Ischia, Castello Aragonese as a painters retreat

[By Simo Capecchi in Naples] Autumn has been warm in Naples. In september I went to Ischia island to prepare my yearly Urban Sketchers workshop, looking for some of the most iconic views of Aragonese Castle like this one, from spiaggia dei Pescatori. The Castle is an island itself, connected to the main Ischia island by a bridge. On the background you can see other islands like Procida and in clear days Naples with Vesuvio.

From the Castle terraces, at about 100 meters above the sea level, you feel completely isolated and in peace. The view spread in any direction and each corner is beautiful to sketch. On October 10, last day of workshop, a storm arrived and the season started to change. With the wind, the feeling on top of the castle was like sailing on a boat.

With workshop participants we were based inside the Immacolata church, to gather and display sketches of the day. A challenging wide space where famous painters exhibited in the past.

Inside the castle lived and painted Gabriele Mattera (1929-2005) who left hundreds of beautiful works. His studio was opened for us after 10 years from his death by his son and daughter, our very special hosts and owners of the castle monastery. Sketching inside his studio has been a touching experience for all of us.

I led a sketchwalk inside the castle paths, and recommended to draw a ten minutes sketch at each stop. The castle island is quite big and full of ancient buildings, churches, gardens, vineyards, not to mention panoramas that appears at every corner. It has been challenging to decide where to stop.

We spent 3 great days watercoloring and sketching in and out the castle, trying sketching with oils with Kelly Medford, using Chinese ink and experimenting collage with Caroline Peyron, in company of Gérard Michel as a special guest and with so many talented participants from at least 10 different countries. Last day Negombo thermal and botanical garden generously offered us a day of sketching and swimming.

This workshop has been so successful that right now we are working on a second edition for next October 2016: same place with different locations, guest and themes… stay tuned!

See our group at work in the slideshow below and here other drawings by Kelly Medford,  Jenny Adam,  Gérard Michel, Birgit Muller and Franco Lancio.

Italian version on my blog.

P.S: Thanks to Moleskine that once again donated sketchbooks!