Tips &
Takeaways
We asked attendees to
share some of the most
helpful insights they learned
from this week of instruction
and inspiration.
- Use complements to help
liven up shadows. This was
an eye opener!
— Katherine McGah - Find the light. And then play
with it through watercolor.
— Janet Weir - Put gravity to work. I never
considered painting
watercolor with my paper
tilted vertically, although I’ve
seen others do it. Tom’s
statement was ‘Gravity is your
friend.’ I found it to be so true.
— Margaret Park - Find meaning. And that will
lead me to find my “voice”
with which to express on my
canvas what I see and feel.
— Janet Weir - First, decide what’s most
important. Plein air can be
difficult. There’s just so much
out there to choose from! Tom
showed us how to decide
what’s important and then
build the painting around that
in such a way that everything
else complements it.
— Margaret Park - Bring attention to the focal
point. I learned how I can use
a contrast in values to high-
light a painting’s focal point.
— Candace Stephens - Use the white of the paper.
Tom stressed that the white of
the paper is the source of light
within the painting and then
showed us how to use that
fact. He demonstrated how to
place complementary colors
throughout the painting so
that they bleed into one
another, creating visual
interest, depth and beautiful
neutrals.
— Margaret Park
The buildings and grounds at
Spannocchia supplied plenty
of inspiration for Schaller and
workshop attendees.“I loved the way the different
parts of the landscape glowed
at different times of day,” says
Katherine McGah. “In the early
mornings, the fog was the primary
show; during the day, the shadows
on the buildings and lawns; in the
evenings, the sunsets cast a
beautiful light on everything.”“My favorite thing about
painting in Tuscany was the
interplay between the ancient
walls and the various greens in
the scenery,” says Karen Petras.For Janet Weir, the beautiful
Tuscan landscape was “a daily
palette of inspiration,” but the
environment catered to other
senses as well. “There were
also the sounds [my morning
rooster call] and the Italian
cuisine,” she says.“Painting in Tuscany is like
painting from inside a painting,”
says Margaret Park. “Everywhere
you look, there’s something
beautiful—from the ancient stone
buildings with trailing grapevines
to the tall, dark cypress trees
against the distant hills.”