"Sunflower Field -Tuscany", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Sunflower Field -Tuscany", 9x12" plein air oil painting
$495 framed, click here to purchase

When I got home from my Italy trip, I went back into this plein air painting (see original post here, which is too blue due to the photography but the values are correct!) and decided to lighten up the middle and background, as well as to put some more colour sparkle in the sunflowers and leaves.

I am happy to announce that I just won second prize for it at the upcoming Federation of Canadian Artists sale to take place on Nov 2 at the Haysboro Community Hall. Here's the invitation -if you are in town, I hope you will come and see the show. I will have 7 paintings in it, and the quality of work this time is amazing!

Enjoy!

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Tuscany Workshop -wrap up

"Bagno Sunshine", 6x16" plein air watercolor

This was my last demo of the workshop. It was done on my new block of Cartiera Magnani 'Portofino' hot pressed paper. This paper is absolutely wonderful for the pen and watercolour paintings, but also works great for regular painting. Look who came to check things out during the demo -could it be Dreama's cat Eddie??? I heard he was spying on her while she is in Italy...

Then I did this pen & ink & watercolour on our last day in Bagno Vignoni ( I posted a photo of the scene on day 10)

So that wraps up our trip. It was a wonderful workshop filled with sunshine and wonderful artists. Here is a photo of our small but happy group:

So I will leave you with our last sunset, this one taken from the plane on the way home.

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -last day!

"Montigiovi Remembrance", 12x16" oil and collage

I was "playing painting" with great friend and fellow traveller,Lori, the other day after being out painting in the morning. We had made some collage surfaces using old posters that Lori had torn off walls on our journey. Then we went into them with oils, what a blast! I have done this a lot using acrylics, but the oils were so much more fun -easily blended and great opaque through transparent coverage. I will definitely be doing more of this : )

I can't believe it, but the last day of our wonderful workshop has come and gone. We are to be up at 5:45am and will be home at 9pm Calgary time (8 hr time difference)-LONG day!

Here is a watercolour card that I made to thank our wonderful driver, Joe.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me- it has been so fun and rewarding.

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -day 11

"Le Casacce", 8x10" plein air oil on arches oil paper

SOLD

Today was a 'home' day, so I painted this for our wonderful host Enrico - I hope he likes it! Here is a photo of the scene before me, FYI:

I will leave you with another fabulous Tuscan sunsets:

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop - day 10

"Bagno Vignoni View", 

Today we went to the gorgeous Bagno Vignoni. It looked like it might rain, but it passed over, and the resulting day was glorious. I did this pen & ink & wc sketch on my new pad of hot pressed watercolour paper, which was perfect for this approach. 

Here is my sketch before adding the watercolour 

I also did a watercolour demo (without the pen) on this paper that I will pst tomorrow, so stay tuned. 

Here is a photo from Bagno showing an artist's installation of painted marine floats in the pool

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -day 9!

"Welcome Home", 8x10" Plein air oil on Arches Oil Paper mounted on board

SOLD

Today we visited the wonderful medieval hill town of Catiglione D'Orcia. (You should really Google image it!) I did the above demo using fab artist, Dreama Tolle Perry's technique (you should Google her as well to see her joy filled work). It started with a wet transparent under painting, shown below:

Here is a photo of the scene, FYI

And here is a photo of the fabulous Piazza Il Vecchieta, the original paving and well dating back to 1618 ( the light house on the right was a much latter addition)

Boy, I wish you could be here sharing this adventure with me! And thanks to all of you who have taken the time and effort to comment and let me know you are enjoying the journey vicariously. Cornelia, from Germany, kindly wrote to tell me that the pine trees in yesterday's post are called Stone Pines, how great is that! Thanks for the info - reminds me of a story book my kids loved called Stone Soup : )

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -day 8

Today there was a huge market at nearby Castel Del Piano, so we thought we would take it in, even though it was supposed to be our day of rest. There is an awesome piazza there with a 1st world war memorial, surrounded by these incredible pine trees. They grow to incredible heights with no lower branches - if you know the name of them, please let us know!

Here is a decoration on a meat vendor booth at the market;

I thought you'd get a kick out of that, but I wouldn't want a slice on my panini!

Thanks to you, I now am the proud user of Snapseed -just the program I needed for my phone to do some great photo editing, and its free to boot. Try it out -simple to use with tons of ways to make your photos really sing. To thank you I will close with tonight's sunset, made to look just like I saw it with Snapseed!

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -day 7

Today we painted the view up to the medieval town of Montigiovi. This is my pen & ink & watercolor sketch, incorporating many layers to get the dark contrast I love. In case you are interested, I have included the unpainted ink sketch below:

Here is a photo of the town so you can see what I did:

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -Day 5&6

"St. Antimo Abbey", 8x10" Plein air oil

PLEASE NOTE: I went back into this painting when I got home as it seemed to have 2 focal points! By this I mean that it was hard to tell whether the painting was about the grape vines or about the abbey. So I enlarged the vines and made them overlap the abbey, greyed the colour in the abbey and made the tall cypress bluer to send them into the background. I also rephotographed the painting so that you could see the actual colour!!

Sorry, but I was just having too much darn fun to post yesterday, but above is the oil I did at the Abbey. We were able to go in for a service and hear the monks do Gregorian chants, while sunbeams streamed through the windows (no stained glass here unfortunately)

Today we drove to Pienza, which I think is my favorite Italian town, after Assisi of course -such an amazing spirit in that place. St Francis would be pleased!

We spent our day doing pen & ink & watercolour sketching. Here are a few of mine (which are way too blue, but I didn't have image editing software on my phone at this point!):

The above one was done while I sat at a lovely cafe, under a large white umbrella, while sipping a birra (Italian for beer) and munching on a Calabrese salad -yum!

These sketches have a blue cast because I took them in the shade and, again, I don't have a photo editing program on my phone yet -which reminds me - any suggestions for a good iPhone app for this???

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -day 4

"Sabrina's Grapes", 12 x 16" watercolour

$80 at DPW

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sharon-lynn-williams/sabrinas-grapes/165522

Guess where we painted today?? I was in such a rush to get to the van, I forgot my oil palette! Luckily I had my watercolours with me, and I truly believe that there are no accidents in life - I had so much fun painting this.

Here are Earl and Pat painting in the vineyard

And Carol and Linda:

And here is Elaine:

And to give you a 'taste':

Enjoy!

"Italian Colour" oil painting, and I'M OFF TO TUSCANY!!

"Italian Colour", 12x12" oil painting on panel

SOLD

I did this painting at a Dreama Tolle Perry workshop this spring, using her method but without her input. I really like Dreama's style and use of colour, plus she has an unusual way of painting that is very intriguing, using a wet, transparent underpainting. (I did July 15th's post this way also). I hope to continue to experiment with this method of working.

I am off in the morning for Tuscany, Italy, where I will be teaching a 2 week plein air workshop. I am very excited about the whole thing, except for the travelling to get there part! I bought some "No Jet Lag" and really hope that helps. This is my first time teaching a) such a long, extensive workshop and b) a travel workshop. So wish me luck!!!

I probably will not be able to post while I am away, but I will be uploading images to Facebook, if you want to friend me :)

Ciao!

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Come Paint Tuscany With Me!!

"Tuscan Balcony", 9x12" oil on Arches Oil Paper
On auction at DPW beginning at $80, click here to bid

I did this painting from one of the photos I took while I was in Tuscany in May. You've just got to love the way the Italians use every possible use of sunshine to brighten up their lives with flowers.

I also want to remind you of my upcoming plein air class in Tuscany, September 1-15, 2013. I have attached to poster to tempt you, and all the details are on my website. Please note that this will be a small intimate workshop, so each painter will get tons of individual attention. Also, the price of this workshop is incredible! Most other Tuscany workshops are this price for one week, and this one is for TWO WEEKS. Everything is included except for airfare -I booked mine with points and only had to pay the taxes. I will be teaching a pen and ink and watercolour quick sketching method for when we don't have have the time or the space to set up our easels, as well as providing daily demonstrations and easel to easel instruction. We will be going on daily expeditions to the countryside and hill towns of the Val D'Orcia region of Tuscany in our own chauffeured bus, to paint, visit and perhaps even do some shopping! It will surely be a wonderful time of learning how to be a better plein air painter, as well as a cultural highlight of our lives. Time to get this one off our bucket list!

Please let me know ASAP if you are interested in joining us!!!

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Tuscany 2013 painting workshop announced!!

I am just THRILLED to announce my upcoming plein air workshop in Tuscany Sept 1-15, 2012!!
For ALL the details and TONS of photos, please go to my website page for the workshop -just click here.
I would love to hear from you if you think you might be interested as I need to put a deposit on the villa by the end of December!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends :)
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"Street Scene -Bagno Vignoni", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"Street Scene -Bagno Vignoni", 8 x 10" plein air oil painting

This painting is on its way to Estes Park to be included in the Prelude Show for the Plein Air Rockies 2012 painting competition, which I will be taking part in again this August. The show is a wonderful one (if you are in Rocky Mountain National Park, be sure to check it out) and the painting competition is stiff. This year will be particularly challenging with my leg in a cast and on crutches!!

I am off for 2 weeks holiday at our family cottage in Ontario, and will be back Aug 4th. As we don't have an indoor bathroom, let alone the internet, I won't be posting until I get back!!! I have bought myself a palette and gouache to paint with while I am away, figuring that it is a little more portable and easier to work with. I love the look of gouache and I think it just might be a nice meld of watercolour and oil techniques. If anything good turns out, I will post it when I get home.
Have a wonderful rest of July!!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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