the next painting

Between renovating my home and working in the palazzo I have a couple of paintings to do. The first is a bit tricky; it is a landscape with as much as possible of the mountainside, and our village centered in it. It will be a long painting, in proportions a little unusual for me.

The details of the village have to be perfect, every window, every wall, so that the person requesting it can imagine himself back where he grew up. I am not so keen on such precise work, but it will be a good challenge. Luckily he is prepared to wait for it! I would prefer to do it in watercolour, but it is to be an oil. Tiny brushes, magnifying glass... I have a collection of photos to work from, but I suspect that by the time I have completed the buildings the poppies will be out in their full glory and I will be able to go down and paint amongst them to get the foreground as I would like it. For now, however, it is enough to be planning it, looking at the details, and getting my head around some of the compositional problems.

Today I am grateful for patient clients.