Paintings of the Veneto
I was introduced to Alberto Brazzale, a publisher in Italy, in the summer of 2004. He had seen my paintings and was really keen to do a book combined with an exhibition of my paintings. He knew that the small Italian town Marostica could host an exhibition in Castello Vecchio, so we travelled to the Veneto in the autumn too make arrangements.
It was just starting to get light when we arrived in Marostica, the sun warming the walls of Castello Superiore. I painted a small sketchbook watercolour from the car park then I was introduced to the Assessore in Marostica who arranged for the exhibition to take place the following November. We returned to the Veneto in September 2005 for me to get reference of further scenes around the area and then again in November to set up the exhibition and preview weekend.
Castello Superiore
The exhibition received much acclaim from a well known art critic from the Veneto, Maria Lucia Ferraguti and was featured on local television.
A scene similar to this one became the poster for the exhibition titled The Light and was also used on the invitation.
The exhibition included watercolours of some of the Veneto’s most well known landmarks like the classical villa La Rotonda by Andre Palladio and an early morning scene of the Basilica in Vicenza seen from Monte Berico.
There were many other scenes I could have painted from 2004 from the trips we made that year including Venice, Rome and Umbria but Marostica holds special memories.