Two Florence Pieces in Progress
I've written in the past where some paintings come together quickly, taking just days to complete. The two I'm working on now are not that.
When I was in Florence in October 2024, I had been staying in an apartment on Via Gino Capponi, which meant several times a day I would walk down Via dei Servi on my way into Centro. Walking through Piazza della Santissima Annunziata and starting down the street, the buildings on either side tower over you ending with the sliver view of the Duomo, which dwarfs them all.
As many times as I walked up and down this street, I never tired of the view. I suppose as a local, it might blend into the background as the weight of life weighs heavy on your mind. Although I suspect that is likely the rare case. On a few occasions as I ventured out with my camera, I snapped pictures of the street and the Duomo. I thought they were great shots, but hadn't yet thought about a painting. So, only just in the last few months as I was going through photos that I decided this would be the subject of my next piece.
As I rough-sketched the piece, I started in on the Duomo first thinking it needed to done right for the whole piece to work. I ended up adding far more detail than I expected, but for all intents and purposes, the Duomo part of the painting is done. It's everything else that has slowed progress on the piece.
On a lot of the cityscapes, it's easy to gloss over detail in favor of capturing a feel rather than accuracy. At first, I thought just suggesting the varying rows of windows at various degrees would be sufficient, but I'm finding as I work and rework this painting it's become difficult to find the fine line between accuracy and feel. I know that if I had passed down this street once, taken a picture and moved on, I might not be going through this. However, I didn't just traverse the street, I shopped at the Conad, visited most shops, ate at restaurants up and down the street. Glossing over the details seems like a betrayal of that neighborhood. When I realized that, I've accepted this piece will take longer.
On my small easel, I'm working on an oil painting that depicts what used to be a landmark in the Florence city center. I was sad to learn that this was taken down within the last year. A similar sign in Rome was removed a few years ago.
I took the reference photo of this on my first trip to Florence in 2011. Standing in the piazza in front of the Duomo, I was trying to take a wide shot and saw the Martini sign and it seemed just...Italy.
Although I hadn't considered it when I started the painting, there's a fair amount of work needed for the struts of the sign, as well as getting the details right on the red circle which was comprised of strips of material with a silver frame. I'm taking my time with it so that I can capture the essence of it.
It's sad to think this is missing from the Florence skyline, but the Uffizi crane has finally been taken down (which was in too many of my pictures to count) so I guess you take the good with the bad.
Both pieces should be completed in June. For completed Italian inspired pieces, please check out my original paintings in the Italian Signature Collection