Monday, January 19, 2015

Revisiting Neptune's Fountain in Florence

Very strange! My post seems to have disappeared.
Here is the painting I had shared:
"Neptune"- from Neptune's Fountain in Florence, Italy
It is my latest watercolor painting and measures approx. 14.5" x 21.5 inches before matting and framing. It is on Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper.
About a year and a half ago, I painted the lower part of that fountain, my " Neptune's Sea Horses" and wanted to paint the top of that fountain, Neptune's head.I fell in love with the details of this white marble face. I decided to add warm colors on the left hand side of the painting and cool colors on the right hand side. The photo was taken inside with a flash ( still too cold in Ottawa to take photos outside,I feel), so the colors are not entirely accurate.
It represents the head of a huge marble statue by Bartolomeo Ammannati (1563–1565) which was commissioned on the occasion of the wedding of Francesco I de' Medici with Johanna of Austria in 1565. The Neptune figure, whose face resembles that of Cosimo I de' Medici, was meant to be an allusion to the dominion of the Florentines over the sea. It stands in the middle of a beautiful fountain.(Wikipedia)
I hope you will like this painting!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy 2015!

It is hard to believe that it is now 2015!!!

I have identified some of my goals for 2015...and one of them is to post regularly on my blog since it is always such a source of online feedback, support and friendship.

I have just finished grouping many of my paintings in a new website. I hope that in the coming days or weeks, you will have a chance to visit and let me know what you think. It is a "free" website, but it seems to offer all I need.

Meanwhile, here is the last painting I created in 2014.
Spirit of Africa - 12" x 12" on cradled wood panel
The palette for this painting with hand embossed pewter is quite the departure from my Polar series of hand embossed pewter polar bears, inukshuks, kayaks etc. This piece has gold leaf in the bottom third, a pewter elephant and a copper sun on a very warm background. The painting incorporates glass beads, texture paste, and slivers of copper and pewter...It may be the start of a new series.

It is available either from the Kevin Dodds Gallery in Ottawa, Canada, or on my DailyPaintworks site.

 I wish all of you a healthy and creative year!