Painting Italy- A Work in Progress

Recently I did an oil painting demonstration at the Burton Gallery in Georgia.
I thought that experience might offer a way to share my process for translating a photo into a painting.

 First I started with a photo of a Villa in a small town in Tuscany where I teach painting workshops each year. This was in the small town of Vagliagli, which is so tiny it’s barely on a map- but you might have seen it since they filmed segments of the movie "Letters to Juliet" there. (If you haven't seen the movie, rent it- there are some spectacular views of Tuscany and Verona where most of the film was shot)


Then I used that inspiration to create a small value sketch showing light, medium and dark values. I made some design changes, like shortening the long building and adding some cypress trees. One of the challenges of landscape painting is the need to simplify all the detail that you see into the big masses of similar value.

Here is the  finished painting .

Villa at Vagliagli

12 x 16 

Oil on Panel

$500

To see more paintings of Italy ( I have a whole collection of Images of Europe) or find out more about my upcoming  painting workshop to Tuscany check out my website  www.patfiorello.com