Sunday, September 22, 2013

New Works From our France & Italy Trip



Exciting times.

First, Nancy and I went to France and Italy in June to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary and we spent our special day in Paris, what a magical city.

After 3 nights in Paris we took the bullet train to Avignon in the Provence region. We stayed there for 3 nights in a great B&B, rented a car and took day trips around the area in search of lavender fields. That’s why we came here in mid-late June, I wanted to see and paint the miles and miles of lavenders. Unfortunately, because of the cool and wet spring, the crop was late, 3-4 weeks late. Drove around the little villages and fields – took many photos and sketches and when I paint the areas, I will add the blooming lavenders. As a painter, I can add anything.

Nancy and I drove to Nice where we left the car, stayed the night and took the train the next morning to La Spezia, Italy and to Vernazza in the Cinque Terre. We spent three days there running around the five little towns on the trails and on the local train. A lot of fun really loved the towns and the whole area.

Then we rented a car and drove to Siena and spent 3 days there. We came to this area of Tuscany for the sunflower fields that were supposed to be in bloom. Again, 3-4 weeks too early because of the cold spring weather.

Nancy is typing up my daily journal and when she is done, I will post it here and you can read all about our adventures.

Since we’ve been home, I have completed 7 out of 10 paintings of our trip. I will unveil them at the Stormy Weather Arts Festival in Cannon Beach, Oregon on Friday, Nov. 1. Also, I have published my sketchbook and journal of our Italy trip in 2011. The book will be shown for the first time also at the show. People who purchased my paintings of that trip will receive a free book, because it shows sketches of the paintings and tells a bit about each one, the back-story. I have found that people love to hear the stories about their paintings and I think they will like this. The name of the book is “Behind the Paint – The First Chapter – Italy 2011.” It will be available in paperback on Amazon for $9.95.

The sketchbook/journal from our trip this summer will be published in the spring and given away free to those who purchase my new paintings. I have decided I will continue to do this with my travel series paintings. 2014 takes us to some of the National Parks in Utah.

Stay tuned in.