Cler Fleurs

Paris:  Another painting from Rue Cler, my favorite street.  I always want to imagine that I live in an apartment here, where I can get fresh flowers and a baugette just outside my door.  This was actually a grey morning when we visited,  but the flowers were still beautiful.

Recently I was telling my students about the how shadows on a cloudy day are different than those in sunlight.  Of course, they are much lighter in value, but they are also warmer than the lit areas.  So: warm light (sunny day) gives cool shadows, and cool light (cloudy day) gives warm shadows.  Look at the dark line under the boxes to see what I mean.

- Linda

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Just Us

Flashback to Paris.  I love Parisian cafes;  the idea of sitting at a table all morning sipping my cafe au lait and watching the world go by is very enticing.  But on vacation, we never take more than a short break because there's always so much to do.  But at least I can bring a photograph home and make a painting of it to keep the memory.

I liked this image because of the way these two are cuddled together and the pink color of the cafe.  It was a complicated scene so I did a value sketch (no color only focusing on light vs. dark) to help me organize it.  I'm pleased with the oil sketch, so I think I'll do a larger 30x30 version.  I'll show you when I'm finished!

- Linda

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Florence Street

The scooters were everywhere in Florence, but it's harder than you'd think to take a photo of them.  They zip by so fast, I usually just got a shot of them from the back.  So when I saw this woman stopped at a light I quickly took a photo.  Later, while on the bus, I painted this watercolor from the image on my camera. 

I love the red color of the scooter.  In fact,  I liked this image so much I turned it into my favicon for the blog and my Facebook image for Linda Hugues Studio.  I'm beginning to think I really need a red scooter.  But I need to live in Florence first.  Hmmm...

- Linda

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Villa Il Crociccio

I've really fallen in love with cappuccino this trip.  At home I drink strong black coffee.  But here it feels right to drink that luxurious frothy treat.  And of course the alternative is to have an espresso in those tiny cups; much to small to be satisfying for me. 

This was another view of the Villa Il Crociccio, on the agriturismo farm in Tuscany.  I painted this before breakfast on our last day here.  In the morning the distant hills are bands of lighter and lighter blues, and the hills wake up from their mist-covered slumber.  Very beautiful and was very hard to leave.

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