''A night view towards a cemetery in Pontassieve''

Pontassieve is a comune (municipality) in the metropolitan city of Florence, located about 14 Km east of Florence, at the confluence of Arno and Sieve rivers. Beautiful place surrounded by vineyards and olive orchards. In the autumn of 2018, we went there for a week, at a plein air painting workshop with my coach Stefan Baumann. We stayed at a lovely agritourist cottage, I Veroni, part of a winery. The cottage is situated on Via San Martino a Quona, on the outskirts of Pontassieve, next to the vineyard. It was a lovely stay, we had nice Italian food and the local wine, which is a Chianti Rufina. And the workshop was amazing. Few times we walked towards Pontassieve, along Via San Martino a Quona. The road goes past two cemeteries, one on each side of the road, nearly opposite each other. One night, looking from the room’s window, we could see some strange red lights in the distance. It looked almost surreal. We didn’t know what it was. We found out next morning when we walked towards the train station. It was one of the cemeteries. Cimitero di San Francesco, The Cemetery of San Feancesco. Every night it was lit, with red lights. One of the evenings, after a busy day painting, some of the artists and the coach wanted to do a session of night painting. I thought I was tired, so I didn’t go, but after getting into my room I realised I wanted to paint. So, I decided to paint the view from the window, towards the cemetery.

I painted few hours, then I left the painting for a while. A long while. After more than a year and a half, I found it and decided to complete it. So, after carefully wiping and drying the painting, I applied a thin layer of linseed oil / turpentine medium. Then I retouched some areas of the painting, on the foreground and sky and redone the lights from the cemetery. And this is now done: “A night view towards a cemetery in Pontassieve.” Oil on linen 24 X 30 cm (10” X 12”).

''A corner of the garden''

Since the covid – 19 lockdown of the country begun, the weather is ... beautiful, of course. After one of the rainiest autumns, followed by a very wet winter, the weather is finally perfect. Blue skies (this is something new for us Brits), sunshine, dry and warm. And because of the lockdown restrictions we can’t go out for leisure, just to enjoy all of this. But I still have the garden. I painted it a few times before, but still few more paintings can be done. I was hoping to paint the apple tree blossom, but already started to fade. So, I have chosen to paint the other side, featuring the fir tree, in front of the apple tree. This is a special fir tree for me. The first fir tree I bought for my very first Christmas in the UK, almost 11 years ago. It was a foot, or so tall, in a little pot. I was living in Bath at that time. Couple of years later, we moved to Verwood. A week after we moved went back to Bath and took the little fir tree in a pot, where it was struggling to survive. It was barely alive and when I arrived home, the car was full of fir needles. I planted it and took good care of it, watered it with water from the fish tank and it rewarded me coming back to life. And now is over three meters tall. And doing well. We even used the fir tree buds to make a fir tree buds syrup. Anyways, back to the painting. I did it alla prima over two sessions. Same reduced palette and no medium, just turps; nearly run out of the stuff and not sure if any art supply shops still open. But I will figure something. Worst case would be me using turps from the hardware store instead. Probably it would work the same. So, here it is: “A corner of the garden.” Oil on linen. 20 X 30cm (8” X 12”).

''Still life with daffodils and other flowers''

Spring is nearly here. Weather is finally getting better. Much drier and somewhat warmer. Still a bit windy though. And still having early nights, for another week. Despite this, the threat of the terrible pandemic won’t allow us to get much of the outdoor season for painting. And I was looking forward to it. But, never mind. Painting still life could be as challenging. And anyway, it is good practice too. Hence, I decided to do another floral still life. With some daffodils and other flowers from the garden. I painted it mostly alla prima, over few days, so the flowers started dying before I completed the painting. I used a reduced palette, my usual, with some lapis lazuli added. Still no medium. So, here it is: “Still life with daffodils and other flowers.” Oil on linen. 24 X 30 cm (9” X 12”).

'' Daffodils in a small vase''

The daffodils are still in flower, probably not for long though. They are starting to fade away. Hence, I wanted to paint some more, while I can. After they disappear, no daffodils for another year. I did a similar setup to the one from the previous painting. Just changed the vase and the light. I painted it alla prima, over few sessions, in about a day. Used my favourite palette, added ivory black, and some neutral grey. Still no medium, just turps. So, here it is: “Daffodils in a small vase.” Oil on linen board. 24 X 30cm (9” X 12”).

,,A vase with daffodils''

Spring has finally arrived. And because spring is the season of flowers, it is time to paint more flowers. This could be an endless subject. So vast that they were and still are painters dedicated almost entirely to paint flowers. Even if just done for a while it is captivating. I think I should paint more flowers. Anyway, I picked some daffodils and few other little flowers from the garden and did a quick setup with a small vase. I painted it alla prima over two or three sessions; flowers are not actually patient subjects and tend to fade or change quickly, so one needs to paint them fast. Unless, of course, if you use artificial flowers. I used mostly, my usual palette, introducing some cobalt blue and lapis lazuli and some ivory black. Still no medium. So here it is: “A vase with daffodils.” Oil on linen board. 24X 30cm (9” X 12”).

Finishing a couple of paintings from Italy

Two years ago, in 2018, September, I attended a workshop for en plein air painting, under the tuition of Stefan Baumann. It was a 10 days long event, filled up with many sessions of painting and also tuition. We stayed near Pontassieve, at an agritourist winery called I Veroni. A lovely place in a beautiful setup, near the vineyard. And a very good wine. Not to mention the house’s own olive oil. We learnt a lot about olive oil, wine making and a lot more about painting outdoors. One day we spent a few hours in the vineyard, painting bunches of grapes. The weather was particularly hot and almost unbearable. Hence, we abandoned the project after a while, discussed about composition, and about painting outdoor in various weather condition. And we were supposed to finish the painting afterwards. Never got finished, though. Ended up in a pile of unfinished paintings from the workshop. I finished most of them, upon return home, only five paintings left to complete. Just bumped into them not long ago and decided to do them. I started with the bunch of grapes and a still life started on a rainy day. It was a setup with a bottle of the local red wine, a chianti rufina and a glass. I searched everywhere, but couldn’t find any photo of the original setup, so I worked from memory and imagination. I cleaned the surface thoroughly and then applied a thin layer of linseed oil based medium and completed them alla prima using a palette similar to the original one. So, here they are: “A bunch of grapes in the vineyard.” Oil on linen. 20 X 30cm (8” X 12”). “Still life with red wine and grapes.” Oil on linen. 20 X 30cm (8” X 12”).

''Daffodils in a glass jar''

I was thinking to do a self-portrait; this would be my second self-portrait. I had most things set up in my head, including setup. It wasn’t meant to be yet; a terrible tooth ache stopped me from doing anything. Couldn’t even concentrate and as the week was coming to an end, I realized that a week would pass without me even attempting to paint. But the pain was less disrupting so I decided to do a quick still life. Lucky enough, it was after the Valentine’s day, so there were some flowers available in the house. Put them in a big glass jar and set the composition up my usual place, same backdrop, the one I was thinking to change. I painted it alla prima, over three sessions, using my usual palette, with some yellows added. Again, as it becomes norm, no medium, just turps, the proper smelly one. So, here it is: “Daffodils in a glass jar.” Oil on linen board. 30 X 40cm (12” X 16”).

''Still life with a brass pestle and mortar and some fruits''

It is almost spring, now. But the weather is still playing up. Hasn’t stopped raining for more than couple of days, since ages. And, amongst other things, this means, not being able to paint outdoors in ages. So, this also means painting still life. Again, and again and again. Getting more practice at it means getting better at it. But it becomes boring after a while. Not to mention that I still haven’t changed the setup I am using since after the accident. I was going to, but procrastination stopped me from doing it. So, next time I will do a still life it has to be a different setting, or else I will struggle again. Anyway, I wanted a bit of change from my usual still life paintings, so I have chosen a brass pestle and mortar. I have only painted one in the past, so, I thought it would be a good choice, especially because of the challenge of painting a metal surface.I painted it mostly alla prima, but with some drying times in between sessions; it took me nearly two weeks to complete the painting. I used the same palette I have used recently and again no medium, just turps.

So, here it is: “Still life with a brass pestle and mortar and some fruits.” Oil on linen board. 30 X 40 cm (12” X 16”)

''Still life with a lemon and two persimmons''

We are now few weeks in the new year; don’t know where the time has flown. And also, few weeks after my “Ready for the stew.” painting was completed. I managed to do a small still life with an apple and couple of pears and then started another “bigger” still life. I initially did a composition with a bottle of chilli sauce, a small ceramic pitcher and two lemons. After a few days of work and evening painting I realized I didn’t like the composition. Then, I struggled for a while and in the end, I changed some of the setup. Kept the chilli sauce and the pitcher, repositioned one of the lemons and replaced the other lemon with two persimmons. Much happier now, I managed to complete the painting in the end.

I painted it mostly alla prima, but because of the long time, there were a few drying periods in between. Still using a similar palette to previous still lifes and still no medium, just turps. So, here it is: “Still life with a lemon and two persimmons.” Oil on linen. 23 X 30 cm (9” X 12”).

''Ready for the stew''

Now, the Christmas is gone and so is the new year. We just entered a new decade. Hopefully, I will have more time for art and will be able to achieve more. The weather is still very British, I can’t remember when I last seen the sun. And not getting dry for more than half a day. Annoying! But, at least is a good time for more still life painting. After a few paintings with fruits, I decided to change a bit the subject matter. Just a bit. So I went for some vegetables, the main actors of a stew. I would normally use leeks, but as I couldn’t find any at the local supermarket, I replaced them with a fennel. And obviously, I added my “favourite” pumpkin. Is still going strong, although keeps changing the colour and, probably, the shape. I hope it doesn’t survive for much longer, or I will become allergic to pumpkins. Had long hours at work and long commute, last week, hence I wasn’t able to paint to many hours during the week, so just finished the painting yesterday. I painted it mostly alla prima, but some drying occurred during the process, because of long break. I used my favourite smelly turpentine and no medium. Still using the reduced palette with some warm grey added. Here it is: “Ready for the stew.” Oil on linen. 40 X 30 cm (16” X 12”)