Summer Gallery at Omega

Summer is not over yet and the Summer Gallery show at Omega is still on. I am one of four painters and my contribution to the show is all European paintings. This one is of Orvieto, a hill town not too far from Rome. We parked at the bottom, because the medieval town could not take modern traffic, and took a funicular railway up to the old town. There is a beautiful 12th century cathedral there with a mosaic front - and interesting narrow streets. I like the way the space over the streets is often used - as in this painting with the building forming an arch over the street. I think that there is a bit of a sense of mystery - what is down the street, through the arch? Who is the lady meeting? I used a palette knife on the building so that the layers of paint show through somewhat - just like the old plaster. It adds a richness and surface interest to the painting.

Maritime Festival

Richmond had its 8th annual Maritime Festival last weekend at Britannia Shipyards and the Richmond Artists Guild was invited to take part. We had a tent for a display of (mostly) maritime paintings. I set up the scheduling for "sitting" the show and for having painters on site. I was going to paint but found the sun too much so just did some sketching and photography- reference shots. I told everyone that it wasn't for selling but just to represent the Guild, make people aware that we exist, give out our new business cards and so on. We did get a good response. However, and much to my surprise, I actually sold a painting. It was "The Balclutha" which is an old sailing ship down in San Francisco. We had a perfect day when we visited it as it was sunny but very few people were there so it was easy to get people-free photos. Needless to say, I did not paint on the spot as just drawing all the rigging took some time before I even got to the painting. At any rate, the painting has found a good home. It goes to show that you never know when a painting will be in the right place at the right time. The Festival itself was really interesting with lots to see and do. For most of us, our favourite performer was the Eagle- on stilts- and I have recorded her in my sketchbook.