Italy and Sicily - Restaurant

"Lunch in a Courtyard Cafe - Ortygia, Sicily" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $450)

The food in Sicily, as I mentioned in a previous post, was excellent, and the places to eat were quite numerous. The only deciding factor for where to eat that needed consideration was the atmosphere. This place was an obvious choice, with it's outdoor seating, arched wall openings, and the huge ivy clinging to the guywire overhead. It was supported from below by opening the teal shade umbrella in the background. The Juliet balcony with the tall open doors above was a bonus (the building itself, like so many others, was abandoned, as seen by the glass-less and boarded up windows). The heavy columns on the left seemed to have been part of the back entrance to an important building at one time. All of the buildings in the courtyard are the back of something that faces onto the surrounding streets.

The coral tablecloths with their embroidered gold flowers were a nice touch, as were the white coverings. No place mats or paper napkins in this cafe. The place got more and more crowded after being seated so the timing was perfect. The couple standing and talking to the white-shirted waiter in the background turned out to be Australian and very nice. The service and the meal were everything you could hope for.

I like the way the shadow and light on the ground leads the eye into the painting, and then up to the right and down again to the couple enjoying their good meals, their good crusty bread and their good white table wine that was never expensive, anywhere in Italy - just like it should be.