Spend four days painting the natural and cultural riches of Sicily with Vicki Norman on a virtual holiday which will immerse you in the colours, food, architecture and art of Sicily.

Vicki Norman leads you via Zoom to viewpoints and sets you off into an extraordinary journey of painting, with demonstrations and attentive tuition as you paint some of the most picturesque of southern Italian landscapes. Finding structure and perspective is key in this area, where architectural styles are so important.

In between your painting sessions Vicki will give you exercises and homework to help your technique and your appetite for this island of contrasts.  From fertile volcanic land, ancient and arid ruins to baroque style architecture, Sicily offers fresh inspiration for painters around every corner.  You will find yourself exploring the western side of the island, painting secluded inlets and coves, fishing villages, Greek temples, and shimmering slat pans dotted with windmills.

The southern tip of Italy is also about food – what could be better at the end of a blissful day’s painting! We will give you some recipes to try out between your painting sessions. Sicilian food is melting pot of flavours from Africa, Arabia and Spain.

Learning via Zoom is highly concentrated and productive.  It allows you to delve into technique and imagination.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

All sessions start at 2pm GMT

Day 1: Meet Vicki and the Art Safari team on Zoom for three hours of demonstration and tuition time.

Vicki shows examples of her own paintings from Italy.

You will have the option to paint from a variety of images to suit your taste from a library of photos you will receive as part of the course package.

Vicki includes a slide talk on the work of famous local artists who have painted the same location, to get us inspired.

You have time in between sessions to complete your work and submit images of your paintings for feedback on our private Facebook group.

Day 2: We will meet again the following afternoon to review your work from Day 1 and tackle a second painting after another useful lesson related to the location.

Day 3: The third day is free for you to paint all day.

Day 4: We hold a final short meeting (around an hour) to review and share your work and insights from the course.

The workshop will be recorded so you will be able to watch the video online afterwards.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• A laptop, Macbook, PC, iPad or tablet
• An assortment of paint brushes, suitable for your medium in different shapes and sizes

Vicki will work in oils but you may use any medium – Vicki often works with a simple, ‘double primary’ palette comprised of Cadmium Lemon yellow, Cadmium Yellow Golden, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalocyanine Blue Lake or Cerulean Blue, for this workshop Yellow Ochre and Transparent Oxide Red may also be useful. This course isn’t specifically about colour, so just use colours you are familiar with and those you already have.

• Oil/acrylic/ watercolour paper, canvas or canvas boards, up to A2 size or 16 x 20” you will need at least 2. If using ‘oil paper’ please check that it is not absorbent.
• Notebook and pen (there’s LOTS of ideas and stuff to write down!)
• Palette knife
• Kitchen towel or rags
• Easel/table easel or other means of holding your canvas/paper vertically
• Paint palette: wet palette for acrylics, wipe clean one for oils
• Jars for water or solvent (if you use it)
• A couple of sheets of paper for sketching ideas