How does one top a fabulous day of learning? There is only one way… by making a trip to the Saturday market to take in the flavours and colors of the region. Garibaldi Square in Sulmona was bursting with produce stands, people and noise when we arrived. We quickly split up and went alone or in small groups to experience this Saturday morning tradition.
This was also the last chance for many of us to get a bit of souvenir shopping in. I think the confetti shop owners are wearing an extra big smile this weekend…
We arrived back at the workshop venue around lunch time. A beautifully arranged table awaited us to take part in a lunch Italian style.

Averil and Bruce, the organizers of this week’s program did all the shopping to surprise us with an authentic Abruzzi lunch.

Soon everyone gathered and claimed a seat at the table.

A fresh Italian bun with either chicken or roasted pork, crisp mixed salad and some fruit… Who can resist this rustic meal?

By 2 pm we all gathered on the studio patio and picked up where we left off yesterday afternoon. It was time to begin the underpainting of the final project. Soon everyone was fully immersed in wielding spray bottles paint brushes to apply pastels and paints.

And just before we called it a day in the classroom, we applied some acrylic paint to dryer sheets and Tyvek. All this will dry nicely over night and will be ready for the next step in the morning.
We took an hour’s break to get ready for an evening excursion. Averil and Bruce picked us up for Happy Hour in Introdaqua, the small village they live in. It is located less than 2 km from the hotel and studio workshop. The village itself is charming and boasts many refurbished row houses and homes. The sister city to Introdaqua is Hamilton, Ontario – Who would have expected to find a little bit of Canada in the heart of Abruzzo?

We walked along via Garibaldi to Spillo’s Bar for some social time among the locals before we briefly visited Averil’s studio.

Soon it was time to return to our hotel for a festive dinner. Bruce shared some vineyard anecdotes while introducing the featured wines for the evening, and once again the meal we shared was delicious… We are all beginning to wonder if we can still fit into the airplane seats for our return flights.
But wait, tonight we actually had an opportunity to burn a few calories. Soon after the plates were cleared the hotel owner appeared with his accordion. It only took a few musical bars and the dining room exploded with song, laughter and dancing.

Another full day is behind us and time is flying by much too fast. Tomorrow we embark on Day 4 of the workshop – with everyone working so hard I expect there will be much progress made in the classroom.

28 Sep This entry was published on September 28, 2013 at 3:28 pm. It’s filed under Art, Creativity Update, Design, In the News, Journaling, Photography & Events, Repurpose & Re-Create, Reuse, Special event, Special Project, Studio / Workshop / Creative Space Challenge, Travel and tagged Abruzzo, creativity, exploring the Sulmona market, travel and study on Italy. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.