Yesterday we painted the beautiful rolling hills that make Tuscany so picturesque, after a leisurely morning of hill town touring and wine sampling. Being in Tuscany right at harvest time makes the grapes taste even better! It was a perfect 78 degrees and so peaceful in this perfect spot where we set up our easels. I find the cypress trees really fascinating and unique, creating such a striking contrast to the otherwise flat surroundings. A very inspirational day!
Growing up in Chicago, I loved the first snowfall of the year when everything would get a beautiful dusting of pristine white powder, including even the tiniest of branches in the treetops above. If you caught that moment early enough in the morning before anything had disturbed the intricate frosted web, it was just magical. Then the sun would start rising and peeking through the limbs, and everything would sparkle like diamonds. In Climbing Trees, I wanted to capture that brief beautiful moment when the sunlight dances through the icing on the treetops and you can feel yourself looking up in wonderment just like you did when you were a kid.
To see “Climbing Trees” in person, stop by my booth at the Art Street Green Bay art show this weekend in Green Bay, WI. For more information on the show, go to artseventsinc.com/artstreet.
My husband and I have an uncanny sense of timing when it comes to the weather. We got married during a hurricane on the coast of Florida, we unknowingly planned our European workshop during the spewing of ash in Iceland, we’ve participated in art shows with 70 mph microbursts that destroyed 50 artist tents, and of course we chose to come home to Dallas after two months on the road during the hottest week of summer. With average temperatures around 103°, it wasn’t quite the home-coming I had in mind.
Making the best of it, I immersed myself in my air-conditioned studio and painted happier places – fantasizing about somewhere cooler, where plants grow profusely rather than wilting and withering in boiling temperatures and a beautiful location completely free of concrete. I remembered the gorgeous, aromatic lavender fields we’d seen in Europe a few years before at this exact time of year and through my painting I was transported back. I hope you experience that same bliss looking at “Summertime Bouquets.”
If you’re in the Chicago area this weekend, you can see “Summertime Bouquets” along with my other recent paintings at my booth #355 at the Gold Coast Art Show. For more information on the show, visit amdurproductions.com/f-goldcoast-public.html.