Dancing in the Breeze

As we traveled through the rolling countryside of Tuscany Jack and I were totally entranced. My sharpie pen literally flew across the white pages of my sketchbook recording vignettes of the trip. Suddenly in the distance the towers of San Gimignano appeared. My heart stopped for a moment as I drank in my first view of the ancient city.

Sun warmed clouds float softly in the summer sky. The distant hills are painted with cool greens made of various mixes of Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Orange + White. It’s amazing the range of color you can get with this combination. Using the mahl stick for support I delineate the details of the distant buildings.

I decide to fill the foreground with Sunflowers, one of the signatures of the Tuscan landscape in the summer. The broad field of yellow is painted first, followed by the leaves. Adding the dark centers brings these delightful flowers to life.

Dancing in the Breeze      11″ x 14″      Original Oil Painting

An old, tumbled down stone wall anchors the right corner of the painting. Red Poppies add a bright counterpoint to the golden Sunflowers Dancing in the Breeze. It has been so fun to recapture that heart stopping moment when we saw San Gimignano for the very first time. Being an artist is such a treat, I can travel anywhere in the world with just a few strokes of the brush. Thank you for joining me today. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

Website: www.senkarik.com