Wanderful Retreats - the next Italy adventure!

I think it's pretty common knowledge at this point that I'm addicted to Italy. So addicted that I try to find ways to get back to Italy every year. This past summer after we wrapped our 3rd year of art retreats (and added Lucca to the itinerary!) I got to show my family around Italy for the first time! This was the first time my mom and littlest sister had ever been to Italy and the first time for me and my Italian step-dad to show them all of our favorite corners of this gorgeous and chaotic country.

As much as I love Italy and sketching across it, I may love sharing Italy with others even more. All these restaurants and historical facts, quiet churches and picturesque alleys, perfect vantage points for photos and sketches. I've gathered a lot of them over the years and I really LOVE sharing these tips with other people and getting them just as addicted to Italy as I am.

While we may have wrapped up the last summer of Bellissima Art Retreats, this certainly won't be my last summer of showing folks around Italy.

Next summer will be my 10th anniversary of first traveling to Italy, and it will be my first that lead a group across Tuscany (back to my hometown) with my new business - Wanderful Retreats!

I'll be heading back to the first town that sealed my love for this country and leading a small group to some of my favorite towns, restaurants, gelato shops, churches, alleys and more. There will be sketching, cooking, wine tasting, exploring, sunflower field hopping and art-filled adventures! I'm a little excited if you couldn't tell.

If you want to know more about the retreats, pop over to the new website! Or if you just want a fix of pretty Italy photos, you can follow us on Instagram too! More than anything, I'd love it if you could share this fun news with your mom, aunts, cousins, best friends and sisters. Or just come yourself! Especially if your resolution is to travel more, why not come travel with me through Italy to learn to sketch and see all my favorite spots!

bits & pieces...over the past few months...

Ciao everyone! 

So...I must admit, it's been quite awhile since I last posted on this here blog. Spring was a bit of  a frenzy between getting the Spring Collection launched, trying out some new markets, finishing up the school year, Spring wedding MANIA, another year of I Madonnari AND getting prepped for our 2nd year of Bellissima Art Retreats in Italy! 

To say things were hectic is an understatement. 

But, now I'm back in the bubble and rested after some down time cruising through Italy with some friends and family at the end of our 2nd retreat. 

I've got some secret projects I'm currently working on (more on that as soon as I'm able to share) and new Holiday designs are in the works too! I'm slowly collecting photos from some recent weddings as well and hopefully I'll get my newest sketchbook Sesto photographed soon. Until then, here's a quick catch up on some highlights you might have missed (if you follow along on Instagram, you've already seen most of this!).

I spent my last few days in Italy this summer sketching across Rome! Hot and sweaty and oh so much fun! 

I also was able to make a quick trip somewhere new -- VERONA!

My last wedding right before I left. This guestbook was a floral beast!

My 2017 I Madonnari piece of Burano, Italy! I'll share more about this monster soon. 

Chalk by Chels has been staying VERY busy lately!

VERY busy! These are from another friend's wedding back in May. 

I tried out the Jackalope market in Pasadena this spring too, and brought the little sis-tern along to help! 

Mural paining with a local elementary school with Arts Outreach! 

This was a dream wedding -- GEODE SLICE PLACE CARDS!! 

Some logo work for a new tasting room in Los Olivos! 

Bellissima Art Retreats 2017

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?