Gediminas Tower Overlook

Gediminas Tower in Lithuania overlooks the medieval town of Vilnius. This view is of the Old Town which is tightly packed with buildings going every which way. Trying to make sense of, and simplify, all the buildings made it a huge but entertaining challenge to paint.

Sunset with Red Barn

My first oil painting teacher admonished that artists should never paint sunsets or red barns because they were trite subject matter, but I decided to be a rebel today and paint both. Yeah, felt good! Silly rules.

The Humble Bee

While painting this bee today, I pondered on what precious little creatures bees are. The title "The Humble Bee" popped into my head for some reason so I googled it and found it is the title of a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson.You can read it here.

Italian Flower Shop

I spotted this flower shop in a narrow alley in Lucca, Italy on Google Street View. I wasn't sure I could pull off a painting of it, since the alley was largely shadowed by the surrounding buildings. Poor light is the greatest challenge on Street View, but slowly I am learning to make light where there isn't enough. Oooo, the power, hehe. Anyway, it was a valuable lesson for the day.

Ornate Door

I've been trying to push myself to loosen up with my watercolors, but I spotted this ornate doorway in Siena, Italy, and knew I had to paint it.

Siena Shoppers

This small painting was done in my sketchbook today to challenge myself to paint with a large (#14) round brush. I had the wonderfully good fortune to have taken a workshop from the late Irving Shapiro, whose favorite brush was a 1" flat, and that is what I have painted with, for the most part, ever since. Watercolor needs to do its own thing and I found the round brush helped me to allow that to happen. Great fun!

To the Sea

Other than the paved road in this scene on the Isle of Man, the landscape probably hasn't changed much for hundreds of years. The road leads to the Irish Sea from Cregneash Village, a living museum consisting of thatched cottages and houses, where farms continue to be worked via horsepower and livestock freely roam the 300 acres. According to the Isle of Man Guide, life continues as it has for hundreds of years with the old crafts and trades from earlier times used in the everyday life of the villagers.