Autumn migration

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot

"Sunset through stone walls" Watercolour  

                                                                                  

"Misty Morning Crecrin " Watercolour

 "Flying South"     Pastel  

Wouldn't it be wonderful to fly south for the winter with the migrating birds !

Arrivederci Tuscany - Art Holiday 2011

To all who joined me in Tuscany - I have wonderful memories of a very full week ! Thank you for your company and enjoy the photos !

 DAY 1 - The Spa Montecatini 




Lunch at the Spa

 

Painting Demonstration of Perspective  and how to achieve three dimensions in your watercolour painting  using tone and colour .(Warmer and deeper  tones/colours in the foreground - cool in the background )

'Olive trees in a Tuscan landscape' by Trudi Doyle  






TUSCAN LANDSCAPE  by Trudi Doyle 2011



Day 2. Painting in Buggiana & Massa



Quiet day in Buggiana

Buggiana

 View across rooftops



Two Medival villages by mini-bus - a memorable lunch in  Massa ( no Susie it wasn't just a starter ! )  Some lovely doorways, buildings  and vistas captured !



Sheelah and Brenda






wonderful buildings                  





Deciding what to paint !

DAY 3    Florence  by train  with guided tour of  Uffizi Gallery  to view iconic works of art  and later Historic Florence in the sunshine - Memorable  ! 

 


DAY 4  5 & 6  Painting days  - Morning lesson at the Hotel fountain of Pots of red Geraniums in Watercolours and also in Acrylics  and demonstration in watercolour' en plein air' of the view from Montecatini Alta.  Trip by Cable car to upper Medieval town.

 

Trudi s  painting demonstration of the  view  across the Tuscan landscape



Painting that vista !

   Seen from the cable car !

  Painting demo  at the hotel  fountain of Pots of red Geraniums in Watercolours and also in Acrylics in the square  morning and afternoon  








Susie - enthusiastic worker !



Red Geraniums by Trudi Doyle



    

Teacher at work !




Arleen

 


Fiona





Sheelah and Trudi

 


Still Life   demonstration

Demonstration of Fruit still life in Acrylic and in Watercolours  outdoors at the Hotel Fountain by Trudi




Dinner at La Pia
S




Claire and Fiona - at La Pia Hotel  



'Montecatini Alta rooftops; by Trudi Doyle


  



With Maria La Pia - 



LAST DAY - Visit to Pisa . on way to airport -  Arrivederci Tuscany  - It's time for us to part !





Deadline extended ! Tuscan Art Holiday

 My Art holiday in Tuscany is definitely going ahead - there are three places still available and I am extending the booking date deadline  to 5^th August 
A unique and great value half board  holiday  in lovely Italia -  cost €875 / £775 sterling
Just click on this link for full details. 
http://trudidoyle.blogspot.com/2011/03/art-holiday-in-italy-august-2011.html  

     
Contact Trudi - trudiart@eircom.net to inquire further or book  this holiday .

Birds in Myth -Revisiting paintings .

' A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. ' Maya Angelou


"Free at Last" Watercolour  


"I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, when  I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn."Henry David Thoreau



"Nature Reveals its Wisdom" Acrylic on Canvas  36 x 28 ins 

Since ancient times, because of the connection to the sky, birds have been thought of as a supernatural link between the heavens and the earth
Many cultures associate birds with birth and death, claiming that a soul arrives and leaves the earth in the form of a bird. In mythology birds sometimes have the ability to speak, are often sources of wisdom or are deities in bird form or simply messengers of the gods.
Birds sometimes warn of dangers ahead, reveal secrets, and guide heroes and travellers on their way.
The Latin name for the thrush 'Turdus philomelos' refers to Philomena - a character in Greek mythology , who had her tongue cut out to prevent her speaking , she later changed into a singing bird . 
         In the Navajo creation myth, an owl resolves a quarrel between men and women, allowing the creation of the human race



' Blackbird singing in the dead of night '



'Kuan Yin- born from a ray of light '

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"Follow me Up To Carlow " Commissioned Historic house painting

I was delighted recently to be commissioned to paint the ancestral home of the iconic songwriter P.J.McCall by one of his descendants and also  to discover that this  home is only four miles from where I live.   

The stile below the ancestral home of the McCall family

 Watercolour Sketches for commissioned Acrylic on canvas painting of the Mc Call ancestral home.

McCall home.  Front view 1.

P. J.MC CALL was a Dublin-born songwriter and poet ( son of JOHN McCall. Historian, Folklorist, Writer and Patriot from Killalongford, Clonmore Born in 1822 ) Many of his songs reflect an interest in his ancestors from the Carlow-Wexford region.
In 1580, at the pass of Glenmalure in Co. Wicklow, Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne overcame the forces of the Crown under Lord Grey de Wilton. The victory is commemorated in the song 'Follow Me Up to Carlow'
His songs which are still popular today include  "Boolavogue", "The Lowlands Low", "Kelly the Boy from of Killane" and "Haste to the Wedding" . Patrick McCall  died in 1919.



McCall home - Rear view with old apple tree


The Mc Call family still live in the area .

McCall home  - Front view 2

Trudi Doyle Artist: Trudi Doyle Artist: Art Holiday in Italy -August 2011

Trudi Doyle Artist: Trudi Doyle Artist: Art Holiday in Italy -August 2011