Italy and Sicily - Architecture

"Relaxing on the Balcony in Vernazza, Italy" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $450)

This is the fourth painting that I have from my time in Vernazza. The others are talked about in my previous posts. I hope they make you want to spend some time there, as it's very relaxing and is a great way to finish off a trip to Italy. This is a view from the other end of the balcony of that appears in the painting, "Waiting on a Friend". The other similarity is that there was no one in the chair, like there was no one in the window. It's a romantic notion to include a woman taking some time out to enjoy the shade in the afternoon. The narrow streets and tightly-packed buildings meant that except for around noon, the balconies and the street below were virtually always in shade. And of course there's the laundry hanging in the background, along with the green Italian-style shuttered windows. The restaurant downstairs, Trattoria da Sandro, is visible only as a white awning and orange-striped umbrellas for outdoor seating. I ate there three times on my trip, once enjoying a local specialty: sardines, which were fresh, sauteed in garlic butter with herbs, and not at all like the oily, smoked sardines in tins that we all know (and probably hate).

I like the colors here, mostly warm pinks, and reds with the occasional cool green or blue accent to break it up. The planters full of flowers made the balcony almost as relaxing as the good (and cheap) local white wine: Pinot Grigio.

The hills surrounding the town were full of terraces that were in turn full of Pinot Grigio grapevines. I kept a notebook of ball point pen sketches of Vernazza where I also pasted the labels from all the local wine that I drank (I'll put that stuff in a later post, with other drawings that I do in my figure drawing groups).

I hope you keep looking at this blog and that you've found some interesting travel ideas - and some views I've painted that are interesting enough to inspire you to leave a comment below.