"Hot Springs at Bagno Vignoni" – painting online with Randy Hale

Randy says: ” How fun to combine Italian building facades and dark reflective water with steamy mist wafting across the surface! In this ZOOM session we’ll take a look at the southern Tuscany resort town of Bagno Vignoni. While most Italian towns are built around a central square, this community sprang up as a result of the natural hot springs drawing visitors there for centuries. The central spa basin serves as their piazza, fed by the natural hot springs nearby.
“Our session will include working with some basic perspective as we capture several buildings receding away from the viewer. We’ll simplify backgrounds into a single dark shape to provide value contrast against the stucco-ed facades. The deep dark depths of the central spa pool pick up subtle reflections of warm stucco, interrupted by ripples across the water. Some backwash, a bit of tissue blotting, and softening with a brush produce an impressive bit of mist rising off the warm water’s surface. Some speak Italian…we’ll paint Italian!”
Unlike many online painting tutors, Randy will not expect you to ‘look over his shoulder’ for a long demonstration, and perhaps be allowed to ask the odd question or two. No, you will be painting along at more or less the same time, trying out the watercolour techniques that Randy shows you, step-by-step. He will demonstrate some basic techniques for only a few minutes before you start painting the same subject at home. Then, after you’ve been given a little time to catch up, Randy will move onto the next part of the process. Lois Breckon from The Watermill at Posara will be on hand during the session to feed your questions. The session will last a couple of hours.
When you register for the session you will be asked for a donation . Some people ask how much this should be and so we suggest a minimum of £20 GBP . Our Zoom painting demonstrations do take quite a bit of time in preparation and administration and your support is very much appreciated. With your generosity we can plan and run further sessions and, more importantly, provide a regular meeting place for creativity, camaraderie and fun. We hope that you enjoy the international, online painting community that we have created.
Once you have registered you will be provided with two links. The first is the Zoom link for you to join the session. Please note that the start time is 4pm (UK time, GMT) . This equates to 11am – East Coast USA; 10am Central Time USA; 9am – Mountain Time USA; 8am – Pacific Coast Time USA.
The second link is where you will find a practice painting, and a list of equipment and colours for your palette. If you would like to paint along with Randy, be warned that he works fast and you may like to have your own drawing ready.
After the event, you are invited to add your painting to the private gallery , where you will be able to view the same scene uploaded by your fellow painters on Zoom. Randy will comment on your painting if you post it within a week of the event. In addition, we will send you a link to a video that will enable to you revisit Randy’s step-by-step teaching.
When you have painted with Randy online, why not join him for real at the Watermill in Tuscany Italy next summer? We would love to welcome you to the Watermill. You can find more details of Randy’s week-long course, 13 to 20 May 2023 , here .
Randy’s background
Randy is from Colorado in United States and, as well as his workshops in the USA, he has taken painting groups all over the world. After a successful business career, he returned to his first love, watercolour painting. (He was taught by James Green, a founder member of the California School of Watercolor.) But Randy’s true passion proved to be to be in sharing his knowledge: enjoying the excitement of travel with fellow painters, helping them to create expressive paintings to enrich their experience. One of his students said: “He knows his stuff and he knows how to teach! Best watercolor instructor I have ever had!”
You can find out more about Randy’s style of teaching online by watching the edited video below from a Zoom session earlier this year, hosted by The Watermill at Posara: