The Artist's Blog

Painted in the Plein Air of the Italian Countryside

Sometimes it's a dusty dirt road that doesn't show on the map but looks promising. Sometimes it's just one of those classic vistas of Tuscany she can't resist painting, like a road to a villa, a copse of cypress trees, or a hillside vineyard in Montepulciano in full autumn colors. Using her studio as a base, artist Caroline Zimmermann often ventures out into the Tuscan countryside in search of the perfect light and composition for her creations, either in the Chianti region or in her local area of the Valdarno, just south of Florence. Photos by John Charles Jopson

"Midsummer's Day, Tuscany"  16x30   Oil on Canvas

"Il Boschetto"  24x36   Oil on Canvas

"Il Boschetto" was painted en plein air by Caroline Zimmermann in the Tuscan countryside near Buonconvento, in the Province of Siena. Boschetto is Italian for "copse of trees" - in this case cypress trees.

"Bella Italia"   30x40   Oil on Canvas

Other times Caroline might be passing through one of those picturesque Italian hilltop villages and happen upon an open doorway covered in Bougainvillea. Unable to resist, she'll jump out of her car, snap a photo, and then work on the painting back in her studio...

Atelier del Corvo - Caroline's Tuscan studio    

Painted in Caroline Zimmermann's Artist Studio in Tuscany

Caroline has been living in Italy and painting her evocative landscapes for more than 20 years. During that time she has had artist studios in various locations including Il Borro, the extraordinary Ferragamo estate, where she lived for several years and also maintained a gallery. After restoring a five-hundred-year-old mill house in a secluded valley surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, Caroline couldn't resist the lure of setting up her studio in her own home where she could venture into her extensive gardens for inspiration. 

"Chianti Autumn Red"   24x48   Oil on Canvas

Autumn is Caroline's favourite time to paint, when the vineyards come alive in golden light and the leaves turn red, burgundy, and yellow. Her landscapes often include olive and cypress trees and sometimes feature an Italian villa or an old farmhouse in the composition.

"La Vita e Bella"   28x40   Oil on Canvas

La Vita e Bella

One such painting is the notable "La Vita e Bella" which depicts the Tuscan farmhouse featured in Roberto Benigni's Oscar winning film "Life is Beautiful". This spectacular location is just a short drive up the road from Caroline's studio along the famous Strada del Vino towards Benigni's hometown of Arezzo. Remarkably, the abandoned farmhouse remains exactly as it was when the film was made, and simply houses the farmers's tools and machinery. In fact the farmhouse is adjacent to the vineyards of the Tenuta Sette Ponti, one of Tuscany's premiere winemakers whose wines critics consistently score as one of the top 5 Toscana IGT wines. The oil painting, which features bright yellow Sangiovese grape vines in the foreground, was selected as the official poster for the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts in 2010.

Primavera

In the springtime Caroline ventures into the Tuscan countryside in search of poppies. Every year the poppy fields are in a different location, so the search requires perseverance and traveling a wide swath of Italian countryside, from Siena to San Gimignano.  

"Poppies and Grain"   30x40  Oil on Canvas

Like her vineyard landscapes, Caroline's poppy field paintings often include farmhouses or a palazzo. Caroline likes to work in multiple layers which is a time consuming process, but lends her paintings a great deal of depth and luminosity.

Caroline Zimmermann in her Tuscany studio.

"Vineyards of the Sun"   32x44   Oil on Canvas 

The Classic Tuscan Landscape Painting

Describing her oil painting colors Caroline Zimmermann is typically philosophical, "The amber color in my landscapes is honey, is liquid, is translucent... is ancient. It is the color of a Tuscan autumn, when all is bathed in this light, gilded in liquid gold, sweet, overripe, on the verge of decay. Grapes on the vines collect this light, tiny baubles of sweetness, that anticipate the approaching harvest."

Caroline is well known for her classic Tuscan landscapes such as her "Vineyards of the Sun" painting, and she is often asked to revisit one her landscapes in the form of a commission. Sometimes a client returns from a memorable trip to Tuscany and will commission Caroline to paint a landscape from a photo they took on their trip. "People become overwhelmed by the beauty of Tuscany, and they want to have more than just a photograph to remember it", Caroline says of her commission clients. But then doesn't she also become overwhelmed? "I try not to get completely caught up in the beauty of my surroundings. It can camouflage what's really there. Instead, I look for an authentic feeling." But more than anything Caroline continues to experiment and follow wherever the Tuscan roads lead.

"Autumn Colors, Tuscany"  36x44   Oil on Canvas

Watch: A video of Caroline Zimmermann creating her "Scarlet Poppies" Tuscan landscape painting.