Another little painting from photos and sketches from our trip to Italy. This particular spot, Via di Fontanella, is a favorite for observing a sweeping view of Siena. But I was more interested in the little fountain (fontanella in Italian) set against the sunlit wall behind it. The late April afternoon sun created a sharp pattern of bright colors and highlighted shapes against stark shadows. The town in the background is backlit and cast in deep shadow. This mimics the zig-zag of short shadowed walls on the right that reach into the foreground, giving depth to the painting. The relative geometric simplicity of the shapes on the right plays against the complexity of the fountain on the left.

This complexity vs. simplicity helps move the eye around the composition. The exact center of the painting is at the point where the upper yellow wall touches the more pale colored wall at the right edge next to the bright blue sky. The upward-pointing cathedral bell tower and the downward-pointing lantern shadow on the yellow wall suggest a spiral movement. The lantern shadow points to the green fish sculpture, whose undulating shape leads to a kind of merry-go-round ride around the various ellipses that form the fountain’s base. This, in turn, leads back to the zig-zag wall that goes back to the tower pointing to the lantern. This completes the spiral back to the lantern shadow.

At least that’s one way to look at it.

A word on technique…

I intentionally want my paintings to look, well, painted. I want the brushstrokes to be apparent. To depict a bright, sunlit afternoon, I sometimes use paint right from the tube, unmixed. My colors are often exaggerated. In this case, I primed the canvas with a rough undercoat of burnt sienna. I allow some of that color to show through to heighten the textural, painted look. Although I can render things near photographic, I’m selective about what I bring into “focus.” I’m not trying to replicate a scene but evoke it. I want my paintings to look like hand-made objects.