Paintings Thoughts and Process ©Jennifer E Young
I really enjoyed the square format of my last painting, so I thought I'd experiment with another one--this time set in the rustic hill town of Pienza in Tuscany, Italy. Here's the compositional sketch so far. I threw alot of angles and right edges in there to make it interesting. ;-)
My latest sunflower landscape painting (the start of which I posted here) has actually been finished for a while. But once again I have been delinquent in posting. Here is the final:
"Ancient Hills, Golden Valley", Oil on linen 20x24" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young
I've needed some cheering up lately, so yesterday I started a new painting of Tuscan sunflowers. It's nearly impossible to frown while beholding a sea of sunflowers, right?
Feeling better already :-)
It took longer than I would have wanted to finalize my latest landscape painting of Tuscany, but I am really pleased with the final. Picking up from my prior post about this painting, here are a couple of additional progress shots: Continuing work to further articulate the background landscape:
...and here I begin to work on the Abbey:
Here, at last, is the final!
"Path to Sant' Antimo" Oil on Linen, 24x30" ©Jennifer Young
Sant' Antimo Abbey is a beautiful Romanesque (formerly Benedictine) monastery dating back to the 1100's. It is situated in the stunning landscape of the Montalcino commune, and rests about 10 km from the town of Montalcino, (home of the gorgeous Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello wines).
In springtime the landscape of Montalcino and surrounds are strewn with poppies and other wildflowers, and the hillsides are often touched with the soft yellows and greens of golden broom.
I have a lot of reference photos of this abbey from my visit there several years ago. But I particularly like this view, which shows the focal point as a hint of the abbey in its lovely setting, but doesn't scream "portrait of a building". I also enjoy the point of view, which puts the viewer firmly on the pathway beneath the tall cypress trees, and nearly eye level with the abbey, adding to the sense of "being there".
I thought I would share a progress shot of the painting of the Montalcino valley (Tuscany) I've been working on. I have been under the weather, which delayed my progress for a few days. But now I think I'm getting back on track.
I now have the whole canvas more or less blocked in. I decided to remove the tree foliage that I'd indicated in front of the abbey because I felt it hindered rather than added interest. I had to refer to a few other photos I had taken from different angles to figure out what is behind there, but I think the change opens it up a bit and things make more sense overall. I hope soon to be able to share the final piece....I'm getting closer!
Art gallery of European and American landscape and still life oil paintings by Virginia artist Jennifer E. Young. Jennifer's plein air and studio paintings celebrate her love of color and the natural world. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally.
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