This small oil painting was painted in Castello di Spedaletto, near Pienza in Tuscany.
I worked there in the middle of the day, in about 34°C heat. The light was very strong, but that was exactly what made the motif interesting. The sky had a vibrating, shimmering quality, and the whole scene was built on sharp contrasts between sunlit stone, dark cypress trees and the shadows falling across the road.
What caught my attention was the simple composition: the line of cypresses, the bright path, the red flowers on the right and the heavy dark shadows cutting through the foreground. It was not a complicated subject, but the light gave it a clear structure and energy.
I often look for this kind of motif when painting outdoors: a place where light, shadow and colour are already doing most of the work.
View available original oil paintings:
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More paintings and plein air works:
https://andreabocediart.com/paintings/
The original small plein air painting from Castello di Spedaletto is available here:
I also painted a larger studio version based on this motif:
