Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Virtual Paintout 20: Timeless Italy!


Last day of the last month of the year! Time for a photo of my studio workspace. Yes... a wee bit messy. And I confess, this is a neat day, ha ha ha!




On to my painting for Decembers Virtual Paintout. For this last month of 2014, we virtually visited Rome, Italy. So full of beauty and history! 

A sense of Timelessness.  Words fail me. 

The site I chose was at the Baths of Caracalla, the famous ancient Roman Baths. Built in the early AD 200's, they were huge public baths. Here's my original location (can click on any pics to enlarge):



Something appealed to me about the ancient ruins, beautiful sky, and green grounds.

And those trees.  
They looked as if they had been around for ages. 
Their height, their shape. 
Old trees that could tell a story. 

And my imagination went wandering, and I saw Others present. 

From an even more distant past. 
Like Time overlaying Time. 
Energy from the Past still interwoven with Today. 

So I played with it. :-)

In progress on my easel:





And the finished painting:


"Timeless"
Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy
9 x 12 acrylic on
wrapped canvas




A couple of close-ups... 
first the Triceratops Mama and baby:





And the Brachiosaurus:





My thanks to artist Bill Guffey for leading the Virtual Paintout. He takes us to a new location every month, and spends untold hours posting all of our paintings in our Facebook gallery. You can visit Bill's own art website Here.  Thanks, Bill!

I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but the monthly Virtual Paintout is open to anyone of all skill levels and almost all mediums. It's a lot of fun! For more info, check out his blog Here


Thank you for visiting and Happy painting - and Happy New Year!

Retta


PS: for the purists amongst us...
The Brachiosaurus was from the Jurassic era, and was first discovered in Colorado, North America in 1903 (not Italy, ha ha).
The Triceratops, on the other hand, was from the late Cretaceous era, and many skeletons have been found in North America and Canada. Oh, and the flying Pteranodon hung out in about the same timeframe and places as the Triceratops. 

Obviously, my painting is a work of fractured fantasy! :-D

6 comments:

  1. I love your dinosaurs! If they were found in North America, did they migrate to Italy? A wonderful picture with a timeless look.

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    1. I heard they came on vacation and liked it so much they decided to stay, ha ha. Glad you enjoyed them. :-)

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  2. Hi Retta,
    What a surprise to see all those dinosaurs on the VPO! And I only realised today when I looked at your beautiful painting more closely that we actually painted the same baths...!

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  3. I have such a thing for giant reptiles. I love the dinos in Italy. The color is so you and I love the imagination you used.

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    1. Thanks, Mary. You'll have to keep an eye out for the one I'm working on now, set in Philadelphia. There be meat-eater dinos in Pennsylvania!! And they LOVE a good picnic....

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