Shades of Tuscany, part II

Looking back over my photos of the Tuscan countryside definitely makes me want to return to Italy!  I think I'd like to go when the sunflowers or poppies are in bloom... not that the landscape needs beautifying :)

One of my favorite scenes was on the way to San Gimignano.  We came across this picturesque view with the perfect blend of grapes, olive trees, cypress, and rolling hills.  Last week I posted my small study in a square format, but this week I wanted to show you how accommodating mother nature can be... the same view, but in a 12x36 landscape format:

Of course, my heart remembers a bit differently from the camera.  Here's what I see:

Shades of Tuscany, 12x36 Oil, SOLD

Shades of Tuscany, part I

The palette of colors with which God painted the Italian landscape is an artist's dream.  Grapes, olives, grasses, cypress trees, rolling hills ... all make up the lovely shades of the Tuscan countryside.  

In this image (from our 25th anniversary trip!), my goal was to remember the colors I felt, rather than the colors the camera reproduced. 

 

I started by cropping the image to a square format because ... well ... to be honest, I had a square panel that I wanted to use.  Fortunately, this particular scene has lots of great possibilities for composition (next week I'll show my 12x36).  I love how the fence posts and undulating hills lead your eye from the bottom right, in a "z" shape, up to the center of interest.

Okay, colors.  This is where my heart remembered what my eyes didn't see -- the rich glow of the earth and dried grasses that served as a foundation for the dark blue-green cypress trees and the mossy-blue olive trees.  The distant blue hills were the perfect backdrop. 

Here's my little study:

 

 Shades of Tuscany, 6x6 Oil, available