Day 16 of 30

Rainy Day in Milan

8 x 8

Acrylic

During our few days in Milan we noticed that almost everyone carried an umbrella and if you didn't carry one you were sure to have two or three umbrella salesmen chasing you down each block.  One afternoon we sought shelter from the rain at a cafe and watched the traffic go by including many cyclists carrying umbrellas.  It's ironic that living part time in the wet west coast Vancouver weather I have rarely owned and almost never carried an umbrella and have never ever seen anyone cycling with one, in fact it would probably be frowned on here.  Europeans ride a little differently though and with great skill.  

Day 16 of 30

Canazei, Dolomites

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Another one of my top 10 places to go and I must return - the Italian Dolomites.  We cycled point to point in 2012 through the Alps and Dolomites in Italy and they were jaw dropping beautiful, spectacular and worth a revisit to paint and hike. 

Jail for the wealthy

Day 11 Jail

6 x 6

acrylic on canvas

San Marino, a tiny republic state within Italy has three towers in it's hilltop city of the same name and the above painting is of a jail for the wealthy in one of the towers.  For a sum of money one can enjoy the view for your final days on earth although you have to put up with a wet floor when it rains!

What I've learned so far...

Day 10 Castle Tower

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas

One third of the way through Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days Challenge (see sidebar) and I'm still hanging in there.   A few things that are becoming clear:

I'm an oil painter - acrylics are only for speed and ease of correction but will not be my medium of choice.

I can easily stay on track with a simple daily plan and minimal distractions.  This involves choosing the subject to be painted the night before and getting the preparations done so that in the morning I can immediately get to work.

I'm going to have more than minimal distractions - that's life.

I like to paint bigger, much bigger.

I'm not a daily painter  - there is way to much else to do in life and I want to do it all!

A beautiful city in Italy

Day 9 Urban Colors

6 x 6

Acrylic on Canvas

Bassano del Grappa is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen and everywhere you look is a gorgeous scene begging to be painted.  I've got plans for some larger paintings but in the meantime here is a little corner down a lane that caught my eye.  

A New Year Challenge

Lake Como in progress

18 x 36

oil on canvas

Leslie Saeta has generously started a New Year 30 Day Challenge and much as I tried to come up with excuses not to join it I finally realized this is probably just what I need.  Check it out.  I think there may be still time to join up!

The Lake Como painting above was a larger piece that I started before Christmas and isn't finished yet but I think I'll hang it for a while and maybe the issues areas will resolve themselves, ha ha.  If they haven't by the end of January I'll work on it later in the spring.  My how life gets busy...

Sorry France, I've fallen in love with Italy!

White Lake Trails

16 x 12

oil on canvas

I ran this trail yesterday, 13 kilometres of jaw dropping beauty and the above painting will be in a show at Leir House in Penticton starting Saturday.  As for Italy we had three weeks there in September travelling mostly by bicycle on my beloved Orbea Diva.  Injuries from my crash in June didn't hold me back much and I managed to climb many of the famous Giro d'Italia climbs including the Stelvio, Mortirolo and the Gavia.  We had three days in the Italian Alps and then three days in the Dolomites followed by a week and a half on the Adriatic coast.  After riding extensively in France through the Alps and the Pyrenees I have to say this was the best trip yet.  If you like cycling and want to read more there are two write ups of our trip on the Granfondoplus.com website, go to the travel section or search for Hillier Italy.  And if you live in the Okanagan come by and see the show, details on the poster below.