Our aim is to give you the best possible painting holiday, with artistic guidance, a great ambiance, hospitality and delicious local food... Unique in many ways.

First - Studio Istria holidays have no restriction on dates and times on your holidays.
Second - We didn't want to "set in stone" our itinerary. We didn't want to pre-program anything without your involvement in tailoring your holidays.
We offer unique holiday because we believe that our guests are unique and very special. That's why every holiday is different - based on guests suggestions and wishes, painting skills and the weather conditions.

Our guests come from every walk of life and every corner of the globe. Some come to develop their painting skills and learn more about painting techniques. Others want to try something new, meet other people and enjoy rich and tasty Istrian gastronomy.
All of them have only one goal - "To get away from it all ! ".
Away fro "hustle and bustle" of everyday busy life or stressful careers. Or just to change their everyday environment, relax and enjoy the world of creativitive drawing and painting and gastronomy delights of this region that have so much to offer.

We are born and bread in this area and know this place inside - out, With our understanding of the land, people, history and culture plus artistic expertise and excellent knowledge of local gastronomy you can be assured that you'll have a great time with us.
We are organizing excursions in most attractive places and we know where are the most picturesque spots to "park" and paint.

Vinko will teach you how to see creatively things and how to interpret and translate those things - on the paper. Than, how to build a composition, shapes and proportions, how to deal with light and shadow, how to balance colors and shades, build textures and materials... We'll paint, talk, discus and have great fun ...

Our painting tuitions are divided in two parts - morning and afternoon. Between breakfast to lunch and between lunch to dinner ( 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm). Four hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon. The length of the sessions depend on the place we choose to go. For example - if we paint in the Cottage Flora gardens and locally it's full time. If we have to drive to some other places (we'll do that as well) than it will be a little bit less (minus driving time).
One of very important things we like to stress is - You can paint as much as you like and as little as you like.

Time after dinner is your time and you can do whatever you want. If we are in Cottage Flora we can spend an evening around the barbecue, discussing art or many other things, with a glass of local delicious wine...
Or, you can go for a short walk along the sea promenade or to a bar/night club. If you are
in "Cottage Flora" after dinner we usually chat in the garden with glass of wine or two before bed. Or we go out and check if something interesting is going on - like: "fisherman's day"( day dedicated ti fish with wide selection of grilled Seafood, Cooking Demonstrations, Craft, Art and Trade stalls together with Harbor Entertainments including great music and much more) ,"chestnut day" ( festival dedicated to chestnut. There are roast chestnuts, chestnut cakes, and various chestnut-based gastronomic delights, with music and dancing until the small hours). Or could be some other "special day dedicated to a saint or annual day of culture or a day for example - celebrating new wine...". There is always something going on. We'll keep you updated on this pages.

Below are some ideas on how could look like an itinerary for ten days Painting Holidays In Istria.

Day 1 - Your holiday begins when you are welcomed at airport. We will make our way to the Cottage Flora or Millennium Hotel. After unpacking, and welcome we'll have a drink, a nice meal, and a chat. If you are not to tired we can go for a short walk to show you the place and we'll talk about holidays and give you more information about the region.

Day 2 - After a relaxing breakfast, we meet up and discuss you wishes . If you are a beginner, there may be many basics you want to go over. For the more experienced artist you may wish to try out new techniques in a fresh and inspiring environment. We start our painting tuition in the Cottage Flora grounds on the first day. This is a chance for some close tuition as well as painting demonstrations.
Don't worry if you had never held a pencil in your hand, I'll show you how easy and fun is to draw. You will enter in a magnificent world of painting and art.
After lunch we can continue to draw and come back to the same place or change to another one.

Day 3 - Visit to Pula. Its ancient centre boasts some Roman remains with main attraction, one of the best preserved "Arena" Roman Amphitheaters in Europe, used these days for film and music festivals and attracting thousands of visitors. We will take couple of pencil sketches or paint in the Amphitheater.

Day 4 - We start today with more painting tuition at the old village of Moscenice.
The village has wonderful views of the coast. We stop here to paint the scenes of the village and the surrounding area. We'll then drive back to Cottage Flora for the evening taking some more painting or we'll have a reflection of the day.

Day 5 - Day to explore Istrian countryside, winyards, olive trees, orchards.
We can take couple of sketches of olive trees on our way to Motovun and Porec ... Will have a lunch in a typical Istrian Tavern and you'll have the opportunity to enjoy some of the culinary delicacies that can be found only in Istria.

Day 6 - Some of the topics we will discus and demonstrate today are:
Drawing, Line, Focal point, Perspective, Form, Color, Color mixing, Color wheel, Watercolor, Composition, Contrast, Depth, Brushes, Paper, Landscape, Light and Shadows, Line, Shape, Sizes, Proportions, Shades, Space, Primary Colors, Secondary Colors, Tone, Tonal Values... don't be scared - this is simple stuff and a lot of fun.

Day 7 - Today we will have a wine valley tour around the vineyards of the surrounding area in Istria. We will stop in two places to take pencil sketches and a quick watercolor painting. Local architecture with old shuttered houses are a distinctive feature of the istrian landscape - an artists delight. Old towns, castles, churches..

Day 8 - Moscenicka Draga. Old fishing village. There is much to paint here – fishing boats and the village - old houses, church and old stone paved streets.

Day 9 - Visit to Groznjan (pronoun. Groznyan). Village mostly inhabited with artists with lot of Art galleries and craftsman workshops, ancient churches and old houses, hushed cloisters and picturesque taverns. We will visit couple of old taverns and try Sljivovica (pron. shlyvoviza - plum brandy) or glass of local vine. Painting time set aside for this afternoon. In the evening there will be a nice dinner at the renown worldwide restaurant "Zigante" famous for his truffles. Mister Zigante is a World Record holder in finding the biggest truffle in the world - according to Guinness Book Of Records.

Day 10 - Sadly it is time for farewells.Time fly on our holidays. After breakfast we'll give you couple of gifts to take home as memento and a souvenir. After good bye you'll be driven back to airport and than flown back home.
We believe you'll have great memories from our holiday and a wish to return and visit us again soon.