Artist Sharon Pitts loves teaching watercolor painting and journaling in Italy for many reasons, but mostly because there is so much visual inspiration at every turn. Sharing her love of art and Italy with students is a highlight of her workshop experience, and she loves watching the look on students’ faces when they see the beauty of Italy for the first time.
Sharon knows students take her workshops for many reasons, but she believes that when she teaches in Italy, things shift from a technical teaching experience to a spiritual one. Many of her students travel to Italy to paint or journal and learn something about themselves. Over the years, she’s worked with students who were in transition, as an empty-nester or after a significant life change, and came looking for personal renewal and to use art as a path forward into a new stage of life.
Sharon likes to help students redefine what it means to “see” something, and encourages students to see, really see, the details of their surroundings. Rather than trying to capture the entire landscape in a painting, to instead use the details to tell the story about their experience. One evening during her October workshop at San Fedele in Tuscany, she suggested the group do a series of the night sky after dinner. Sharon’s painting above – Moon Over San Fedele Monastery – is an example of tapping into the artist’s instincts and internal knowledge to enhance the art.
The painting above is another example of using the details to tell a story, Anyone who has visited San Fedele with Il Chiostro might recognize this view as the row of trees that welcome guests at the top of the courtyard. When you see the trees you know you’ve arrive somewhere special.
Sharon has been painting in watercolor since 1980. Early on she painted with acrylic on canvas, but when she started to work with watercolor she became transfixed by its luminescence. From then on, she focused on watercolor and experimented with its transparency and luminous color combinations. Sharon continues to learn watercolor techniques that come from nature studies and from the fascinating accidents that often occur when working with watercolor. She has learned that working with and accepting these unexpected occurrences with watercolor are what give her work its vitality and originality.
Sharon has been an instructor with Il Chiostro since 2011 and taught ten workshops abroad and ten online series. We are thrilled that she’s agreed to lead a watercolor workshop for Il Chiostro in October 2025 in Tuscany. To learn more visit Autumn Arts Festival – Watercolor Journal