Kirk McBride

Kirk McBride | Tutor at Tuscany in the Frame Italian Workshops

Kirk McBride’s oil paintings are inspired by the relationship of light and shadow on a variety of subjects. He has been painting for over 40 years with an emphasis on “plein air” painting over the last 18. Travels to Italy, Mexico, New England and the Western US provide many of the subjects for his vibrant impressionistic landscapes, seascapes, and city scenes. He is a popular teacher, passing on the knowledge and techniques he has learned over the years in workshops and demos. Kirk studied oil painting with the great American painters, Ken Auster, Kim English, and Randall Sexton. A Signature Member of the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association and the American Society of Marine Artists, he has painted in many prestigious plein air events including the Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational (four times) and Plein Air Easton (four times). McBride’s work is represented in seven fine galleries along the East Coast of the US. His home and studio are on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

https://www.kirkmcbride.com/

Tuscany is located in central Italy and stretches from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Its landscape, artistic heritage and stand-out cities – first among them Florence – make Tuscany an unquestioned protagonist of international tourism. In this region, nature has many different facets, starting from the coast that alternates long and sandy beaches, like the Versilia beach, with rocky cliffs and steep headlands. The islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation, a crystal-clear sea and rich seabeds, are peerless.

You can admire sceneries of uncontaminated nature in the Apuan Alps and in several protected areas, such as the Orbetello Lagoon, home to many species of migrant birds, including pink egrets.
However, the most typical sceneries of the region are those that merge the beauty of nature with the millenary work of man. The amazing Gulf of Baratti and the sites of Vetulonia, Vulci and Pitigliano guard necropoli and vestiges of the Etruscan civilization, while Roselle and Cosa evoke memories from the Roman Age.

Medieval villages, historical towns, castles and defense systems, country churches (the so-called pievi) and beautiful abbeys, like the one of Sant’Antimo, are scattered all over the territory and their profiles stand out in the landscapes of the Crete Senesi, Orcia Valley, Garfagnana, Chianti and the Maremma.
Finally, Tuscany is full of spas: Montecatini, Saturnia, Montepulciano, Monsummano and Bagno Vignoni, which offer relaxing holidays thanks to their thermal waters and well-equipped facilities for all types of treatments.