Cortona - one of the oldest towns in Tuscany

Cortona, 30x15, oil on panel. Available

This piece is my favorite so far from my recent trip to Italy. We had wandered around this medieval walled town built on a hill for hours and were coming back down to the main square when I saw these buildings making great patterns and colors right in front of me. For the first time in a long time, I had to use two photos to make one piece as neither the phone nor camera photos were just what I wanted.

What I liked about this scene was all the repeating shapes and lines. Rectangles, half circles, squares and triangles. Despite the tall verticals there is good eye movement in it. Though it painted realistically, it comes off as an abstract. Since the majority of the scene is in shadow, I could paint it rather flat (local tone) with just a bit of light hitting the roofs (it was about high noon) to give dimension.

I am not sure of the significance of all the flags, but it seemed that each town we were in the town flag was in evidence. Everywhere.