"Walking by an Abandoned Palazzo - Ortygia, Sicily" (24"X18", Oil on Canvas, $750)
This is another of my favorite paintings from my Sicilian trip. It's from further into the neighborhood of abandoned palazzos being rehabbed. The strip of yellow stucco on the left is on a building that's already been done over and I suppose this one is next to be worked on. As you can see, this building, too, is open to the weather and the salt air of the island, like the old beauty in the previous post. This scene is also flooded with reflected light, but also bright direct light, as seen on the building wall in the upper right and in the street where the passing couple are walking. This building is almost completely stripped of its stucco coating, but it still looks great. Of course, the plants growing in between the stones and on the roof will have to go if the building is to survive much longer. I hope they just fix up the doors as little as needs to be, but I'm pretty sure they'll be replaced with new ones, in spite of their beauty.
The people passing by are typical Ortygians, or they could be tourists, like me. The man carrying the cell phone makes it a little more likely that they're locals, but they might be about to call the hotel to ask about lunch service. I like her dress with its lively print and his shirt, which works so well with the color on the side door.
This is another place I would have loved to have gotten into, although it's probably not as fantastic inside as the previous post's building. Still, to see how the people of another era lived their lives in such a beautiful place as Ortygia would fire the romantic imagination, I'm sure.
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