Florence

In February 1999 Susan and I spent a week in Italy, taking in Florence and the Venetian Carnevale. During our stay in Florence we took the rewarding walk leading up to Piazza Michelangelo. It boasts majestic views over this fine city of art and culture. I recall walking a little further on to the church of San Miniato. From here I did a small 7 ” x 5″ watercolour of the Duomo dwarfing the smaller surrounding buildings in the watery winter sunlight. I titled it Florence from San Miniato.

Paintings of Italy

I used this study to do a slightly larger watercolour of Florence from San Miniato which has been reproduced as a successful limited edition print. It is still available online. Recently I was doing a watercolour demonstration for an art group in Rothbury. I decided to tackle this same scene of Florence to show the students how to approach painting a cityscape. I still have the original location study framed up and hanging in our living room, so I had the reference fresh in my mind whilst painting this new rendition.

Watercolours

It’s impossible to paint the same subject in watercolour in exactly the same manner and technique. This means that each one of my paintings has its own unique differences. Both the original watercolour and print will be on view at my Spring exhibition which starts 10th March-31st March at my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.