Oliveti Terrazzati

Here is a painting of the terraced olive groves I so loved in southern Tuscany:

I actually thought I was finished with this painting last week, but there was something about the sky that was bothering me. I set it aside and worked on other things, but kept looking at the painting over time. The sky was previously painted pretty plainly. I was going for the golden light of evening but it just didn't turn out right. I guess my photo reference of this scene had washed out the sky, even though I knew it was taken during that beautiful early evening glow.

Then the other evening as I painted in my studio, I noticed the most gorgeous clouds outside of my window. I ran and got the camera and took some shots, and then just sat and watched the remaining sunset, noticing the color transitions of an evening sky.

With that new information I went back and addressed this painting again, and now I feel that it better states the mood and atmosphere that I was trying to express. This painting is gallery wrapped and measures 30x40". Please click here or click on the image for detailed info and purchasing information.

The Chariot Awaits

Here's another little square gallery wrapped painting of Venice for my mini collection. 

This vignette is of a quiet canal in the Dorsoduro. We stayed in this neighborhood when we visited Venice and it was nice because it felt like a more residential  area and not overrun with tourists (like us!) 

This painting measures 8x8 inches. The edges are painted a solid color that compliments the painting, so no extra framing is needed.

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

Gondola, Signori?

Here's a little painting I just finished of a Venetian scene. It is one that I did as part of a series of new gallery wrapped minis.

I am working on a few more of these "little Venice squares" (sounds like a breakfast cereal!) to offer in time for holiday gift giving season. This painting measures 8x8 inches. The edges are painted a solid burgundy color that compliments the painting, so no extra framing is needed.

This is a scene of a rather narrow side canal I saw while riding one of the traghetti across the Grand Canal.

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

New Plantings

I took small breaks during a big commission to work on the above painting of the Villa Monestero gardens (Varenna, Italy.) The villa is located in the Lake Como area of Italy where my husband Dave and I visited this past summer. The gardener was setting out new pots of flowers as we toured the garden. What to him might have seemed a haphazard arrangement made a nice composition to me! This piece measures 30" high by 24" tall. Not the best photo of this piece. I will try to reshoot it a little later on. I may work on it a little more but it's back to the commission for now!

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

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Large format prints

This morning I am off to the printer's to do my final round of proofing for my new series of large format giclee prints. I am excited to be launching this new print series. The proofing has been a rather involved process. Apparently according to the printer I use an extraordinary range of greens in my paintings that are difficult to replicate. I will take this as a compliment, especially since I just recently posted about the difficulty of mixing greens ;-). In any event, my last round of proofs were looking really great. Just a tweak here and there one last time and I expect to sign off on them today. So hopefully I will have some new offerings sooner than I thought! I'm offering a pre-order special of 10% off the regular print price on my website for anyone who would like to purchase one of these prints prior to the official release on 11/1. The release date will allow me some extra time to get the canvas prints stretched and secure packaging for the paper ones.

I hope to post some more artwork to my blog soon. In the midst of running back and forth for the print proofing, I am working on a large commission of three 30x40" paintings. I'm 2/3 of the way there though, so that should open the way for more image posting here.

Tags: art prints landscape prints artist French landscapes Tuscany landscapes

New shows on the horizon

Fall is a busy time for many, and I'm no exception. I'm gearing up for a few shows: October 17, 2006, 6-7 p.m. Can Can Brasserie in Richmond, Virginia celebrates Art in our Community. One evening only. I will provide the art, and Can-Can will provide the wine tasting and munchies. The restaurant is located in the heart of Carytown in Richmond, VA, at 3120 W. Cary Street, Richmond, VA.

October 20, 2006 Please join us for an art opening on Friday October 20th from 6 to 9 p.m. I will be one of six artists featured in the First Annual Landscape Exhibit at the Rentz Gallery. The gallery is located at 1700 W. Main St in Richmond, VA.  Show continues through November 27th. Contact the gallery at 804.358.5338 for more information.

December 1-2, 2006 My annual open studio event! Lots of fun stuff in the works....Details to follow soon.

landscape painting artist Provence paintings Tuscany paintings

Landscape Values- Part II

If I want to take it a step further than the small sketch, I can lay out a value sketch on my canvas, using a mix of alizarin crimson/ultramarine blue thinned with paint thinner. This is done very thinly. I use a rag to rub off most of the paint and just give me my drawing with the values as a stain to the canvas. Alternately you could use burnt sienna for the value sketch, but I don't typically use a lot of earth tones on my palette.  Here's the canvas value sketch I've done as the first stage of my painting:

I won't always do this detailed a drawing to begin, but since this scene is more complicated than my straight landscapes I thought it might be a good idea. When painting en plein air, it is a good idea to sketch out your composition and suggest some values perhaps, but the light changes so quickly that I wouldn't do this much detail at the beginning stage unless I could return to the same spot at the same time of day on subsequent days.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Italy travel

Landscape Values

My mom was here visiting with me recently and I asked her about a watercolor class she had signed up for not long ago. "It wasn't so hot," she said. "We didn't learn much of anything. The teacher just kept saying 'remember your values'. We didn't know what we were doing, and we didn't know what 'values' she was talking about!"  

I had to laugh. Family values? Stock values maybe? I guess it's understandable that someone who has been involved in art and painting for a while would assume that everyone knows what "values" are in painting. But not everyone has that clear understanding, so I thought I'd write some of what I know about values here and in a subsequent post or two. (Mom, if you're reading, take notes. Pop quiz later!)

Values in painting are essentially the range of lights and darks in a composition. Seeing values in black and white is somewhat easier than seeing values in color, so a lot of times it is beneficial to create a value sketch of your subject first if you are having trouble discerning how light or dark something should be.

The trouble with values in color is that you now have color temperature thrown into the mix and judging values can be somewhat more confusing, especially when painting en plein air.  What's lighter, the sky or the ground? The rooftops or the side of that bright yellow building?  Understanding a little bit about how the light plays across a landscape can help to create a more convincing scene. 

That is why creating value studies before you jump into painting can be very helpful. Here is a very quick value study I did of a Lake Como scene I am getting ready to paint. I don't always do this, but for more complicated scenes it can be helpful:

This little study will help me to internalize my lights and darks so that I can "remember my values" when I start my work with color.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Italy travel

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.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Italy travel

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.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Italy travel

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

Bellagio Trip Report

What a magnificent trip! Arrived home a couple of days ago, but the jet lag hit me a bit harder this time. Still not feeling entirely "on my game", but it was worth the spent energy to be sure! I thought I'd share some of my wonderful experiences about our trip here on the blog, since for me, travel is such a huge part of what inspires me as a painter.

We based ourselves in the village of Bellagio, which is a beautifully situated hillside lake town that looks out over the three arms of Lake Como. If you look at the lake from an ariel viewpoint, it's shape forms an inverted "Y". Bellagio sits right in the middle of that Y, and it is truly the jewel of the lake.

The only difficulty with staying in Bellagio, for us, was getting there without a car. Even with the super-efficient public transportation systems in Italy, there is no direct route to this town. If one has a car (and arguably a lot of nerve), one can drive along the very winding roads and into the village of Bellagio itself. But we opted to be without a car for this trip, since the ferry systems, once there, are excellent. Also the streets in the village are tiny; in some places barely fitting one car, side mirror to side mirror!

So our route was to fly into Malpensa airport (outside of Milan) and then to take the Malpensa express train, change in Saronno (the town famous only because they make the Saronno amaretto cookies) and then arrive in Como. From Como we then took the "rapido" ferry to Bellagio. Even with all of that we still ended up arriving in Bellagio fairly early- around 12:30 local time.

Our hotel pick was Hotel Belvedere, which is situated on a hill at the top of the village. I was initially worried about it being too high up and too far out of reach from the center, but Bellagio is so small that there was no reason for such worries. My only word of caution for those of you who do not pack light, is that Bellagio is a hill town and some of it's "streets" are actually long flights of stairs. In order to get to the hotel from the pier where you are delivered by ferry, you have to either get a cab or lug your luggage up these steep streets.

We opted for the lugging, as we only had two carry on bags and purse and backpack. This way of packing is new to me, and frankly it was a miracle compared to how I have traveled before. But with a week-long trip, it was totally do-able, and I was incredibly grateful on the train, ferry, and stairs!

We were rewarded for our climb with a lovely hotel and a room with a marvelous view and balcony. We both really loved having the balcony. I would get dressed in the morning and go out and sketch and paint, and then Dave would have his time to perform his morning routine before going down for breakfast.

...No, we weren't drinking wine before breakfast! This photo was taken in the early evening before dinner, which was actually the best time to paint because I was completely in the shade. There were a few interesting views from our balcony. This little watercolor sketch is a view looking out to the left side of our balcony, over a marvelous terraced landscape. It is small- 6x8", pen & ink/ watercolor:

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

Leaving for Lake Como Today

Today is the day! We will be heading out shortly for a most beautiful Italian destination. I plan to do some painting while I am there, but since we are going to be going to a lot of different little lake towns, I've decided to carry a minimum supply of art materials. I'd love to bring oils when I can stay for a longer period, but this trip I will bring my travel watercolor set, similar to the one shown here, (except mine has alot more pull-out palette space). In addition to the pan colors, I'm bringing a small selection of Windsor & Newton professional grade artists' colors in tubes.

Other supplies:

• cotton rag
• small selection of brushes
• watercolor journal
• watercolor papers
• tape
• small painting board
• waterproof ink drawing pens
• pencils, HB graphite and softer
• eraser
• sketch pad

Almost all of these supplies, plus my camera can fit in my big black tote (the same I took on my last trip to Italy). I am having trouble uploading images to the blog today, but you can see the bag in this picture. I couldn't fit my folding stool in my carry-on luggage, so I will just have to wing it and hope I can paint in areas where I'll be able to have a seat somewhere.

No blogging while we're gone, but I plan to post some pictures when we return. Ci vediamo!

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

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist

Studio Work

Even though yesterday was the first day of spring, it is still pretty cold here. The days are actually varying wildly in temperature, which is typical for March in Richmond. Today temperatures will top out in the mid 30's, but by the weekend it is supposed to be in the upper 60's. Anemones, daffodils, cherry blossoms and forsythia are everywhere, and yet weather reports are actually calling for snow.

So, for a while longer I rely on my sketches and photos to inform my work. I work in the summer months in the studio too, but in warmer weather I can also break out for mornings painting and sketching in the open air. There is nothing quite like working from life. But when conditions are not ideal (or when you have long departed from your subject matter), I have devised (with my husband Dave's computer help and expertise) a way of working in the studio that exceeds working from printed photos.

When I travel to my painting destinations, I take literally thousands of digital pictures. I take shots both up close and far away, and I also shoot the same scene from several different angles if possible. The benefit of shooting digital is that I don't need to buy loads of film, and then worry about whether it will survive going through the x-ray machines at the airports. I can also see my images immediately and delete the ones that are clearly deficient.

When I get home I save my images onto a CD and work directly from a computer monitor that sits next to my easel. As it is, even digital photography is still one generation removed from nature. When an image is then printed off onto photo paper, the scene is even further removed. Printed photos tend to further wash out light areas and blacken out the darkest shadows, so a lot of detail is lost.

Viewing the images directly in digital form on my monitor allows me to see them in a truer light than if I had to print them off. Another advantage is that I can zoom in on a segment of the photo to see more detail--something not possible with printed photos. Of course you have to have taken the picture at a high enough image resolution in the first place, so I have a number of flash cards that hold a lot of large pictures. If traveling for extended periods it is even a good idea to download images along the way to CD or laptop, if possible, so that you have more room on your flash card (or memory stick) to take more pictures!

Here is my monitor/easel setup:

 

Painting of Venice

I was bad today. I cut out of finishing my taxes to work on my painting of Venice. Dave (my husband) is going to be so exasperated because I promised to have all of my tax info done and ready to go by Thursday. Well...he didn't say what time on Thursday now, did he? Back to the painting: It's not quite done yet but I thought I'd post my progress here. One day while we were in Venice we took a long stroll and got lost in the neighborhood of Castello....Or at least we started out in Castello. Somehow things went awry and we wandered and wandered. We finally ended up in Canareggio, caught in a thunderstorm, at the end of the little peninsula. It was the best day ever! I got tons of pictures, we ditched the maps and just walked where our will would take us.

I think we finally figured out that we could take a vaporetto to Santa Croce, and then on to our hotel in Dorsoduro, but that was late in the day after much, much walking. Any way, I recorded this scene on our Castello to Canareggio to Santa Croce to Dorsoduro afternoon:

This photo is kind of on the dark side because I snapped it in the late afternoon in my studio. I'll post a better, more complete photo on my website when I am officially finished with the painting.

-Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

New Italian landscape painting

Here is another painting of the olive groves in Tuscany. Just finished and still wet, it is a gallery wrapped painting with finished edges on all sides:

It measures 24"x24". Here is a side view:

This is a substantial 1 1/2- inch thick canvas that is smooth on the perimeter. Staples are attached to the back of the frame rather than the sides, which allows the artist to paint to the edge.

Most often landscapes paintings are done in, well, landscape format. But every so often there is a scene that lends itself just as well to a square orientation. To me the square is a nice surprise, and a bit more playful and informal. I really enjoyed painting this. I loved the layers of information, and the way the olive groves just went on forever. The light is that of a crisp afternoon in springtime. This is another scene from that beautiful region called La Crete, located in the province of Siena.

I'm titling this painting "Olives Without End". You can see the details about this painting in the Italian Landscapes section of my website.

-Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

New Italian landscape painting

I mentioned the other day that I was working on developing a much larger version of a painting I had created in mini form. Well, here is the larger painting. It is called "The Secluded Farmhouse" and the canvas measures 30"x40". You can see more details about the painting at my website in the Italian Landscape section.

Sometimes I get the feeling that people think I am kidding about the wildflowers in the springtime scenes of Tuscany and also Provence, but during the Spring, and especially in May, there are wildflowers blanketing the countryside everywhere. It is a magnificent time to be there!

 

 

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes My website: www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Smaller Works

Here are a couple of smaller paintings I did recently to include in my upcoming show. They are each 12x12" gallery wrapped:

"Early Lavender"

"Golden Valley"

Often times when collectors are interested in my smaller works, they are looking for pairs or multiples to use in a grouping. So I do try to keep that in mind when I am creating the smaller ones-- especially my minis. I don't go about creating "matching sets", but as I am working I think about compliments.

Because there are so many ways to hang art, I created a little sampling of ideas on my website that addresses some of the possibilities. It can really be a fun endeavor in itself, and an expression of one's own personal style and creativity as a collector. Some people like a very formal, symmetrical presentation, while others like to mix it up. Some people prefer that all frames match, but I'm one of those who enjoys an eclectic presentation and think that variety of frame styles presented together can look pretty neat, so long as they compliment each other (and of course the room's decor.) I've even seen both framed and unframed work hanging together to great effect.

While sometimes there is a perfect small spot to display a single painting, these smaller paintings can be shown in so many other ways. They can be stacked one over another on a narrow wall, or presented in groupings over a larger piece of furniture like a sofa or console. They can be used instead of sconces to flank a nice mirror over a buffet or hutch (I've done this in my dining room before). They can even be displayed more informally, and sit atop a mantle or book shelf.

Here are a couple of snapshots from my last open studio that shows how I displayed smaller works as part of a larger grouping:

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact