by Jill Stefani Wagner

11/5/2019 6:19:46 PM

Falling in Love in Spain

"Vega de Carmona Shacks" oil 9x12

I'll admit it. Spain would not have been my very first choice for another European painting workshop. I mean, really. There's no place as wonderful as Italy, right?

But my good friend Nora Venturelli had been hired to teach in a tiny town outside of Seville, and the more I thought about it, the more it intrigued me. I'd visited Spain a couple of times, but never armed with my oil painting supplies. And heck, we were going to be housed in a lovely refurbished castle with a pool, 2 bars and a restaurant. What's not to like?

Our Painting crew plus 3 Theater participants

I signed on, along with 12 or 13 other students: experienced artists and newbies, young and old, male and female. It was an interesting, diverse group and each artist had a different goal in mind. Mine was just to paint the landscape til I dropped.

And I almost did.

I'd always thought of Spain as having arid, uninteresting landscapes. But there was a simple, majestic beauty that I had missed, and I quickly fell in love with it. We painted in the cool morning hours around the small hilltown of Carmona. The locals all knew us and followed our painting adventures, rooting for our success. Everyday, after an amazing meal at 1pm, we planned to go out and paint til dinner. Unfortunately the European heat wave prevented most of the students from participating. I, however, was not going to miss an afternoon painting in a fascinating, new environment. Let me just say that 104 degrees poses challenges.

"Fortress View" oil 12x9 SOLD

For two weeks we painted, took reference photographs, swam in the pool and made side trips to Seville, Granada and Cordoba. And little by little, quaint, historic Carmona became home to us.