Italy and Sicily - Architecture

"Waiting on a Friend in the Evening - Vernazza, Italy" (14"X18", Oil on Canvas, $550)

You can see the setting sun in the upper right corner through the buildings, which makes the main street of Vernazza glow warmly in the gloom. This pretty local girl looks through the shutters and waits for her friends, or her boyfriend, to take her for drinks and socializing before the usual Italian late dinner. She smiles slightly at the thought. I'm romanticizing, of course, and it's made up, as there was no girl. She was added to the scene to make all that stuff written above possible to imagine. That's the way I feel when I'm in Italy. I just want to make all the people into vehicles for my romantic notions, even if they aren't really there.

The balconies in this building were quite nice, and perfect for people watching. They overlooked the main drag. All the old ladies would walk up it in the evening, and all the morning deliveries would be made down it before the street was closed to traffic at about 10am. The layout of the town is described in the previous post, so you can see why this balcony got the use that it did, while drinking excellent caffe lattes in the morning or Pinot Grigio in the evening.

I like the depth in the painting and the perspective that shows a bit of the street below and some of the hanging laundry that's a constant in the town. I also like the look of the evening light that's reflected up from the street and through the shutters on to the girl as she keeps watch over the front door below.

I'm sure there must be stories like the one I imagine to tell in the small fishing villages of Italy, featuring 'the prettiest girl in town' and her social life - and whether or not she wants to stay in town or get out at the first opportunity.