Marc Dalessio

As a kid I lived for a few years in the Fiji Islands and have always had strong memories of the beauty of the place. Recently I was invited back for a wedding and jumped at the chance. We stayed on the east side of the main island, which wasn’t my old turf, but is probably the more picturesque side (and it is certainly the drier side).

The wedding took place at the Vudu Point Marina, so I painted the boats for the first couple of days.

Boats at Vuda Point Marina. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I had a lot of trouble with the colors at first, everything is so bright there.

Vuda Point Marina. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Even though its been about 25 years since I’d last been there, the place has changed surprisingly little. Since it wasn’t really a painting trip I didn’t get a lot of time to paint, still I managed to bat out a sketch a day.

Here are a few from Musket Cove Resort where the wedding party stayed, and Namotu Island Resort where we went for lunch a couple of times. Musket Cove is on a large island with lots of subject matter (well, mostly beaches and palm trees). Namotu is an amazingly beautiful little dot of sand next to some of the best surf breaks in Fiji.

From the Point, Manolo Lailai. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Airport Beach. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Boats at Musket Cove. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Beach on Ratu Nemani Island. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

The Beach at Namotu. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Jet Ski at Namotu. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I had a lot of trouble with the wind as well. Here is the last day at Natadola Beach.

Windy Day at Natadola. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I hope to get back soon with real equipment and do a focused painting trip (though that 23 hour flight in steerage is quite brutal).

Many of the posts on this blog are about my travels, as I find it more interesting. However, I do live in one of the more picturesque places around and paint here quite often. The problem with plein air painting in Tuscany is that the Chianti region, where I usually stay, is actually terrible as far as subject matter goes. The small olive trees are fine if painted up close, but the little blue blobs are really unsightly when seen from afar. And don’t get me started on vineyards… parallel lines from a distance?

That said, Tuscany also has some of the best plein air subjects in the world, especially the rolling hills and wheat fields south of Siena. My other favorite spots are the Mugello, north of Florence, and Maremma, along the coast to the southwest.

Here are couple from a trip to the Val d’Orcia:

Vineyards at Poggio alle Mura. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

The Old Station at Bibbiano. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

The Gulf of Baratti has to be one of the more beautiful bays in Tuscany, though it can be a bit too pretty.

The Chapel of San Cerbone at Baratti. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

We stayed with friends on a couple of July weekends and I ended up painting around the house a lot to avoid the crowds.

Barbeque and Well at Torrenuova. (Needs to be cut down still).

The Bridge at Torrenuova. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

I also painted a bit further north, on the coast near Bolgheri.

White Road at Palone. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Stone Pines at Palone. 30 x 40 cm, oil on panel.

Palone, the Beach. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

And lastly, I painted a bit in the hills above Lucca, which was new to me this summer and is an area I would love to paint more thoroughly.

Bagni di Lucca. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Clothes Hanging at Benabbio. 20 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

Here are a few plein air paintings from stays on a friend’s estate over the last couple of weeks.

Castello di Reschio. 20 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

Fields and White Road. 30 x 40 cm, oil on panel.

Road in the Woods. 25 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

There is a tent they use for events which I was quite partial too. Here is a sketches from the north side, trying to get the effect of the light coming through the cloth.

The Tent, Reschio #2. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

And a few more from the area:

Reschio. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Cypresses. 35 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

Poplar at Umbertide. 25 x 20 cm, oil on panel.

Here are a few paintings from my trip to Montefalco. Again, one of the more picturesque spots on Earth. I’ve been trying to update my geotagged landscape archive so people can take advantage of all the hours I spend scouting around for views (see my earlier post if you have no idea what I’m talking about).

My painting companions this time were Greg Horwitch, Ebba Heuman, Alex Rooney and Rupert Alexander (if anyone was wondering why it’s been raining in Italy for the last two months, it’s because Rupert has been trying to paint outside since early May).

This time, I was very partial to the Clitunno river which runs north through the valley.

Fig Tree on the Clitunno at Casevecchie. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Tractor Bridge on the Clitunno. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Another Tractor Bridge on the Clitunno. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

We were there for wheat field season. Always one of the best times for plein air painting. Here are a couple of larger paintings of the fields.

Wheat fields below Montefalco. 90 x 110 cm, oil on linen.

Wheat Fields on the Trasimeno. 80 x 100 cm, oil on linen (work in progress).

Our scouting trips took us quite a ways from Montefalco. Here are some sketches from further north.

Sunset, Trasimeno. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Hay Bales at Montalera. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel

Poggio delle Corti and Perugia. 60 x 80 cm, oil on linen (in progress still).

The holy grail of landscape painting is a foreground, middle ground and background which compose together beautifully. The combination of the flat central valley, rolling hills, and mountains in this part of Umbria, combined with wheat fields, poplar trees, and picturesque hilltop towns, makes this one of the best areas to paint in Italy.

Here are some action shots from the trip:

Painting meter large canvases with a cigar box.

Greg at Casevecchie.

Ebba on Lake Trasimeno.

Alex below Montefalco.

Rupert scouting the wheat fields.

Me getting up over the olive trees near Trevi.

These are a few of the sketches from my ten day workshop near Trevi, Umbria. Daniela Astone and I would get up at dawn to get a painting in before classes started so most of the paintings are early morning sketches. The dawns go so fast in June though, and we were west of a mountain range so we often had to sit and wait for the sun to come up over the hill.

St. Vincenzo Ferreri, Trevi. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Haybales Sketch. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Trevi. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Haybales sketch, Trevi. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

More Haybales, Trevi. 25 x 25, oil on panel.

This is a video from a series I’ve been doing trying to demonstrate single ideas on painting using short films. I thought it was useful to post it now seeing as the landscape season is in full swing and all. There is an HD version as well, change the setting from 360p.

(Cool fact: the video was edited on a Dell mini 10v while sitting in a meadow).

Today is the last day of the ten day plein air course around Trevi, Umbria. One of my favorite landscape painting spots in the whole world. We had great weather after the first couple of days and I was helped immensely by the multi-talented Daniela Astone who assisted me in teaching.

White roads and hay bales.

Poppy fields below Trevi.

This is the first time I’ve done an extended intensive workshop and it was interesting to see how much the students improve after ten days of straight painting. We were also lucky that two professional painters, Charlie Church and Takuma Kaneko joined us. So often the best teaching is a good example.

Takuma finishing off the day from the parking lot of the hotel.

Charlie helping Denise with her painting.

Ben Fenske also did an excellent demonstration one afternoon on aerial (atmospheric) perspective and planes.

Ben giving a demonstration below Trevi.

We stayed at a charming little agriturismo, Le Vedute, on the hill outside Trevi, where Pietro and Marta looked after us splendidly.

Here are a few more action shots from the trip:

Daniela painting ducks on a river bank.

Maike at the end of a long day.

Bob painting in the shade in the valley.

Luigi painting at the Clitunno Springs.

Overall the course was a a great success and we got good feedback from everyone. Daniela will scout around Maremma for a location for our next workshop together and hopefully we can set something up for September.

A few people have asked me about the weekend workshops in July. I have an invitation to Sardinia so I wont be here this year. Instead I’ll try to do weekend workshops before then in a private garden in Florence. The  dates will be the 12th and 13th, and the 19th and 20th of June from 8 to 12 in the morning. There are only a limited number of places so let me know via email if you’re interested in joining: marc@ritratto.com

This is a somewhat embarrassing post, after the buildup about my trip to Albania. The truth is I was exhausted after all the painting I’ve done so far this year and when I got there I just slept on the beach for a week. I did manage to rouse myself on a couple occasions to paint some beach scenes.

Beach Cart at Durazzo. Oil on board, 20 x 25 cm.

Umbrellas at Durazzo. Oil on panel, 20 x 30 cm.

Durazzo. Oil on panel, 20 x 30 cm.

San Pietro. Oil on panel, 20 x 30 cm.

This was my fourth trip to Albania, but the last three times I’ve traveled exclusively in the south. This trip I did manage to make it up north into the mountains for a scout and painted a couple of sketches.

Guesthouse at Boga. Oil on panel, 25 x 20 cm.

The Old Farmhouse, Boga. Oil on panel, 25 x 35 cm.

The mountains above Scutari (Shkodër) are very unspoiled, with picturesque little villages and very friendly people. The roads get really bad after a while (and the electricity ends) so we couldn’t make it very far with the small 2-wheeled car we had. This September I’ll go back for a longer trip with my Land Rover.

Here is a short video I took from the car while scouting around the north. So much of landscape painting is driving or walking looking for views…

Years ago I heard about Edward Lear’s book on traveling through Greece and Albania painting landscapes and managed to track down a copy. At the time I was fascinated by the idea of  a writer discussing the technical aspects of traveling and painting en plein air in the nineteenth century.

Unfortunately, Lear’s book has very little discussion of the methods and materials of plein air painting abroad and is more a recount of his travels. His paintings from the area are interesting, but very typical of studio landscapes done from drawings from the period.

I’m off to Albania tomorrow as well, and I thought I’d post a picture of the bare minimum I need to paint for 10 days abroad:

My ultra-portable travel kit for plein air painting.

A cigar-box palette pre-filled with paints, tripod easel with a third hook for the cigar box, lots of  prepared lightweight panels, a sketchbook with eraser and pencil attached, camera, cellphone with gps, and finally, brushes. Not shown are my Cowon mp3 player for painting in traffic and learning Albanian in the car, as well as my (non-flammable) medium in a shampoo bottle. I’ll buy turpentine after the plane lands.

Wish me luck with the weather, it has rained in this part of the world since I can remember.