about

Whether you have chosen Veneto or Umbria, the main daily activity is sketching. Liz will be on hand with structured and casual sessions, morning and afternoon, helping you to make the most of your travel sketch opportunities. The workshops revolve around specific techniques on fast sketching strategies for travellers.  Through her dynamic demonstrations and examples you will learn, or brush up on the fundamentals of the elements of classical and medieval architecture and you will explore perspective, composition, tone and colour to give your sketches life, vibrance and a unique sense of place.
Between sessions we will relax under the porticos enjoying traditional local cuisine and fine local wines as well as taking guided tours of the arts and artefacts displayed at the various venues, villas and palaces.
Our dedicated coach will take us between our base city of Vicenza for the Veneto tours or the town of Montone for the Umbria tours to the country villas and medieval hilltop towns that are part of each tour – see the individual itineraries  of Umbria and Veneto for more detail.
Our accommodation, be it twin share or individual, will offer modern conveniences with the charm of historic environments in spacious double rooms wherever possible.

Book now for your sketching tour of Umbria or Veneto.

Mike Botton is also a passionate travel sketcher and will be your tour manager, accompanying you all along the way to ensure that every aspect of the experience meets your expectation. The historic locations, the accommodation, the food and wine, the dedicated coach, our specialised local guides; everything has been considered.

He has devised an itinerary that will not only be the inspiration for your creativity but will give you a uniquely enjoyable holiday experience. His knowledge of the region has grown through frequent visits over the last 20 years, dealing with local suppliers to support his furniture design studio in Sydney. Trained as an architect in Sydney and at the Beaux Arts in Paris and fluent in French and Italian, Mike is now eager to share his love of Italy and the Veneto and his passion for sketching, for architecture and for food and wine. Join us next May for this unforgettable experience.

If you’ve landed at this website then you won’t need an introduction to Liz Steel. You’ve probably done one of her online courses or attended a workshop. At the very least you’ll have seen her web site or subscribe to her blog. She is a regular instructor at the  annual International Urban Sketchers Symposium and has recently written a book “Five minute sketching: Architecture”. Liz will equip you with the essentials techniques for fast sketching on the go and then you can incorporate this into your own travel sketching goals –  there’s no pressure, no competition. You can decide that you want to fill an entire sketch book of the experience or you may want to simply hone your architecture sketching skills or free up your watercolour technique. You might just use your sketch pad and pen as a means to relax and savour some of the most awesome rural and urban settings in Italy. Whatever your travel sketching goal, Liz Steel will be there each day in morning and afternoon sessions to help you achieve it with lots of tips and demonstrations along the way. Her deep passion and enthusiasm for sketching is infectious and you couldn’t want for a more energetic tutor to accompany you. Click below to hear what sketchers from her recent Lucca workshop have to say.

Ciao Mike,

Thank you all for making our trip with Liz and Mike amazingly worthwhile, inspiring, and Fun!

While enjoying a newly bolstered confidence (and a bit of better skill, thanks to Amazing Teach-ah), I’m paging through sweet memories of our trip together.