From donkeys waking us at dawn, to a day filled with design exercises and technique demonstrations to a cooking class, we are tired and ready to fall into bed for a good rest. Another day filled with glorious sunshine greeted us this morning. The air was cool and we noticed that the leaves are beginning to change – Autumn has arrived in Sulmona.

We gathered in the classroom shortly after breakfast. What a delight it is to walk the short distance from the hotel dining room through the gardens to the studio space. After a quick review of yesterday’s work and an opportunity to share with each another some of the designs created, we moved on to explore texture. Out came the charcoal and drawing paper and soon everyone was on a mission to locate the best texture for various rubbings.

Kristi was’t afraid to get down and dirty to discover interesting textures.

Theresa located some hidden spots and unique textures in the gardens.

…and the Pampas grass swayed in the wind contrasting nicely against the deep blue sky and wispy clouds.

Mei wasn’t too sure about the mess charcoal left on her hands.

Theresa was all smiles when she finished adding color to her first hexagonal design.

During the afternoon the studio was quite warm and we moved to the covered patio. It was time to transfer a design to canvas. Lawna is using one of her photos which she will translate into a fiber arts piece.

The spacious patio has room for everyone and the level of concentration was intense… till the clock struck 4:30 and it was time for our cooking class with Chef Pino.

Weren’t we a funny bunch? Soon we were fully immersed in combining eggs and flour for pasta with gentle guidance from Chef Pino.

While the pasta dough was resting, we observed and listened carefully to the instructions (all in Italian) of how to combine only the freshest ingredients to create chicken pomodore.

Once the chicken, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic and capers with a sprinkle of fresh rosemary were successfully combined the most delicious aroma filled the kitchen, and the pasta dough was tested for the proper consistency. Chef Pino deemed the dough ready for the final step. Soon a mountain of spaghetti filled the tray beneath the pasta maker.

Cooking such pasta to perfection only takes a minute in lightly salted boiling water…. The special cooking lesson was such a treat and wonderful break between intense learning sessions in the studio. Everyone was interested and took notes and countless pictures to immortalized this event.

The sun set around 7:30 behind the Apennine Mountains… A most delicious dinner was served at 8. I think it tasted even better after having a personal involvement in its preparation. Tomorrow promises to be another action filled day! Make sure to check back soon. We are off to the Saturday market, an experience not to be missed in this town!

27 Sep This entry was published on September 27, 2013 at 3:36 pm. It’s filed under Art, Creativity Update, In the News, Journaling, Networking, Photography & Events, Special event, Studio / Workshop / Creative Space Challenge, Travel and tagged Abruzzo, cooking class with Chef Pino, Fiber arts workshop, Locanda dell Asino d'Oro, Photography, Sulmona, teaching in Italy. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.