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The Art of Still Life: Painting in Spoleto

with Sarah Spackman - October 10-17, 2025

The Art of Still Life: Painting in Spoleto

with Sarah Spackman - October 10-17, 2025

Bring your artistic vision to life amidst the breathtaking backdrop of Spoleto!

Dates: October 10-17, 2025
Instructors: Sarah Spackman
Venue: Palazzo Leti, Spoleto, Umbria, Italy
Media: Oil
Level: All levels welcome

Discover the timeless charm of Spoleto, an Italian hilltop town renowned for its vibrant food markets and artistic inspiration. Join award-winning British artist Sarah Spackman for an exclusive workshop designed to help you develop your unique artistic voice through the beauty of still life painting.

Begin your journey by exploring Spoleto’s markets, selecting fresh, colorful treasures to use as subjects. Back in the studio, learn to capture their essence in simple still life setups, refining your skills in observation, color mixing, and composition.

Workshop Overview:

  • Day 1: Market visit, color wheels, and studies in light, value, and greys.
  • Day 2: Primary palette focus—mixing for values.
  • Day 3: Expanding the primary palette—color harmony.
  • Day 4: Full palette exploration with emphasis on composition.
  • Day 5: Finalize compositions using the full color palette.

 

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned artist, this workshop is a space to explore, experiment, and grow in a supportive environment. With Italy’s rich love for food and beauty as your inspiration, you’ll learn to transform everyday objects into vibrant oil paintings that celebrate color and light.

Join us in Spoleto and bring your artistic vision to life in this unforgettable setting.

Spoleto, Umbria, Italy

About the Instructor

Sarah Spackman is a contemporary figurative artist particularly well known for her still life oil paintings. She works from a studio in Oxford that was once a punt building workshop. Strength of drawing and the delicate and subtle use of colour are two of the main qualities recognised in her work. Her practise focuses on the principle that good drawing is the basis of good painting and that colour should be used to enhance the organisation and definition of observed space and form. Sarah works in a considered way, with close observation. Her paintings are quiet in their presence but nonetheless powerful and engaging to the viewer. These are paintings that take a close look at things around us, take the object out of the ordinary and make the viewer look again.


Sarah trained at Byam Shaw School of Art, London and graduated from Camberwell School of art in 1981. She was elected as a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 2019, and a member of the Small Paintings Group in 2021. Sarah’s work is in many private collections world wide as well as the collection of the Allied Irish Bank. Her work has also been selected for the Jerwood Drawing Competition , the NEAC, the ROI, the RBA and the Discerning Eye Exhibitions. Sarah exhibits regularly with several galleries throughout the UK.

Luxury Accomodations at Palazzo Leti, Spoleto, Italy

Palazzo Leti, the fourteenth century home of the noble Leti family, consists of twelve beautifully restored rooms, each looking across the valley towards Monteluco.  Situated in the center of Spoleto, one of the lesser-known jewels of Umbria, the town is an important center for the arts with numerous museums and galleries as well as historic sites including the Roman theater, the Ponte delle Torri aqueduct , the Santa Maria Assunta cathedral, all dominated by the imposing medieval Castello Rocca Albornoziana.  

Of particular note to plein air artists, many of the town’s principal piazzas and sites have recently been connected by underground escalators, eliminating the need to carry painting gear up and down the hilly cobblestone streets.  

Although worthy of many days of exploration in its own right, Spoleto’s strategic location at the head of a broad valley in the foot hills of the Apennines provides easy access to some of the best known towns in Italy including Assisi, Trevi, Terni, Perugia and Bevagna.  With plenty to do for non-painters as well, the Spoleto-Norcia narrow grade railway bed has been converted to a bike path with spectacular views of the nearby Nera Valley, which is also one of Italy’s best known fly fishing rivers.

Spoleto, Italy, Sunset

Itinerary

Friday, October 10
  • Pickup at meeting spot in Rome at 2:00 PM
  • Arrive at Palazzo Leti, Spoleto
  • Welcome Orientation/Aperitivo at Hotel 
  • Welcome Dinner at Local Restaurant
Saturday, October 11
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Tour of Spoleto and Painting Sites
  • Afternoon Painting Instruction
  • Dinner on Your Own
Sunday, October 12
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Morning Painting Instruction
  • Break for Lunch
  • Afternoon Painting Instruction
  • Group Aperitivo at Hotel
  • Group Dinner at Local Restaurant
Monday, October 13
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Morning Painting Instruction
  • Break for Lunch
  • Afternoon Painting Instruction
  • Dinner on Your Own
Tuesday, October 14
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Morning Painting Instruction
  • Break for Lunch
  • Afternoon Painting Instruction
  • Group Aperitivo at Hotel
  • Dinner at Local Restaurant
Wednesday, October 15
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Visit town of Bevagna
  • Dinner on Your Own
Thursday, October 16
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Morning Painting Instruction
  • Break for Lunch
  • Afternoon Painting Instruction
  • Exhibit of Work/Farewell Aperitivo
  • Dinner at Local Restaurant
Friday, October 17
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Depart for Rome 9:30 AM
  • Arrive at drop-off point in Rome 12:00 PM
(Planned itinerary is subject to minor alterations.)
The Art of Still Life: Painting in Spoleto
with Sarah Spackman – October 10-17, 2025

Total cost is based per room and number of occupants:

Solo workshop participant: $4,650.
Workshop participant with travel companion: $6,850.
Two workshop participants sharing a room  – Limited availability, please inquire 

What’s Included:  

  • 8 days, 7 nights accommodation, private room with ensuite bathroom at Palazzo Leti, Spoleto, Italy
  • Ground transport from Rome to venue and return
  • All breakfasts, 4 dinners with wine at local restaurants
  • 5 full days of art instruction
  • 5 days access to studio space
  • Additional activities include: welcome aperitivo, guided orientation tour of Spoleto and painting sites, excursion to Bevagna, wine tasting, closing reception.
A deposit of $750 per person will reserve your room and space(s) in a workshop. You may cancel your reservation for a full refund of the deposit within 24 hours. After 24 hours, the deposit is non-refundable. Full balance and signed contract are due four months before the beginning of the workshop.

Choose your Room Option:

Solo Workshop Particpant - $750 deposit

Workshop Participant with Travel Companion - $1500 deposit

Please read the contract for complete terms and conditions.

Experience Counts

travel workshop paint in Italy Martha Jordan

With over 10 years of experience organizing art tours, and with part of our team, my daughters Anne and Amy, living in Europe and fluent in Italian and Spanish, we have the ability not only to maintain long term relationships with the owners and staff of our favorite venues, but to seek out and vet new and unique locations each year. We personally participate in every travel workshop to ensure the quality of the accommodations and cuisine as well as to coordinate the special needs of the art instruction program.

If you have any questions, please use the form below, phone 206-715-6663 or email martha@winslowartcenter.com to contact us.

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