Tuscan Hills

Shapes, texture, color, and layer upon layer of mountain vistas ... there's so much to love about the Tuscan countryside!  This is a photo from our visit to Tuscany several years ago.  My painting goal was to capture the zigzag movement from foreground to background using the elements of hills, road, olive trees, and cypress.

 

Here is my painted sketch on the 20x40in canvas.

 

And here is my wild color stage -- a thin layer of transparent oil paints.  At this point I was having second thoughts about how I was going to resolve the the foreground fence and hill with the road at the bottom right.  Not sure if they were helpful or hindering.

 

Ultimately, I decided to remove those elements, opting for the simpler, less cluttered hill to move the eye through the scene.  Enjoy a bit of Italy!

"Tuscan Hills", 20x40 Oil, available

Fruit of the Vine

On an anniversary trip to Italy several years ago, we were driving through Tuscany and came across this lovely vineyard.  The soft, dusty blue skin of these grapes, destined for a fine wine on someone's table, are so unlike the standard red and green grapes that I buy at the grocery store.  What a gift, these fruit of the vine!

On a 16x20 canvas I started by sketching the basic placement of the grape bunches, vines, and leaves.

One of the things that I loved about the photo was the way the dark values all connected in interesting shapes.  So in this step my goal was to paint the dark areas in a way that simplified the busyness and made sure I stayed true to that original inspiration.  Everything that I left unpainted (below) would remain a light value in the final painting.     

Just a few strokes later (ha!  not really) and here you go:

  Fruit of the Vine, 16x20 Oil, available

Fiddling with the Light

I loved the simple composition of this scene as I looked down on this violinist during our trip to Italy several years ago.  It was a hot day, but he found a cool spot to play in the shadow of a giant pillar.  His music was lovely.

While the composition was simple, the perspective was not.  I probably went a little overboard with the detail on my initial sketch for such a small painting, but I really didn't want to finish the piece and then realize the perspective was askew.

After my sketch lines were fairly dry, I quickly covered all the warm sunlit areas in transparent yellow and and the cool shadowed areas in transparent blue. You may need to put on sunglasses for this...it's pretty bright!

The final painting is much softer.  My goal was to stay true to what originally inspired me (the simple composition) while "fiddling" with the warmth of the reflected light on the pillar and the musician.

Fiddling with the Light, 6x8 Oil, Sold

Venice Gold

A few years ago, my husband and I strolled through Venice on the first stop of our 25th anniversary trip.  This scene caught my eye because of the way the water turned golden with the reflection of a brightly sunlit buildings along one of the city's many canals ...

I cropped the photo to draw the golden light closer,

and then created a simplified sketch on canvas.  I was careful to get the architecture and perspective correct at this point (much easier now than later!)

One of the fun things about painting is that there are many "correct" ways to start.  For this painting, I chose to begin with my darkest area, which is the shadowed water that leads to the foreground boat, and then use that dark value to "key" my other values.

I painted each area almost to completion before moving on to the next, but always while comparing values -- darks vs. lights.  The important thing in this painting was to capture the essence of a golden glow, which meant that subtle value changes really mattered.

My process continued in this manner until the canvas was covered and then I went back for a second pass to make color corrections and add nuances.

I really love the way the lines in this composition lead your eye from the foreground boat through the golden sunlight and then along the walkway back to the foreground.  This painting was part of my "Making Ripples" solo show and helped to raise funds for a Rotary clean water & sanitation project in the Dominican Republic that my husband and I will be volunteering on in January 2015.
Venice Gold, 20x16 oil, SOLD

Here's the original cropped photo again for comparison:

Two Views: Safe Harbor and Red Boat Reflections

Often, there are several different paintings that can come from one photograph.  This particular view of Vernazza, Italy, inspired two paintings for me, focusing on different aspects of the same scene.

In Safe Harbor, I cropped the original photograph to emphasize movement.  I liked the diagonal lines that start with the reflection near the bottom right and zigzag through the boats, up to the walkway on the top right, and across the plaza to the left.

My challenge with this composition was to gently bring the viewer's eye back to the foreground.  My solution was to emphasize the reflections of the buildings and umbrellas to vertically connect back to the boats.  Here is Safe Harbor, 20x20 Oil:

After the first painting, I decided I liked the reflections so much that I wanted to paint the scene again, but with the focus primarily on the boat reflections.  I chose a long, horizontal format and cropped the image for my 18x36 canvas like this:

Here's the result ...another point of view.  Red Boat Reflections, 18x36 Oil

Both of these paintings are currently available at The Little Art Gallery.

Blossoms in Italy

Yesterday, my husband and I joined my wonderful family in the celebration of my cousin Nancy's wedding day.  And so, in honor of Nancy and Vinny, I am posting the wedding gift they received from us.

Knowing that their Italian lineage is pretty strong (yes, I know the Irish is strong too, Mom :), I chose one of my favorite new little pieces that was painted from a photo taken during our 25th anniversary trip to Italy.  This doorway in Asciano was so enticing with its shadows, flowers, and texture that I couldn't resist painting it (twice!)  For this little painting I chose to crop the scene and focus on the doorway and the flowers to the left. 

I moved the flowers a bit to the right so that they connected and overlapped the door because I loved the contrast of soft and strong with the flowers and doorway.  There is so much symbolism here for a marriage, but what speaks to me most is how our differences can complement in a way that makes the "whole" more beautiful ...  blossoms and brick ... sunlight and shadow ... soft and strong.  The door is ready to be opened to possibilities and also represents our God, who makes all things possible.  I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  Jn 10:9

Blossoms in Italy, 7x5 Oil

Here it is, framed:

And here is the happy couple, Vinny and Nancy.  Congratulations!

Special Edition! Creating "Umbrellas by the Sea"

Vernazza, Italy, under the warm glow of dancing yellow umbrellas ... sipping liquid grapes ... breathing in the gentle caress of a sea breeze ... this is one of the many reasons why I know that life is a gift to be gratefully treasured, especially when it is shared on the 25th anniversary of marrying my best friend :)   This is a scene that took me five years to decide how to capture, but once I got started I couldn't wait to complete my vision.

 I knew that I wanted a large canvas because Vernazza is nestled in the embrace of a very high ridge overlooking the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea.  I chose an 18x36 canvas (big for me!) and then cropped the image to emphasize what I loved most -- the large sunlit yellow umbrellas.

I started by sketching the basic placement of shapes with a fair amount of accuracy.  I used a pastel pencil because it was easy to make changes, if needed.

 

 Once I was satisfied with the placement, I "sketched" with paint and let it dry so that I could paint over it with transparent paints without disturbing my road map.

  Since the umbrellas were what I was most excited about, I started with my favorite part (dessert first, right?)  I painted the whole area with transparent indian yellow (using an oil medium called "Archival Lean") and then laid on opaque paints quickly so that the underpaint was wet enough to be picked up where I wanted it to be.

 This next part was fun because it made the umbrellas really start to "pop" with the complimentary colors.  I laid in transparent ultramarine blue for the mid-ground church and, again, quickly painted opaque colors before the underlayer dried.

The fun continued in similar manner...

At this point, I needed to make a decision.  The photograph blocked the background hills because of mid-sized trees that had been planted along the marina edge.  But, this being Vernazza, I really wanted to capture the sense of being small in a large place.  So I chose to look through the trees and imagine the steep hill that lay behind.  This was not easy!  You will see that it took several iterations.

My challenge with the next portion of this painting was to make it lively without breaking up the simplicity of the overall "values" I had planned (squint at the final painting image and hopefully you'll see what I mean).  I also didn't want to paint every single chair leg and table top because I know that less is often more since it allows the imagination to create far better stories than the paint brush is able to.

I knew I wanted to work more on the background hill, but it would be easier to judge what needed to be done after painting the foreground.

At this point I had covered the canvas, but I knew that several areas needed a bit more attention...

 

On my final pass, I created depth and interest in the background, adjusted the boats and water, added texture to the potted bushes, and worked on a few shadow and light nuances.  This painting is currently hanging at the Waverly Artists Group and looks great next to its companions, Ready for Limoncello and Fruit of the Vine!

Umbrellas by the Sea, available

18x36 oil

(here's the photo again, just for fun comparison)

View from St. Clare

This is the view from the plaza of St. Clare in Assisi Italy, overlooking the peaceful Umbrian valley.  As we traveled through Italy for our 25th anniversary (5 years ago already - oh my!) we visited many churches and, to be honest, the extravagant gilding got to be a little much for me.  When we went to Assisi we visited, yes, more churches.  

But St. Clare was different.  

It was plain.  

It was simple. 

There were no gilded pillars and no ornate mosaics.  

No pretense. 

 It was completely Spirit-filled.

It is also home to the original San Damiano cross 

that called the simplest of all beggars, St. Francis of Assisi.

I LOVED St. Clare.

As the sun set I was reminded who the master artist is.

My challenge in painting "View from St. Clare" was to somehow capture the tranquil feeling of that moment.  There were no formulas for this... I just let the spirit paint...

 View from St. Clare, available

6x6 Oil, framed

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