Summer residency in Tuscany May 2017

In May 2017 I went on an my second art residency to Italy. This time, however, I stayed in Northern Tuscany in the beautiful mountainous landscape.

'Borgo del Sol' is a lovely Agritourismo which also acts as a place for artists to stay and practice their art amongst other artists.

I had a very productive two weeks full of painting and exploring. The beautiful weather allowed me to spend days painting on the balcony and going on walks around the area enabling me to find new and interesting things to paint. Before this residency it had been a while since I last sat down and did some painting that I found it difficult at first. However, I tackled this by going back to basis with sketching and looking at colour more deeply. To create the greens I avoided using the colour straight out of the tube. I created the colours from a mix of different blues and yellows and really thought about it before I put paint to canvas. Once I got into it I found it difficult to stop. I just wanted to paint everything!

I am very happy with all the work I have produced and glad to have found the time to concentrate purely on my painting, while also being surrounded by a truly beautiful landscape.