Things Are Looking UP!

Things Are Looking UP!
12 x 12 Oil Painting by Pat Fiorello
 $600

 

Over the summer I taught a painting workshop in Italy. the day I arrived and checked into my hotel, I realized I was just a block away from one of the world's oldest botanical gardens which is in Florence Italy ( built approx. 1545).

I stopped by that afternoon and  saw these luscious garden roses hanging form a trellis and new I wanted to paint them.

Since I came back home, I've been thinking this painting.  Initially I was going to paint literally what I had in the photo . I did like the flowers against the buildings to suggest Italy. But then I thought, why not simplify the design and just focus on the flowers against the sky.   I took the photo and kind of mapped out how it could be without the buildings in the background and gave it a shot.

I may still do another version with the buildings in the background, but that will be for another day.

Roses Inspired by Sorolla

Roses Inspired by Sorolla
8 x 10 Oil Painting
$300

 

Sorolla is one of my favorite artists. I admire his ability to convey a sensation of light. I was fortunate to go visit his home, studio and garden, which is now the Sorolla Museum in Madrid earlier this year.

I created a painting ( see "Reverence" in the previous post)  inspired by this photo in the pink tones the other day. I had seen these beautiful sunlit roses at the Chicago Botanical Garden during a recent visit. 

As an experiment, I decided to paint them a 2nd time with the aim of capturing the sense of sunlight as Sorolla did. Just for fun, I changed the color of the roses in the reference photo.

I tried to push the differences between light and shadow and hopefully captured the feeling of the garden on a warm sunny day.

Reverence

Reverence
12 x 12 Oil Painting
by Pat Fiorello
$600

 

Made a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden during a recent trip to that city. It was my first time at the garden there and we only had an hour to check it out, but it was very impressive and well worth going back to. 

Stopped in the rose garden and took the photo below of this beautiful cluster of roses in sunlight.  I played with the composition a little bit in photoshop (you can see the marked up image further below) and decided to create the painting in a square format.

Before painting it, I thought about the feeling I wanted the painting to convey. What came to me was reverence. Honoring the beauty of the flowers and the light and the source of all creation. We are blessed to have the beauty and magnificence of roses available to us.

Reference photo from the Garden

Playing with the design in photoshop

Dunwoody Home Tour 2018

The Dunwoody Women's Club is a volunteer organization that's been contributing in many ways to the Dunwoody, GA community. For 46 years, they have been hosting the Dunwoody Home Tour as a fund raiser to support their community efforts.  Usually 4-5 homes in the community are on tour for others to visit and be inspired by. 

I've been fortunate to be invited to be the artist for the program for many years.  Each year I paint the homes on the tour which are then presented to the homeowners as a thank you gift for the generous sharing of their homes on the tour.

These are the watercolor home portraits I created for this years tour. An extra venue was included this year- the historic Donaldson Bannister farm shown below.

The event will be held on Wednesday October 3. More information, including where to buy tickets, is available on the Dunwoody Women's club website .

If you are interested in a home portrait for yourself or as a gift for someone special, please contact me.

Historic Donaldson Bannister farm

Backyard view of one of the homes