Happy New Year everyone! Well, I guess that phrase is a couple weeks old now. Seeing as we are two weeks into 2017.
I've been getting back into the swing of things, after taking a nice long break from commissions and thinking about work. Which typically means now that blogging is the on the burner farthest back, in a whole other damn house. I'll try to be better this year! I can't make any promises, but I'll try.
I know quite a few of you already know about the newest business venture but I wanted to do a little post about what's coming this year!
Last summer, my business partner and I set out to host our first art retreat in Florence, Italy! It was amazing and so exciting that something we had chatted about over coffee less than a year prior actually came to fruition!
And so Bellissima Art Retreats was born! We're officially a business (paperwork filed and all, woot!) and we've got big plans for this year. We are plotting some Southern California weekend art retreats but our biggest goal this year is share Italy and creating art in Tuscany with more people.
So this summer, we're going even bigger! We will be holding 2 one week long retreats back in my favorite Tuscan town...Castiglion Fiorentino! We will be staying in an updated farmhouse tucked back in the Val di Chio just outside of town. The farmhouse is owned by the Buccelletti family, who I've been friends with since I first traveled to CFno years ago.
Fun story: my friend Michele Bucculletti met his wife, Renee, when she was studying at the study abroad center. I was working there at the time and got to watch the magic of that town bring another couple together and then I got to make their wedding album a few years later!
Renee has been helping us coordinate and get all the amazing activities for the summer lined up! We will be having cooking classes, walking tours of the towns, day trips to Assisi and Cortona (the same Cortona from Under the Tuscan Sun), transportation to and from everything and so much more. Our villa is surrounded by stunning views of olive groves and vineyards that we get to paint every day. Did I mention it also has a pool? Yeah...to say we're excited about this coming June is an understatement.
We've already had some amazing folks reserve their spots for next summer, and I'd love it if some of you guys could come along! Bring your mom along for a mother daughter trip! Or just your sisters, sorority or genetic! Grab a couple of your favorite besties for a summer of reminiscing about that time you studied abroad together. Surprise your girlfriend with an excuse for her to invest in that "one day I'll paint in Italy" dream. Or simply just do it as a gift to yourself because...why the hell not?
I've been getting back into the swing of things, after taking a nice long break from commissions and thinking about work. Which typically means now that blogging is the on the burner farthest back, in a whole other damn house. I'll try to be better this year! I can't make any promises, but I'll try.
I know quite a few of you already know about the newest business venture but I wanted to do a little post about what's coming this year!
Last summer, my business partner and I set out to host our first art retreat in Florence, Italy! It was amazing and so exciting that something we had chatted about over coffee less than a year prior actually came to fruition!
And so Bellissima Art Retreats was born! We're officially a business (paperwork filed and all, woot!) and we've got big plans for this year. We are plotting some Southern California weekend art retreats but our biggest goal this year is share Italy and creating art in Tuscany with more people.
So this summer, we're going even bigger! We will be holding 2 one week long retreats back in my favorite Tuscan town...Castiglion Fiorentino! We will be staying in an updated farmhouse tucked back in the Val di Chio just outside of town. The farmhouse is owned by the Buccelletti family, who I've been friends with since I first traveled to CFno years ago.
Fun story: my friend Michele Bucculletti met his wife, Renee, when she was studying at the study abroad center. I was working there at the time and got to watch the magic of that town bring another couple together and then I got to make their wedding album a few years later!
Renee has been helping us coordinate and get all the amazing activities for the summer lined up! We will be having cooking classes, walking tours of the towns, day trips to Assisi and Cortona (the same Cortona from Under the Tuscan Sun), transportation to and from everything and so much more. Our villa is surrounded by stunning views of olive groves and vineyards that we get to paint every day. Did I mention it also has a pool? Yeah...to say we're excited about this coming June is an understatement.
We've already had some amazing folks reserve their spots for next summer, and I'd love it if some of you guys could come along! Bring your mom along for a mother daughter trip! Or just your sisters, sorority or genetic! Grab a couple of your favorite besties for a summer of reminiscing about that time you studied abroad together. Surprise your girlfriend with an excuse for her to invest in that "one day I'll paint in Italy" dream. Or simply just do it as a gift to yourself because...why the hell not?
