Spring clean your head with a painting holiday in Italy

Spring has come very late in the UK and with a feeling of gloom I watched my garden sink into the doldrums. The last bout of snow was the last straw. I lost so many plants and was determined to change my world picture which greeted my every day through the windows.

One afternoon last week I mucked out the under stairs cupboard and came across two packets of deep blue pigment which had been abandoned some time back. In these recent sunny days I put both packets into a 10 litre pot of white exterior paint and mixed up a colour that reminded me of the Aegean and without a second’s thought I started painting my garden walls!

Sitting typing this I can see them shimmering in the spring sunshine and taunting me. This paint daubing session has been like a spring clean for the head and as a consequence I have just booked a painting holiday in Italy. Sometimes small things that happen in life should not be ignored and when you find yourself painting one’s surroundings with the colour of exotica there’s only one thing for it: go out and find some!

I have never been on a painting holiday in my life, let alone painting holidays in Tuscany. I am still reeling from my decision, but once I recovered from the shock, I realised that what was needed was an antidote to all the lack of sunlight, colour and warmth we have experienced in the UK this winter and really it had only been a matter of time before I planned my escape.

Personally I am a great believer in the adage: ‘a change is as good as a rest’, although saying that I don’t intend to relax for a moment on my Italian painting sojourn. I shall be off yomping over the Tuscan hills with my large brimmed wicker hat jammed on my head and my easel, paint box and watercolours under my arms to challenge myself and also devote some time to a hobby I have pursued quietly but sporadically for most of my life.

Some say it is essential that we place ourselves in the beginners’ role regularly and I want to learn, to actually devote a period of time to something that makes me happy. It is so easy to put things off and say, ‘Oh when I retire I will have time to……’ but it is important to seize the day as we never know what might be round the corner and if not now, then when?

 I have no idea what to expect from my painting holiday in Italy. Yes I have read the brochure, read the testimonials, looked at the photographs and am really excited by the mental spring clean I am about to undertake but I think this painting holiday will be more than just a pleasant trip. I am looking forward to bringing home not just photographs but memories: I will have also improved my skills immeasurably I would think.

I will certainly write again, if Flavours allows, and let you know just how I got on and maybe even have a picture or two to show. Why not book a painting holiday in Italy this year or cooking or Pilates and spring clean you mind and body too?