Montalcino Sketches

Here are a few of the sketches from our trip to Castiglione del Bosco.

View from La Befa. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Graveyard at La Pieve. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Cypresses at Quinciano. 15 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Two views of La Piana. 30 x 20 cm, and 35 x 25 cm, oil on panel.

La Badia Ardenga and Montalcino. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

View from La Piana. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Montalcino from Bibbiano. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Construction at Bibbiano. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Bibbiano Scalo. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

There are also a couple of larger plein air pieces which I’ll post when I’ve finished them.

Castiglione del Bosco


I just got back from two weeks of plein air painting on one of the more beautiful estates in Italy. We were put up by a friend who asked me to invite excellent landscape painters from around the world for something of a symposium of painting. We had a good turn out: Ben Fenske, Jory Glazener, Joeseph McGurl, Edward Minoff, Rick Piloco and myself were the core group. Charles Cecil, Daniela Astone, and Mathilde van der Does de Willebois and Fiona Corsini came for shorter stays.

Here are some random photos from the trip.

We had perfect weather, great food and wine, excellent company, and it was one of the best seasons to paint in one of the more beautiful areas of the world. A resounding success all around.

Years ago I drove through the same valley where we stayed and always wanted to go back and paint there, so it was great to be offered this occasion in that exact spot.

Joseph McGurl is probably the contemporary landscape painter who had the most influence on my own work. I saw a show of his in New York when I was just starting out and it really made me see what was possible with landscape painting. It was great to be able to paint with him after all these years.

I’ll post photos of my paintings when I have a chance.

Recent Italian Plein Air Work

Here are a few recent larger landscapes. All done en plein air here in Italy.

Villa Argiano. 80 x 100 cm, oil on linen.

Benabbio. 80 x 100 cm, oil on linen.

Poggio delle Corti. 60 x 80 cm, oil on linen.

Sant’Angelo in Colle from Argiano. 80 x 100 cm, oil on linen.

Gualdo Cattaneo. 80 x 100 cm, oil on linen.

Bagni di Lucca. 60 x 100 cm, oil on linen.

Below are a few smaller sketches from a recent trip to Montalcino. I stayed at the beautiful Castello d’Argiano  and the reason there are no early morning paintings is due to their great hospitality and wonderful wines.

Montalcino, Sunset. 25 x 35 cm, oil on dibond.

Convento dell’Osservanza, Montalcino. 25 x 35 cm, oil on dibond.

Pieve di Santa Restituta. 25 x 35 cm, oil on dibond.

Castiglion d’Orcia. 20 x 30 cm, oil on dibond.