I am planning a trip back this year and have been very excited about that and have even been revisiting some favorite places. Loving the grayed color of old Italy, something I noticed in China as well. As much as I love color and I do, I really love those wonderful grays, they just continue to fascinate me!
My kids always seem to ask me what my favorite color is and I always reply the same way, gray. There are so many variances within the grays.
Recently I spent a few days with a dear friend who happens to be an avid collector of Aldrich. George Ames Aldrich that is, an American painter from the late 1800s until about 1940. Did amazing things with water and its many reflections and translucency. It is always nice to be able to see the originals up close and observe how he actually did it. Spent about an hour with my nose on one that just amazes me to no end, a looser sketchier piece than his usual work but absolutely magical.
Here are a couple images below thanks to Janus Galleries in Madison WI.
Again after spending the last month or so exploring Italia I came across this Venetian scene that has been hanging around my studio and waiting to be painted, patiently.
As much as I was looking for a water scene in which to explore Aldrich, this scene fell short on that but the calming gentle reflections and patterns excited the hell out of me. Aldrich did many scenes in Brittany with the waterway and the towns women washing their laundry along the waters edge, somewhat reminiscent of Venice.
I intended to do this painting more abstractly by the nature and play of shapes but ended up with that Aldrich painting still hanging around my head which seems to have pushed me into a little more of a finished feel.
Still a few tweaks to go but a fun piece to paint.
I definitely need to get back to Venezia as well!
Tutto e` Tranquillo 24" x 18"
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