Tueday, October 7 through Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Erin Lee Gafill & Tom Birmingham
7 nights – at Spannocchia; final night in Florence
Question?
Join us on Saturday, December 21 at 10 am Pacific Time for a ZOOM gathering.
We’ll talk about the retreat and answer any questions you have.
Itinerary | Program Description | About Spannocchia | Registration Information | Who We Are | Recomended Supplies
- Award-winning, small-group instruction
- Daily Observational & Studio Painting Sessions
- Work in Oils, Acrylic, or Watercolor (instruction in Oil and Watercolor)
- Stay in a fourteenth-century villa on a 1000 acres estate of cultivated and wild lands
- Authentic Farm to Table, Family Style Meals at Spannocchia
- Your choice – Spannocchia Cooking School or Hot Spring Day Spa visit
- Ground transportation to and from the Ambasciatori Hotel, Florence
- One year Membership in the Spannocchia Foundation, all lodging city taxes and fees.
- Historic Center lodging and fabulous dinner for our last night (Ambasciatori Hotel)
- Start to finish support and service!
Itinerary
Tuesday – October 7
11 am – Meet in Central Florence
Merende and Wine Tasting – Colombaia Winery
(Weather Permitting)
Arrive Spannocchia
Orientation, Check in, Wine Reception, Dinner
Wednesday, October 8
Breakfast
Morning Painting Session
Lunch
Afternoon Painting Session
Evening Reception/Dinner
Thursday, October 9
Breakfast
Morning Painting Session
Lunch
Afternoon Painting Session
Evening Reception/Dinner
Friday, October 10
Breakfast
Morning Painting Session
Lunch
Afternoon Painting Session
Evening Reception/Dinner
Saturday, October 11
Breakfast
Your Choice –
Spannocchia Cooking School or Day Spa with lunch
Evening Reception/Dinner
Sunday, October 12
Breakfast
Morning Painting Session
Lunch
Afternoon Painting Session
Evening Reception/Dinner
Monday, October 13
Breakfast
Morning Painting Session
Lunch
Afternoon Painting Session
Final Night Show & Tell Reception
Tuesday, October 14
Breakfast & Lunch at Spannocchia
1 pm Transport to Florence
3 pm – Checkin, Ambasciatori Hotel
7 pm – Dinner
Wednesday, Oct 15
Breakfast at Ambasciatori Hotel
Arrivederci Tuscany!
Program Description
Join us for a true Tuscan retreat. Together with a small group of like-minded people we will interpret the Tuscan Countryside and the 800-year-old architecture of Spannocchia in line and color.
Each day will include two studio sessions where we explore diverse ideas of composition, technique, and observation, using oils, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil
Spannocchia is the perfect enviornment for our time together. We’ll share family style, farm-to-table meals in the birthplace of the slow food movement. We’ll have plenty of time each day for quiet time alone, sharing with new friends, exploring the 1100 acre property, and digging in to a creative practice.
You’ll gain new skills, develop new friendships, and have the opportunity to build creative habits that can last a lifetime.
About Spannocchia
Lodging at Spannocchia is in a 16th-century villa on a historic Tuscan property that includes cultivated and wild lands and miles of hiking trails.
Rooms The villa has 13 rooms, each with a private or en-suite bathroom. Some rooms have antique fixtures and floral decorations, while others have finishes in yellow Siena marble.
- Property The Tenuta di Spannocchia is a 1,200-acre working farm and wildlife sanctuary in western Tuscany near Siena. The property includes a 12th-century castle tower, farmhouses, and outlying farmsteads.
- Activities Guests can experience daily life on the farm, including traditional Italian cooking made with fresh ingredients. The property also offers private roads and trails for walking.
- Location The Tenuta di Spannocchia is located 16 kilometers southwest of Siena and 75 kilometers from Florence
Registration
What’s Included
- Eight nights lodging (seven at Spannocchia, last night at the Hotel Ambasciatori, Florence)
- All meals beginning light lunch & wine tasting on Tueday, Oct 7 through Breakfast Wednesday, Oct 15
- Ground transportation from the Hotel Ambasciatori to Spannocchia and back (private coach)
- Award-winning daily painting instruction
- Safe and Supportive learning environment
- Your choice – Spannocchia Cooking School or Spa Day
- Evening apertivo at sunset
What’s Not Included
- Airfare to and from Italy
- Painting supplies and equipment
- Travel insurance (highly reccomended)
- Personal and Incidental expenses
Registration Fee
Single Occupancy – $4350 | Double Occupancy – $3850
Deposit
Double Occupancy is reserved with a $500 non-refundable deposit. The balance o $3350 is due before July 1, 2025
Single Occupancy is reserved with a $1000 non-refundable deposit. The balance o $3350 is due before July 1, 2025
Who We Are
Erin Lee Gafill
An award-winning painter and author, Erin Gafill has inspired people around the world with her inspirational art, heartfelt stories, and uniquely engaging teaching methods. Her work bridges art, craft, and community, weaving observation, intuition, and imagination into her painting, writing, teaching, and public speaking. A fifth-generation California artist, she was born in Big Sur, California in 1963, the daughter of a beatnik and a flower child. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Carmel’s first artist-in-residence. Growing up at her grandparents’ legendary restaurant, Nepenthe, a mecca for poets, bohemians and dreamers, she drew inspiration from its ever-changing cast of characters as well as the stunning and mystical beauty of the coast.
Erin is the founder of the nonprofit Big Sur Arts Initiative, and a founding member of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association (MBPAPA). In 2001 Erin was honored to serve as the first American Artist-in-Residence at the Hamada International Children’s Museum, Hamada, Japan.
In 2009, she and her husband Tom Birmingham were named Champions of the Arts by the Arts Council of Monterey County and were honored by the United States Congress for their service to the community through the arts.
Her exhibit Color Duets was the featured 2021 Spring/Summer show for the Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, California, followed the next summer by a solo exhibit, California Atmosphere at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, California. She is the author of a coffee-table art book, Color Duets, with Kaffe Fassett, and a memoir about life/work balance, Drinking from a Cold Spring, a Little Book of Hope. Both books are available at www.colorduets.com.
Tom Birmingham
Tom Birmingham is an artist, photographer, and teacher who has lived and worked in Big Sur, California for over 30 years. He has recently located to a home near the Long Island Sound in Connecticut. As a founding director of the Big Sur Arts Initiative, Tom has provided instruction and enrichment in the creative arts in a variety of mediums. For ten years he taught art in the summer children’s theater program, StageKids. He has taught photography and drawing at Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, and for years he and his wife, Erin Lee Gafill taught painting and sketch on their annual retreats to Italy.
Tom was the director of the Big Sur JazzFest, founding member of Big Sur’s Hidden Garden’s Tour, and currently manages Studio One – Big Sur.
More recently, Tom is the founder of 26Letter Press, a small publishing company dedicated to printed materials celebrating and inspiring creative expression.
In the summer of 2020, Tom designed the museum exhibition and accompanying book, Color Duets – Kaffe Fassett | Erin Lee Gafill, which was the headlining show for five months at the Monterey Museum of Art.
Recommended Supplies
Mark Making
- Brushes – Oils or Acrylic – #8 and #12 Flat, #8 #12 Round, #12 Flat, 1″ wide flat Watercolor – #8 and #12 Round, #8 Flat, 1″ Flat
- Permanent Black Marker, Soft Pencil, Fast Writing Pen
- Pallete Knife
Paints
OIls and Watercolors – a cool and warm version of each primary color, for instance – Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Quinacradone Magenta, Ultra Marine Blue, Phthalo Blue
Mediums – Oils – Liquin & Odorless Mineral Sprirts; Acrylics – Mat Medium
Paper & Supports
- 7″ x 10″ Multi-media sketchbook
- 2 full sheets watercolor paper
- multiple canvas or panel surfaces – 8″ x 10″ / 9″ x 12″ etc.
Miscellaneous
- Paper Towels
- Painter’s Tape
- Watercolor Palette
- Oil or Acrylic Palette
- Glue Stick
- Scissors
- Medium Cup
- Water Cup
- Portable Easel
