Art + Travel: Tuscany!
Ciao! I hope you are having a wonderful Summer so far. Summer is in full swing in Italy and it has me dreaming about Tuscany. Earlier this summer, we spent 4 days exploring Florence and the northern Tuscany area.
Our first day was spent in Florence. We visited the Uffizi Gallery and the Galleria Accademia. The Uffizi was like all of my college art history books but in real life. My favorite part was my son recognizing and pointing out Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”. As we walked towards this painting tears came to my eyes. It is huge and stunning. An absolute masterpiece.
After the Uffizi we walked across town, past the Duomo to the Galleria Accademia. You enter a hall that is lined with unfinished sculptures, then you get to the David at the end of the hall. The David is another spectacular piece of art that photos do not do justice. It is huge! I never realized how tall he is. The skill that it takes to carve that massive piece of marble is astounding.
Florence was amazing and I hope to make it back someday soon.
We stayed at an agriturismo near Volterra called Agriturismo Diacceroni. Agriturismos are farms that also operate hotels, restaurants, tours and more. Some are small, some are big, and they are all unique. Off the beaten path, in this case literally as the main building was down a very long dirt road.
On our second night, the sunset was perfect so I pulled my paints out, picked the prettiest view from our deck, and started painting. The sun was setting so I was working quickly to capture as much light as I could. Sometimes when I paint, a thought repeatedly comes to mind. With this piece the thought was “Sunset Chaser.”
I didn’t know this when I painted it but the city in the background is Volterra. I recognized it when we visited the next day.
I struggled to get some of the colors right but it was great practice for the other paintings I would create on this trip. Unfortunately as I was taking this paper off of the watercolor block to create my next painting, I wasn’t being careful, and I ripped the paper. *Note to self* don’t rush when pulling paper off of a watercolor block.
On our third morning I woke up, made my cup of tea, and got right to painting. When my daughter woke up she joined me too.
For this painting I wanted to capture the big shapes. I didn’t want to get too caught up in the tiny details. I had fun playing with my watercolors and letting the colors blend together. I feel like I did a better job on this piece of capturing the atmosphere and depth of the landscape.
When I paint my goal isn’t to create an exact replica. My goal is to capture the feeling of a place- the colors, the light, the shapes. My thought for this one was “under the Tuscan sun.” I am really happy with the final painting.
On our last day, I snuck in 1 more painting before we left. My wonderful husband finished packing while I painted. We took turns watching the kids.
When you think of Tuscany you think of cypress trees so I had to paint them. The best view of cypress trees from our room was at the end of our walkway, next to the road, sitting on the rocks.
This is my favorite painting of the trip. I used what I learned from my first 2 paintings to bring it all together into this one. As I was painting my silly repetitive thought was “Did you even paint in Tuscany if you didn’t paint cypress trees?” Said in my best Southern California valley girl voice.
Painting in Tuscany was a dream come true. The light. The colors. The landscapes. Every way I looked I was surrounded by beauty.
These paintings and more will be released in my yet-to-be-named collection, coming this fall! If you have any ideas for collection names, send them my way!