Scouting the neighborhood

Sometimes it is a good idea to leave the paint at home and explore by foot or car a new area. My wife Monica and I took an afternoon to drive around the neighborhood.  With a simple digital camera one can record the sites that might be worth painting.  So the following are some pictures from that afternoon.

A new friend in the neighborhood

The wife

Is Tuscany great or what?  There are subjects everywhere.  I ended up going back the next day to a spot with a few trees and a beautiful dry field.  I heard some guys working nearby, so I had to approach the country boys with my limited Italian to ask permission.  They thought I was crazy to even ask, and were happy to let me set up nearby.  They were splitting fire wood, and the smell of the saw dust and split wood was pleasant on that hot afternoon.  Things were fine until they cranked up the chain saw.  Oh well, I was well into the sketch by then.

Getting started - kind of late, but there is always tomorrow

I really liked the simplicity of this site, with the long shadows, the spacing of the trees, the broad flat foreground.  I had seen the side view of this spot many times driving down the hill, but never got out of the car to check out the possibilities. 

 I had to try to get the shadows down quickly, because things were changing fast, there are always a few shadows I forget to record and then much later  I try to remember their angle and it's too late.  Just a thin blue or brown without any white will do to position the shadows on the canvas.  

Day two - why was I so late getting out yesterday?

You can see the red-orange underpainting of the tree foliage

Fine Estate, Toscana  o/c  30x40cm

Morning Light

There is a big gap between when I paint and when I post -  this painting was done in July and it is already November.  I blame it on the fact that I like to photograph the painting after I get a couple of coats of retouch varnish on it, and for that the painting has to be quite dry.  Well that is my excuse anyway.  So, lets try to remember.... July - hot, buggy, the sun always too high in the sky.

Morning light

I had to use the umbrella to keep the sun off me and the canvas, and then a large rock in the easel to keep the whole thing from blowing over.  Usually I am facing the sun, but not today.

The reverse angle of my set-up

Getting started

This was a great place to paint as there were varied flat and vertical planes, and many levels of distant hills, each getting lighter and more cool.  It appeared to me that the dry grass fields became more and more pink with the distance.

Getting there, the watch is to remind me not to be late for lunch

Rotoballe al Mattino  o/c  40x50cm  -    Available at the Stage Door Gallery

More Hay Bales

This time the sun was really in my face.  I was happy with the way the light produced the glow around the edge of the hay bales.  Planning from the beginning I tried not to use white in the foreground shadow, to keep it thin.  I used various browns thinned way down with Liquin.  OK,  I eventually I added a bit of white when mixing some cool lavenders and grays.  This was a bright afternoon for painting -  too much light everywhere.  The far hills were high in value.  I had to keep the sky light as hell to get some contrast.

The challenge

I had to use my deluxe light blocker to keep the light off my palette

My world for a few intense hours

Rotoballe Controluce  o/c  30x40cm

Summer Hay Bales

There are cut fields in Tuscany with round hay bales everywhere this summer.  The fields have a different color depending on the moisture and type of hay.  We are lucky to be living near several fields with beautiful hills in the background.  I managed to get a few photos of this first painting in different stages.  To arrive at this beginning point it did take quite a bit of walking around in morning and afternoon light trying to find the right angle.  Below is the view I chose. 

Starting point

The drawing

Blue hills

I usually put down some white on the horizon as a sort of value check, I know that I will have to keep that area extremely light.  This works for me because I usually don't have time to labor over the sky when I am in the field, at least on the first day.  Later when I do my tweaking at home I mix some patchy light color spots into that white zone.

almost there

Below is the finished painting.  Other than the biting gnats, the afternoon was peaceful.

Rotoballe Sulla Collina  o/c  40 x 50cm   available at the Stage Door Gallery

Dry fields of summer

June is the time for cutting the hay in the Maremma region of Tuscany.  The fields change color after being cut, appearing  quite dry a few days later.  I was attracted to this view from an overlook near our place - by the contrast of the dark green Oak tree branch against the hazy light colors of the background fields and mountains.  Below is a photo of the location.

Summer heating up

I was thinking, can I get an interesting composition with just a branch sticking in the side of the painting?  With a bit of simplifying I came up with the small painting below.  I tried to put down the values as I saw them late in the afternoon.  The super dark branch worked out, and I remembered to leave some bright underpainting spots to add sparkle.  Some days later the hay baling tractor arrived -  and I have been busy ever since.  There are round hay bales everywhere,  too many to paint and also little biting gnats...

Campi di Giugno  oil/panel 8x10in  -  Available at the Stage Door Gallery

Beach day

There are some fantastic beaches around if you take some time to find them.  This area is a short walk on a trail from a dirt parking lot.  It was June and the water was warm and the few early  tourists were swimming.

What is so beautiful are the dune areas with a rich diversity of plant life.  There is too much to look at.  

Tombolo di Giannella, Toscana   o/c  40 x 50cm

Painting a hilltop village in morning light

Monica and I found this view of Cana on a cloudy day in April.  We stopped for the view and to pick some wildflowers.  After wandering around a bit I was hooked by the composition of this open field with the gap that leads through the tree groups and on up to the village.  I thought this would work with morning backlight.

Cloudy day in April

It took until June to get back here on a hot sunny morning.  I really had the backlight - right in my face.  Below is an image of the painting well under way.  I try to build up layers of paint starting with thin washes without adding white.  I have to concentrate to leave spots of thin wash that will show through to add sparkle to the light.  Underpainting with orange/yellow/red works well for the areas receiving light, and purple or blue thinned down with solvent or Liquin works well for shade areas.  At least that's the usual plan, most of the time I am in some sort of frenzy when starting a painting - having spent too much time on the initial drawing.

Underway in the hot sun

Below is the finished painting.  I am happy that we stopped by the side of the road on that cloudy day in April.  It was a pleasant morning in June - the hay was quite high, almost time to harvest. I am pleased with the way the grass on the lower left bends in towards the gap in the field.  It takes time to find interesting compositions, and sometimes things work out with some luck.  Even moving back and forth for a meter or two can make a difference. 
    

Cana, Toscana  o/c  40x30cm