Italy Archives - Constance Patterson

Notebook

LIGHTS OUT

Here at the studio, I am working on a second tessera canvas. This one … pictured above … is still a work in progress, but is nearing completion.

The work is composed primarily of tessera from one painting that was chopped into pieces and reconfigured into an entirely new image, but it is nevertheless a reflection of the original work. Tessera from other paintings have been added, and like bits of memories that we call on to help us when telling a story, the new bits add depth and interest to the original. So too do the traumas, and joys and grief and love that we experience add color and texture to our memories.

While working on this piece, it was struck by how this image is like my interior vision of myself. I always seem to be stitching together a new version of myself to present to the outside world. Whatever it is I piece together might look solid and cohesive, but is in fact cobbled together with bits and pieces that have washed up on the shore of my life. I would suppose that most people find this to be true. But then again, maybe not. Maybe it is just that I have the time to mull over all this existential dreck while cutting up old canvases.

TUSCAN QUILT II & III

TUSCAN QUILT III
OIL 24 X 30
$1,000

TUSCAN QUILT II
OIL 24 X 30
$900.00

Continuing the theme on the quilted landscape of Tuscany, this pair of landscapes invoke the sense of lightness and joi de vive that characterize the sense that one takes away from one’s time in Tuscany. The others that were part of this series have gone to private collections.

The use of vibrant colors is somewhat contrary to the more faded coloration of the landscape. However the horizon line fading into the foreground and having no real stopping point as it recedes is very true to the atmospheric quality of the views that characterize the area. The fact that all the different textures and colors meld together, and yet remain distinct, is so much a part of what one sees.

Though these were painted as a pair so that they could be hung together, they are available individually. Don’t forget to click on the image to see them in greater detail.

Tuscan Quilt #4

TUSCAN QUILT #4
OIL 30 X 40
$1,500

The views of Tuscan farms and the fields surrounding them are lovely and comforting to look at. The structure of the buildings are held securely in place by years of repetitive planting and cultivation. The olive trees and the grapes and the fallow fields are all at rest. Only the cypress are wild and wonderful.

There is nothing so reminiscent of a patchwork quilt as the tuscan landscape. This particular quilt has the added quality of being made up of fabrics that appear in all those wonderful renaissance portraits – velvets and striped silks and tasseled hats in wonderful rich colors that shouldn’t go together, but do. I have done several tuscan quilt images over the years, but this is the only one in which I drew a parallel to the textiles used in its construction.

I really do love the timeless quality of the Tuscan landscape, and this image in particular reiterates the age of the land, and the comfort of being enveloped in the fabric stitched by generations of care.

Firenze Rooftops

FIRENZE ROOFTOPS
OIL 24 X 12
SOLD

The view is from the top floor cafe of a department store in Florence. Aside from being visually compelling, it has a special charm because of its unexpectedness. There, amidst all of the hustle and gusto of the city streets, was this quiet little neighborhood with terrace gardens, balconies, staircases and turrets with weather-vane flags. All of them marching up the hillside and sharing the view with those of us having mid-morning coffee. What a perfect little vignette of life in this most wonderful of cities.

Don’t forget to click on the image to see an larger view of this piece.

Siena Stroll II

SIENA STROLL II
OIL 40 X 30
SOLD

I love the newest of my Italian street scenes. This one is again from Siena, and reflects the ambiance of large crowds contained in small spaces.

I always found that if one is in a crowd like this, one can see the crowd, and the upper parts of buildings. The middle views of the surrounding buildings are blocked by the moving mass of people. So, that is what I render in my work. Plus I have always been fascinated by people and crowds in cities. Italy is the best place to observe and record people strolling and converging, and being themselves without haste.

Don’t forget to click on the image to see more detail.

Italian Stage

ITALIAN STAGE
OIL 40 X 30
SOLD

This is the latest piece to go into a private collection. I shall miss it, as it hung over my bookcase and was a constant reminder of the zing that I felt walking the streets of Siena on a beautiful sunny day.

Ironically, the companion piece that hung over the other bookcase sold a week later and is going into a different collection.

I am working on some new oils the same size to replace this one and the other that was sold. Keep checking here for updates.

An Examination of Sunlight on Cypress

AN EXAMINATION OF SUNLIGHT ON CYPRESS
OIL 24 X 20
SOLD

The latest work to be added to a private collection is this Tuscan landscape, called “An Examination of Sunlight on Cypress”

The piece has been with Camilla Richman’s Fine Art in Osterville, MA. Through her it has been sold to a private collector on the Cape, and I am thrilled that my work has found a new audience.

This landscape has long been one of my favorites. The cypress, olives and fading horizon, all evoke a landscape that is timeless.

Don’t forget to click on the image for a more detailed view.