A Day in the Orcia Valley

I thought I'd celebrate my new blog home (on my own domain! Yeah!) by posting a painting I just finished this morning. I took a break from painting the waters of Lake Como to do another painting of the Orcia Valley (otherwise known as the Val d'Orcia.)  This painting measures 30x40". It is done on a gallery wrapped canvas, painted out to the edges on all sides:

On this particular day I tortured my husband by making him drive all over the Val d'Orcia (or so it seemed) before lunchtime to find views of the white roads lined with cypress trees. I had a thing for these winding roads and cypresses, which I think make marvelous compositional elements in my landscape paintings.

More paintings of Italy can be seen on my website here.

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View from the Villa Monestero

On another day at Lake Como we ventured out to another lakeside village called Varenna. Varenna is super charming; with very narrow streets and teetering stairways:

Sold

We actually considered staying in Varenna, but opted instead for Bellagio. In hindsight, Varenna would have probably been almost as good a choice, but Bellagio won out for me because it seemed to be somewhat sunnier and had more of an open feeling to it. I honestly don't think we could've gone wrong in either place though.

In keeping with the theme of this trip, in Varenna we did a TON of walking. One of the most beautiful places we visited was Villa Monestero. This villa used to be a convent but is now open for conferences and classes, and the gardens are open to the public. We spent a good deal of time checking out the gardens, which had an amazing array of plants and trees:

Here's Dave at the start of our tour:

This is a painting I completed of a scene we admired that day. This is a view looking out from the lakeside garden promenade. It's called "Lakeside View" and measures 24x30".

Update: This painting has sold, but you can find more Lake Como paintings by visiting the Italian landscapes section of my website.

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Evening Shadows on Pescallo

That same evening after touring the beautiful villa, we walked back down to Pescallo and made a reservation for dinner at a local restaurant called La Pergola. It had outdoor seating (under a pergola!) that overlooked the lake and mountains. We were perched right over the water as we ate fresh lake fish, pasta, and vegetables cooked simply but with perfect finesse.

One of the most beautiful things about this area to me was the way the light played across the mountains and the water. As we ate, I kept looking at the evening light on the mountains and I observed such dazzling transformations. Every time I looked at them they would look totally different. "Look at them now!" I'd say to Dave. "Look at them now!" (to the point of being quite annoying, I'm sure.)

This painting is one I just completed using my photos, sketches, and notes from that evening. It is a canvas measuring 24x30" and is called "Evening Shadows on Pescallo".

More paintings of Italy can be seen on my website here.

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More about the Bellagio trip

As I mentioned, Lake Como was awash with beautiful lake front villas. In Bellagio there are two villas that have opened their gardens to the public. On our second day in Bellagio, we decided to stay in town and visit one of the them, Villa Melzi. Villa Melzi was owned by the Vice President of the Italian Republic under Napoleon.

The main house is closed, as it is a private residence, but visitors can still roam the stunning gardens, plus visit a small museum and chapel. The azaleas were finishing up when we were there in early June, but the gardens were still ablaze with all kinds of color and a beautiful variety of gorgeous trees. This is a painting I just completed of a gazebo in the gardens that sits right at the edge of the lake. It measures 24" high by 20" wide.

See more paintings of Lake Como and other places in Italy on my website here.

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Bellagio Trip Report, cont'd

One of the nicest things about our room was that it looked out over an old fishing village called Pescallo. From where we sat we could see the rooftops and the fishing boats sitting on the glassy water. It was a beautiful scene from above, so I imagined that it would even be more beautiful up close! The day after our arrival we followed a very long narrow, sloped stairway (a little street- Bellagio style) that led to the village of Pescallo.

It is my understanding that at one time Pescallo was the location where they held an open air fish market. Today it is a quaint, sleepy little lakeside town. We went down there several times to sketch and just contemplate the beauty and peacefulness of the place. This pen and ink/watercolor sketch is a 6x8" image on 7x9" watercolor paper:

On two different occasions I was fortunate enough to meet a couple of the elderly villagers who were living out their golden years in Pescallo. They were so gracious and kind- and patient! They urged me to speak in my broken Italian and just smiled as I undoubtedly butchered their beautiful language.

To see my oil paintings of Lake Como and other places in Italy, visit my website here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Italy travel