city.  I continue to teach both sketchbook journaling and oil painting workshops around Italy and participate in regular exhibitions and plein air competitions around Italy."

"Morning Market, Pigneto" (9" x 12")  Oil on Panel
by Kelly Medford
Click HERE to purchase this painting.

You can see more of Kelly's work on her website at www.kellymedford.com

or read stories about the paintings on her Adventures in Painting blog at www.kellymedford.blogspot.com

www.helenKbeacham.com