Italy and Sicily - Architecture

"Streetside Windowframe Seller in Taormina, Sicily" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $700)

This is another one of my favorite pictures and it includes many of the things that make me feel something in front of me must become a painting. The Juliet balconies above, with their tall doors, broken windows and their air of being abandoned; the broken stucco exposing the underlying stone cement and the watercolor wash of the fading paint below; the elements of every day life in Italy and the perspective elements that lead the eye around the scene all work together to turn this into a peach of a painting for me.

Everyone knows that scooters are a way of life in Italy, so I was glad to see two of them here, one of them riding in from the right to add motion to the scene. Another way of life in Italy is to commandeer any open space, in this case a downstairs garage in an unused building as well as the sidewalk, for the doing of business. This guy is selling the modern extruded white aluminum windows and doors that are part of the modern construction seen all around the country. He seems to be going over an order with his much taller helper who leans in to read over his shoulder. His displays consist of the stacked doors and windows that populate the sidewalk and his entranceway.

This was a photograph that I took from the train station across the street, where the most delicious panini sandwiches were sold. I've never had better bread or cold cuts. I wish I had a few of them right now, and the chance to spend more time roaming Taormina.