Friday, January 27, 2006

Watercolor - Siena, Italy

So here is the last in the Watercolor series. This is the one I am the most proud of and the one we have actually framed. For reference here are the first, second, and third in the series so you can see the progression.

Siena was a day trip from Florence. The city was picturesque, but did not have many must-see sites. So it was perfect for doing watercolor. Meeting before in the Piazza del Campo, seeing the cathedral, settling down to create a watercolor, then meeting up again in the Piazza.

From here, I will return to posting photos every Friday unless I find a sketch of interest.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning.

Unknown said...

Thanks both of you. AJ, I have only painted once since then. My wife and I painted the back (me) and front (her) of Wrigley Field as a present for my father's 50th a few years back. Maybe he can take a photo of it for another post.

John Hill said...

I agree that the watercolor is well done (my favorite of the bunch) but I don't agree that Siena is short on sites. Granted it's only got a couple (the Piazza, the City Hall tower, the Cathedral) but that's a lot more than most towns of similar size, anywhere. Makes me wanna go back, though...sigh.

Blork said...

I absolutely loved Siena. Spend three days there in fact, just wandering around, spending lots of time in the Campo. I was there in 1998 when the big earthquake hit Assisi not far away -- it almost threw me out of my bed.

I also saw the head of Saint Catherine (ewww!). It's true that you can see the official sites in a day trip, but I really like lingering.

Gorgeous painting!

Unknown said...

Thanks John & Ed. Though Siena does have less then the other big tourist destinations. You could spend a couple days in places like Florence and Nice.

Given my interest in science, nature, and natural phenomena, I have yet to experience an earthquake, see a tornado, or see a volcano. I even missed out on the 1998 Ice Storm by a couple hours. But then again, I don't want one of them to be the last thing I experience.

The lingering and in-between times are one of the best things about travelling. Though I'm one of those people who have a drive to see and do as much as possible. A great memory was having iced coffee in Patras, Greece playing backgammon with my new fiance while waiting for the ferry to arrive.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Great painting, Frank! It looks like a photograph to me. You should be proud of it! You should keep painting!

I have been in several smaller earthquakes in Rockford and the Chicago area, and one that was a squeak above a 5.0 earthquake in southern California. The CA quake was intriguing because I was in the Anaheim Convention Center (husband Tim was there also, but in another part of the center). The rafters of the CC were moving, and there was a rumbling that sounded like a big metallic garage door coming down. Some tiles came down from the ceiling in another part of the center from where I was. I'm happy to say it wasn't bad enough for anyone to be hurt, so it was kind of cool. One company at the show even printed up t-shirts that said something like "I survived the Earthquake at" such-and-such a tradeshow.

One of my science teachers was on I-90 near Belvidere, IL right by the Chrysler plant when a tornado touched down. He took some amazing photos. I don't think I could be a storm chaser, but the photos were pretty cool.

I digress, sorry. Keep painting!! You're really good!!!