Tag Archives: Italy

Just musing, Making art, pastel painting, Sardinia, Travel

The Italian Paintings

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I’ve unpacked the suitcase, done the laundry and distributed the gifts. I’ve settled back into work reacquainting myself with the myriad small disasters of the working day. I’ve rearranged the studio and tidied up a bit. So now there’s so more excuses for putting off starting on the post holiday paintings.

It might surprise you to know that as much as I love painting there’s something a bit daunting about sorting through my memories, masses of photos and all those small sketches I did and trying to distill the essence of the holiday that I now want to capture in larger pastel paintings.

Sometimes I absolutely know what I’m interested in. One holiday it was patterns- roof tiles, fields of different crops, rows of lavender, five metal jugs on a wall, bicycle wheels- stone fences-the list went on. Other times it takes a while for a them to emerge and this last Italian holiday was one of those.

When that happens sometimes I just decide to jump in and start painting whatever and see what develops. So here are my first three paintings and I think what might be developing is a visual essay on the varied landscapes of Italy.

When you live as far “down under” as we do, in southern Tasmania, it’s a long way to Europe and our usual approach is to whittle away at our wish list across 2 or 3 countries each trip. This holiday we spent 5 weeks in Italy instead of our usual 1-2 weeks and it really made a difference. We were able to stay a week each in four very different  regions and explore a bit more in depth than we usually have time for and I think the vastly different landscapes, architecture and traditional work is what captured our interest. Of course this variety shouldn’t be a surprise given that the Italy we know today is a very recent entity .

A gentle morning landscape with mist rising over the Tuscan wheatfields, the emerald waters of Sardinia and snowcapped mountains reflected in Lake Arpy in the northern Italian alps – the start of a series celebrating the diverse landscapes of Italy.

Tuscan wheatfields
Morning wheatfields. Tuscany

 

Capo di Cavello. Sardinia
Capo di Cavello. Sardinia

 

Lake Arpy. Italy
Lake Arpy reflections. Italy
Just musing, Travel

Countdown till Italy.

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Not that I’m counting -but there’s only 33 days till we head off to Italy again for 5 glorious weeks. It’s been 2 years since we last visited. There are some things I just can’t get anywhere else so I’m  a tad excited at the prospect of 35 straight days of Italian pleasures.

Tuscan wheatfields
Tuscan evening silhouette.

We spend a lot of time in the countryside and because we always hire a car we get to drive around early morning and late evenings as well as long, lazy, lovely  days. The summer fields of wheat look beautiful anytime of day but I love this shot of the sinking sun turning the wheat golden against the lengthening evening shadows.

Field of Tuscan poppies.
Poppies in a Tuscan field

Then there’s the summer wildflowers. I know you can get wonderful wildflower meadows other places but the poppies are such an integral part of a summer in Italy that I miss them and if I have a summer without poppies I feel I’ve been florally cheated!. One year we went a little later than usual and the poppies were gone only to be replaced with fields of deep red/purple clover. After years of visiting Italy I discovered another pleasure of the Tuscan countryside.

Clover fields - Tuscany
Clover fields – Tuscany

When I’m dreaming of Italy it’s the colours that I’m longing for … all those ochres, reds, oranges…warm and earthy with the summer sun bouncing off them. The reflections in a Venetian canal capture all the colour, movement and essence of Italy. The iconic cities never disappoint!

Venetian canal.
Colours of Italy reflected in a Venetian canal. 

There’s the unexpected like this zing of orange leaves against the bright blue sea I captured on a walk around the island of Capri.

Orang and blue. Capri
Orange and blue – Capri

….and the night time reflections as we walked the Cinque Terra trail after sunset.

Cinque Terra reflections.
Cinque Terra reflections.

Of course there’s all the little details as well. Doors and doorknockers are right up there for me. Also tiled terracotta rooftops with their variegated oranges brightening up the village skylines. The flap of white clothes drying in the breeze on lines slung across the laneways. Roses climbing up stone walls. Pots of geraniums making a windowsill all the garden that is needed. Fountains with their sweet sound of cool water in the summer heat.

Doorknocker in San Quirico
Doorknocker in San Quirico.

Not least of all is the food! I just cannot get ice cream as good as Italian gelati anywhere else in the world…and I have to eat enough spaghetti  vongole to last me till our next trip.

Spaghetti with clams.
Spaghetti with clams.

Thirty three  days and yes, I’m counting!!