Italy Awaits You!

Venetian Plaster Training Course in Tuscany, October 22-29

It's easy to postpone a big trip, to put off making a commitment to something you've thought of as a "someday" dream. There's always some present reality - an unexpected home repair or medical concern, the unease that comes with a down economy and concerns about saving for the future, a million reasons that come between what you'd love to do, and "someday." We've all been there.

When  we describe our Venetian Plaster Course in Italy, we often hear the response, "Oh that sounds wonderful. I'd love to go to Italy someday."  To which we reply, "come with us this fall!"

Why not make "someday" happen now?

Our week long Tuscany vacation - Venetian plaster training - hands-on restoration project - art adventure (we can even add in Tuscan Cooking Class) is an amazing way to experience Italy at the local level. Working in a home, having lunch (or cooking lessons) with the B&B Owner and a wine tasting experience with the local wine "professor," and in between hands-on plastering classes and the camaraderie of working and learning together, being able to experience the best that Tuscany has to offer - these are the experiences that feel so real and memorable, and so unlike the tourist-eye view of Italy, that make our class unique.

At just $2100 per student, inclusive of lodging and 2 meals/day, you get an advanced plastering course that you could easily spend $1200 in the states, plus an itinerary that is as much vacation as it is a hands-on art experience (not to mention professional training for anyone whose business includes decorative painting, plastering, interior design, architecture and more). Read more about the class here, then contact us to reserve your space in this unforgettable adventure!

Veneshe Venetian Plastering Restoration Project in Mondaino, Italy

I have to admit that when we met Suzie and Pfelan Black on a trip to Mondaino in 2009, I was as taken with their work restoring homes as I was with their work as artists. Having restored my own 18th century farmhouse in Pennsylvania, I felt an immediate connection, made deeper by our common love of Italy, and my own dream to one day restore a home in Italy.

Donnamarie and I were fascinated by their current restoration project – a medieval era home in the village of Saludecio with a view of the Adriatic from the upper story balcony. Time had not been kind to the structure, which had required extensive restorations to become habitable, and to remove centuries of decorating crimes – like cement layers and wall to wall carpeting hiding beautiful terra cotta floors, and cement layers on the walls that had to be carefully chipped away to reveal fresco decorations on the original plaster walls and ceilings.  As fragments of the original designs and colors were revealed, Pfelan and Suzie carefully recreated them, preserving the beauty and authenticity of what was once a relatively noble country home for the time.

When Pfelan expressed an interest in Veneshe’s custom Venetian plaster finishes, we jumped at the opportunity to hold our October Venetian plaster training and restoration project at the house in Saludecio. To be invited to be a small part of bringing this amazing structure back to life, using all natural, Italian lime plasters and decorative techniques was an honor - and to be able to teach an Italian plastering class to do it was even more amazing. I’ll always remember the thrill of teaching and working together to turn the plain, freshly plastered rough walls into smooth and polished surfaces alive with movement, and the laughter, and the friendships we formed in Mondaino.

Do you have a restoration project to share? I'd love to hear about it!

-Lori

A Meditation on Friendship

I've been at the Bucks County Designer House nearly every day now. Today is finally a day off.  This is the most I’ve seen of what most of the world considers a “real job” in 4 years!  I'm used to structuring my day around what my medium - plaster- and my customers need, not by the clock.  I have to be there by 10,and not leave until all the customers have left and it’s time for me to turn off the fountains, music and lights.  It’s kind of weird and exhausting to be back in the world of 9-5. 

So it's my first day away from the Meditation Room, and I am heading off to a funeral. Which has me meditating on life and friendship.

A very good friend of mine died of cancer on Thursday.  She was only 57.  She was very supportive when I was first starting out in 1990, finding things for me to paint that really didn’t need to be painted, bushes that just had to be trimmed, and even walking her dog Holly.  Then she moved on and bought a new house, and found things for me to paint in there as well.  Later she became my trainer at the utility company when I first got a job there, but I would still paint for her now and then because I never gave up the painting business.  I think she always saw in me a person who needed to do more to express myself.

I will miss her, even though we lost touch in the last few years, my having moved on from my corporate job to plaster full time, and she having also moved on doing lots of community service things and being more and more involved at work.  I would think about her often, remembering her love for her dog Holly and how heartbreaking it was when Holly passed away.  I made a picture collage for her and she cried when I gave it to her. Then she got a new dog Mickey who from what I last heard, chewed on just about everything.  I was wondering when she’d be calling me to replace her molding in her new house.  I will always have fond memories of Linda and her laugh and smile and always having  kind word for everyone.  She was a special person in my life.

So today, even though the music, fountain and lights that were Linda have been turned off, I will never forget her wonderful presence.  Goodbye Linda, it was a pleasure to know you and work for you all those years. Thank you for believing in me, and for being a part of my life.

--Lori

Meditations on the Personal Retreat Room

I've been going to the 2010 Bucks County Designer Show House and Gardens nearly every day now, greeting visitors to the Personal Retreat Room and explaining the techniques and materials we used to create all the Italian plaster finishes. On opening day, we got such an unbelievable and overwhelming response as people wanted to know everything, and the time went by so quickly I didn’t even know it was time to go home.  When Holly and I were working on the room, time seemed to stand still, too.  I would be finished working on whatever we were doing that day, and not want to leave. The room just seemed to have an incredibly soothing and powerful effect on me.

I hear these comments from people every day:  “The room drew me in”  or “I felt immediate peace upon entering.”  That's just the effect we were after.  We even asked our friend and Yoga-Bodhi instructor Ruth to facilitate a room blessing ceremony a few days before opening, just to be extra certain that visitors would feel the peaceful energy of the space.  My suspicion is that it’s working!  

I think one of the things that is so unique and memorable about the room is that even though it is full of art and design, it also has a kind of emptiness or simplicity about it.  Sitting in the room, I can't help but reflect on my life path and what's most important to me.  

I invite you to experience this wonderful space for yourself! I'll be the other meditating figure in the room....

--Lori