Well, the heat is on... and before May’s green landscapes turn a golden summer blond, I’m off, searching the Tuscan country side for the Papaveri di Primavera...   the Poppies of Spring

      I’ve only recently come to appreciate the magic of these magnificent displays of color....

swathes of Ferrari-red blooms dotting the green of the May countryside -

swaying lazily in late afternoon breezes.

In fact, May was one month I could give my camera and sketchbook a rest... In May, here in Tuscany, there is simply too much green for this painter’s palette.

I have read the quote “... if you don’t like green, don’t visit Tuscany in May” attributed to Michaelangelo.

Countless shades of green, from deep Cypress to pale silver Olive leaf. Electric greens from early May’s grass, young grape leaves, chartreuse of the Poplar trees.

Greens I can adore visually, but how to paint them?

The complimentary color of green is red, and so with the addition of this prodigious wildflower  to the landscape my problem is solved!

One can never predict where a poppy field will erupt in color from one year to the next....

...and the contadini will never let on if they leave the fields of poppies fallow intentionally... could they leave them be simply for Bellezza?

In any case, I always extend a silent grazie to them and to Nature for these spontaneous gifts of inspiration to my painting process... and these are some of the results:

“Tuscan Scarlet” 40”x40”  available at Gallery McCollum

      

“Poppies to Remember” 5”x9”  and Caroline with “Giovanni’s Poppy Field”

available at Graham Fine Art London

“Canto dei Papaveri..Song of the Poppies” 39cm x70cm  Graham Fine Art

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               “Tuscan Poppies” 18”x24” The Fairmont Gallery, Sonoma

    

“Return to the Poppy Field” 7”x 15” Gallery McCollum

St Tuscany Studio, painting “Morning Poppies”