FLORENCE WATERCOLOR HOLIDAYS

Benvenuti in Italia!

Upon arrival at Florence Airport, sit back and relax as you are transfered to your luxury Attico right in the heart of Florence.

At 5 pm, meet your Kaoma Travel Tour Director and travelling companions, for a short walking tour of Florence historical centre and a welcome drink. Tonight, savour a three-course regional-style dinner this evening at the attico prepared by a talented private chef and paired with a local wine.

Meals: D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

Discover the wonders of Florence

The best way to start the day?
With a delicious Italian breakfast! Choose from a variety of breads from the local pasticceria, fresh ricotta, organic honey, seasonal fruits and marmalades and farm-fresh eggs.

9:00 to 13:00: Follow your local guide to Florence Duomo monumental complex to learn about the history and the architecture of the Brunelleschi's Dome, the Giotto's Bell Tower and the St. John's Baptistery; then step inside the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Enjoy a morning tea break overlooking the impressive Piazza Della Signoria with Palazzo Vecchio, the Fountain of Neptune and the Loggia Dei Lanzi. Get close to Uffizi Gallery's masterpieces with a guided tour. Your guide leads you through the most important masterpieces so you will be able to understand their beauty, importance, meaning and style.

Stop in a typical ''Trattoria'' in the hearth of Florence, savouring special regional ingredients, recipes and flavors.

After lunch, get into a 4x4 jeep and set off to discover the vineyards surrounding Florence. Visit the production cellar, the barrique cellar, the bottling and storage rooms. Taste, in the historical room, the wines, the oil and the water that flows from the ancient spring and that gives the name to the farm.

Dinner at the Attico and digestive in the main salotto.

Meals: B,L,D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

Drawing and Painting foundation and colour theory workshop (4h) & Free time

Before breakfast, take a beautiful walk with the Kaoma Travel Tour Leader to discover the beauty of Florence in the morning.

9:00 to 13:00: Enjoy a brief introduction to your materials and equipment and then have your first sketching and painting session with your teacher. A painting course in Italy always includes drawing, as drawing was intended in the past as "foundation of the art". Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Botticelli and others were first of all great designers. Practice on shapes, volumes, shadows, proportions and perspective. Then, sketch with charcoal, sanguine and ink. Learn how to mix secondary colours from primary and tertiary colours from a primary and a secondary. It is designed for more advanced students, but is recommended to beginners as it thoroughly explains how all pigment colours can in theory be mixed from yellow, cyan and magenta.

The session will be followed by a delicious Tuscan lunch prepared by our chef.

Free afternoon today, take the opportunity to complete any unfinished work, begin a new study from a different viewpoint or choose one of our Kaoma Travel Optional.

Dinner and overnight.

Meals: B,L,D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

2nd Antique Technique Session (4h) & Oltrarno district

9:00 to 13:00: Enjoy a brief introduction to your materials, equipment and method. Start by wetting the whole work surface, dipping the sheet of paper in the water and letting it dry enough to start painting. Then proceed by transferring the drawing on the paper with very light strokes and then applying the color in glazes, starting from the lightest base and then adding the chiaroscuro. An alternative method is to wet only certain areas of the paper and let the color expand autonomously within these areas, but this will require a certain skill on the part of the artist to know how to guide and follow the movement of the color on the paper to get the desired results.

15:00 to 19:00: Follow your local guide to discover the Oltrarno district. Admire the Boboli Garden, savor the best Florentine Gelato, cross Ponte Vecchio and stop in a few spots for sketching.

Dinner and overnight.

Meals: B,L,D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

3rd Antique Technique Session (4h) & Florentine Artisans tour

9:00 to 13:00: Third Antique Technique Session. Today the course will take place outside. Outdoor courses may vary depending on weather conditions.

After your workshop, head to Sant'Ambrogio Market for a genuine and typical lunch, before join your guide for a guided tour of the Florentine Artisans. Discover the excellence of Tuscan craftsmanship in amazing historical locations, and admire skillful hands and old tools create one-of-a-kind handcrafts, all while learning the stories behind the leading actors of this ‘’new Renaissance’’.

Dinner and overnight.

Meals: B,L,D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

4th Antique Technique Session & Wine painting experience

9:00 to 13:00: Fourth Antique Technique Session. Today the course will take place outside. Outdoor courses may vary depending on weather conditions.

14:30 to 18:30: In the afternoon join a wine painting session. For artists, a glass of wine signifies just the beginning — of some unexpectedly beautiful art. These paintings are different and intriguing not only because of wide variety of depicted motives that go all through art history, but also because fermentation and oxidation continue the artwork which is seen through a slight colour transition from red and purple towards sepia hues, having limited but beautiful colour range no other pigment could imitate. It is also known as the “aging” process. You’ll use the wine (both withe and red) in a very similar way to traditional watercolor, building delicate color washes into solid shapes and details.

Dinner and overnight.

Meals: B,L,D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

Final lesson (4h) & Get your diploma!

9:00 to 13:00 Today is your final lesson. Outdoor courses may vary depending on weather conditions.

Free afternoon today, take the opportunity to complete any unfinished work, begin a new study from a different viewpoint or choose one of our Kaoma Travel Optional.

Later this afternoon, we’ll have an exhibition of your artwork to the group. You'll get your diploma before a special farewell dinner at the Attico: The setting of the table is truly magical thanks to the most sumptuous silver place settings, glasses, goblets, cutlery, plates and candlesticks. All handmade by local craftsmen.

Meals: B,L,D I Accommodation: Luxury Attico - Florence, Tuscany.

Arrivederci Italia!

Italian breakfast in the Attico.

Transfer to the Florence International Airport for your return flight or you may choose to extend your holiday.

Meals: B.