Art in Tuscany Holiday Package 2017

Advance booking for Tuscany 2017

 August 22nd to 29th 2017

Montecatini Alta - Watercolour

Pomegranate tree Tuscany

Early booking reductions for indiviuals
Advance bookings before March 1st 2017- 
 €50 off  (from €870 t0 €820 )

and SPECIAL reduction For group bookings of 4 or more
€70 off (from €870 to €800 per person)

No Single supplment applies to all bookings 

with artist Trudi Doyle 

 An all inclusive holiday  with like minded people in friendly La Pia hotel Montecatini  Tuscany  ?- 

If you want to visit Italy and do some sketching and painting with  expert tuition and helpful advice in a relaxed friendly atmosphere 

  Visit quiet medieval villages and  experience the beauty and mystique of  the Tuscan countryside  at a leisurly pace.  

 Bask in the Tuscan sunshine, visit Pistoia   and view spectacular art and architecture 

Enjoy dining on delicious freshly cooked dishes at a friendly Italian family run 

Gig tree in a Montecatini garden 

What is included -

1.Seven nights at La Pia Hotel Montecatini - 7 breakfast buffets and 7 delicious four course dinners with wine included  . Rooms ensuite. 

 2. Transfers to/from Pisa airport - flights are not included (-currently price of Ryanair RETURN  flight Dublin to Pisa is  only €182 - as checked February 2017)

3. Half day guided tour of Montecatini historical Spa. 
4.Two full day  mini bus excursions to paint/explore in  medieval villages including the charming  and historic fortress town of Montecarlo

5. Train trip to Pistoia with guided tour  and free time to explore this historic and beautiful city.

 6. Professional guidance  and tuition to suit your requirements  from Artist Trudi Doyle  with demonstrations..

PACKAGE  -€870 

 Advance bookings before March 1st 2017 
€50 off = €820 

  (No single supplement ) 

Deposit of €400 secures a place. Balance payable by July 1st 2017    

You don't need to be a painter to enjoy this lovely relaxing holiday inTuscany -all are welcome 

Itinerary 2017

Day 1. Tuesday  22nd August    Arrival at Hotel .

Ryanair Flight  at 9.45  from Dublin  to Pisa FR 9908  arrives at 13.30. If you are travelling on this flight you will be met by a courier and taken to your hotel by taxi. Settle in to the hotel and meet informally with  fellow guests and your tutor  fbefore our first freshly cooked dinner menu at the hotel.

 Day 2.  Wednesday 23rd August -  Montecatini  -

 Breakfast at hotel    Morning -To introduce you to  Montecatini  - After breakfast  we will have a guided half day tour of Montecatini and a visit to  Tettuccio spa and a welcome drink and light complimentary snack  in the historical café, situated inside the Tettuccio building.

You have the option to do some painting with me ( Trudi )  in the afternoon ( or alone )

I will hold a class with a basic introduction to painting outdoors  which includes a watercolour  demonstration  by the Hotel  fountain ( When you book this holiday I will provide a list and advice on basic painting equipment for working outdoors.)

Delicious freshly cooked dinner menu at the hotel.

Day 3   Thursday 24th  August -  Painting in Medieval villages

 There are many  beautiful medieval villages near Montecatini . We will travel by taxi  and spend the morning   painting, sketching or just relaxing or walking -  your choice -then travel on by taxi  to another venue where we have  lunch time  snack at a local cafe or restaurant. More time to relax sight see walk  paint or sketch . Fold up artist chairs provided.  The taxi will pick  us up later in the afternoon.  We will return to Montecatini for a siesta and freshen up before dinner at the hotel.

Painting this view  of Montecatini Alto 

The View 

Day 4. Friday 25th August  Montecarlo  Breakfast at hotel . Departure by taxi for Montecarlo  in the morning - a charming medieval village situated about 15 Km from Montecatini.

lunch al fresco at MonteCarlo 

Montecarlo

At the fort 

Plenty of small shops and cafes, walks and interesting vistas and streets, Inspirational  views , buildings  nooks and crannies  and streetscapes .
Included -At 4:00 we have  an opportunity to visit  and explore the picturesque fortress where you can also paint if you wish .Return by Mini bus / taxi.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 5  Saturday 28th August Painting day/free day

Breakfast at hotel  Free day or painting  in Montecatini Alta –the historic  upper old town . A visit via cable car  with spectacular vistas and medieval streetscapes  should not be missed -  a painters paradise.

Have  lunch in one of the charming cafes in the square - your choice – continue painting / go shopping  for quirky souvenirs , browse or just relax and people-watch in the cafes Dinner at Hotel

(OR Take the  day  to visit  the beautiful city of  FLORENCE - only a  short train trip away - this is a optional extra and can be arranged for you  if you choose when you arrive the Hotel )

 Day 6  Sunday  29th   August    Pistoia 

 Breakfast at hotel.   Morning Departure by train for Pistoia. The guide will be waiting for us at the train station to take us to the historical centre, this will be my first visit to Pistoia which has has won the award of capital of the culture 2017 and I look forward to exploring it .

- Afternoon free to do your own thing – walk around visit  or trust your artist's instincts .... the best way to experience Pistoia  - its full of beautiful shops ,cafes,  art mueusms and  historic buildings  ! 

Meet up and return to Montecatini by train for the  delicious dinner menu at the hotel - choose your own time to return by train - (train tickets included )

Day 7  Monday  30th  Free day

   Breakfast at hotel 

Morning - Optional  Painting  in the piazza by the  Hotel fountain and Montecatini.

Afternoon free – time for yourself    -your choice - continue painting  or go shopping - or  relax  - take the opportunity to  swim or avail of curative and pampering treatments in the spa 

 Dinner at the hotel 

Day 8   Tuesday 29th. August  

Early Breakfast at hotel.   

Departure for Pisa airport by bus  to arrive at  Pisa airport in time to check in for Ryanair  flight 

PACKAGE  €870  per person  -(No single supplement )
-Included - 
Hotel -Breakfast and lavish evening meals with wine,  all Taxi/Mini bus trips and train trip to Pistoia
Professional  guidance in the painting medium  of your choice , Watercolours, Acrylics , Drawing  and on the spot plein air demonstrations and advice at all times if required. 

REDUCTION €40 ( $45 / £30)  for non painting partners/ friends / family -  
Plus REDUCTION of  €50 Advance bookings before March 1st 2017
   You don't need to be a painter to enjoy this lovely relaxing holiday in Tuscany -all are welcome  

To secure a place.

 * Deposit of €400 secures a place.

 Full payment  required by July 1st 2017

Book on line via email- Pay Pal -with Credit card .

-contact  trudiart@eircom.net  to book  or inquire further

 or text Trudi 087 6658500 for information.

Ken Bromley Art Supplies - Discount Art Materials

Easter - Its Pagan Origins

 The Anglo-Saxon Goddess of sunrise and of spring was known as Eostra or Eastre and her sacred month was Eastremonath, the Moon of Eostre.  One of the largest fertility festivals of the ancient calendar, Eostra, falls on the spring equinox when day and night are in equal balance and life has returned in profusion.

Like all the church's "moveable feasts," Easter shows it's pagan origin in a dating system based on the old lunar calendar.  The modern Christian Easter Festival derived from the original name of the month.   It is always the first Sun's Day after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.  Formerly the full moon represented the "pregnant" phrase of Eostre passing into the fertile season. The Christian festival wasn't called Easter until the Goddess's name was given to it in the late Middle Ages. The Irish observed Easter on a different date from that of the Roman church, probably the original date of the festival of Eostre, until the Roman calendar was imposed on us in 632 A.D.

Eostra and the Hare 

The Celts believed that t the hare was sacred to the White Goddess - the Earth Mother - and as such was considered to be a royal animal. It represented love, fertility and growth and was associated with the moon, dawn,death, redemption and resurrection

. 
The moon was perhaps the most powerful symbol of birth, growth, reproduction, death and rebirth. 
The hare was endowed with similar earth-bound powers. It was believed that Eostre changed into a hare at the full Moon.

Man has for centuries respected, even feared the hare because of its perceived powers of solitude and remoteness. Active at night, symbolic of the intuitive, and the fickleness of the Moon, the hare was an emblem of unpredictability.

Like the Moon, which always changes places in the sky, hares were full of mystery and contradictions. In Celtic Myth the Celtic warrior Oisin hunted a hare and wounded it in the leg, forcing it to seek refuge in a clump of bushes. When Oisin followed it he found a door leading into the ground and he eventually emerged into a huge hall where he found a beautiful young woman sitting on a throne bleeding from a wound in her leg.
The transmigration of the soul is clearly seen in Celtic lore such as this.

Throughout the world, there are long-spoken tales of hares; from the Americas to the Far East, from Africa to Europe, the hare is embedded in the folk myths of our ancestors.

 It is associated in mythology with the Moon, the celestial skies and the Sun, with fertility, the dawn, cunning and bravery. There is evidence of hare mythology in ancient pottery, coins, seals, and hieroglyphics and in oral history. (In Egypt the hare symbolised the very essence of life itself:

 The hieroglyphic 'Wn', depicting a hare on top of a single blue-green ripple, means 'to exist'. 







Europe
Many European gods and goddesses are associated with hares:

·         Hittavainen (or Hittauanin) is the Karelian god of hares and hare-hunting

·         The hare is often depicted as a companion to Cupid and as an attribute of Aphrodite/Venus, being associated with fertility and love

·         Holda (or Herke, Harfer) of Teutonic mythology, was followed by a train of hares carrying torches

·         The Norse goddess Freyja had hare attendants

·         In Britain the hare was sacred to the moon goddess Andraste

·         The hare is associated with the Celtic goddess Cerridwen

·         Kaltes is a Moon goddess venerated by the Ugric people of western Siberia. She was a shape-shifter and often manifested as a hare

 In earliest times killing and eating the hare was taboo. In Kerry, Ireland, it is said that eating a hare was like eating your grandmother !