Abbondanza Toscana - Italian cooking courses and wine tours in Tuscany, Italy

Elizabeth Mowry in the vineyard Tall Shadows
by Elizabeth Mowry
A Tuscan hillside Vineyards and olive trees
awaiting your interpretation Magnificant views of
The Cinque Terre From the Meadow
by Elizabeth Mowry

The Poetic Landscape of Tuscany:
A Painting Workshop with Elizabeth Mowry
Dates: September 18 - 28, 2012

Elizabeth Mowry is a much lauded pastel artist who finds her subjects in nature and the rhythms of the landscape. She masterly uses light and shadow to draw you into her scenes so fully that you might find yourself musing, "I wonder where that path would lead me?" Now you can join her in exploring Tuscany and in finding your own poetry of the landscape in one of Italy's most loved and enchanting regions.

Elizabeth is a Master Pastelist in the Pastel Society of America and in 2009 was honored by being selected for the organization's Hall of Fame. She is also a Distinquished Pastelist in the Pastel Society of the West Coast and is listed in Who's Who in American Art.

At the Art of Pastel in France Exhibition, Elizabeth was the 2003 American Guest of Honor; and in 2010 her work earned "Best of Show" in the Pastel Society of Colorado International Exhibition. She also earned a Gold Medal in the pastel category of the Audubon Society exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York City.

Elizabeth has authored the following publications: The Pastelist's Year, The Poetic Landscape and Landscape Meditations.

The Poetic Landscape of Tuscany

Tuscany offers incomparable painting opportunities with its natural landscape as well as with man's touch on the landscape over the centuries creating vineyards, olive groves, fortified towns, ancient bridges and more. In addition to painting, there's plenty of time to enjoy wine tours and tastings, a cooking class, visits to Renaissance and Baroque gardens, excursions to markets, touring the jewel town of Lucca, a Puccini concert, watching the shepherdess make pecorino cheese and ricotta and more. And after a day of painting and touring, you can relax in a lawn chair with a glass of wine contemplating the majesty of a cypress tree or choose a book to read from our library. Most evenings will include time with Elizabeth and your fellow artists to share your day's work and to discuss techniques and tactics.

Your time in Tuscany will be a mixture of at home, painting around the farmhouse and the estate, and away days, on excursions to hilltowns, gardens, the architectural wonder of Lucca and special trips to the stunning Cinque Terre coastal region.

“At Home”

Your home for ten days, the farmhouse Selva, is set among olive groves, vineyards and forests, with buildings that go back hundreds of years in various phases of refurbishing. The rose garden, a field of wildflowers, lemon trees in terra cotta pots, bits of mortar crumbling away from walls, majestic cypress trees reaching to the sky. . . all offer more inspiration. On your walks, you’ll meet Edo the shepherd and his sheep, perhaps startle a wild pheasant or watch the doves playing in the valley.

“Away”

Your excursions away from home include stunning landscapes, quiet corners and places where you can define your own essence of Tuscany. A few highlights:

A guided tour of the romantic city of Lucca, a medieval center surrounded by intact Renaissance walls, filled with Romanesque churches and small alleys and home to the very best cappuccino in the world! You’ll end your day with a Puccini concert held in a thousand year old church containing excavations of Roman ruins.

A 12th cenutry fortezza encloses the nearby hilltown of Montecarlo. Within the massive walls, you'll find a warren of winding streets and ancient gates and vistas of the surrounding countryside.

The Cinque Terre, site of five small villages perched over the cliffs of the Mediterranean, with almost vertical vineyards, olive groves, orchards and vegetable gardens. Colorful fishing boats dot the harbors below pastel-colored homes clinging to the rocky cliffs.

Olive groves and carefully landscaped wineries await your artistic eye. Look for the symmetry of vineyards marching across the landscape in rows. Or appreciate the sinewy sprawl of ancient olive trees carefully pruned for years to maxime their production . . . and their interest to the artist!

Other Activities

Your meals "at home" are prepared in the Tuscan style, and you will enjoy a cooking class with our own Italian chef who will introduce you to the secrets of Tuscan cuisine using only the freshest local ingredients. You’ll tour the estate winery and taste both its wine and olive oil. The antique wine press dates back to 1759 and was only recently replaced with modern equipment. Eduardo, our local baker and pizza maker, will guide you through the process of designing your own pizza and cooking it in Selva's wood-fired bread oven.

To learn more about Elizabeth Mowry and her work, visit her website at www.elizabethmowry.com.