Paddy DorrianTuscany and other places

I first visited Italy in the summer of 1975 after being awarded a travelling scholarship by Glasgow School of Art.  I chose Tuscany as the Art School had long standing links with San Gimignano and in particular San Agostino, a church and monastery that took in students and travellers, using it as a base to explore Tuscany.

I have returned to Tuscany on many occasions since, initially on my own and then with my family more recently to use it as subject matter to paint.

The show is comprised of watercolours completed in the last two years including a stay in Riomaggiore on the Ligurian Coast.  The smaller framed paintings are pages from sketchbooks painted plein air usually in the early morning when the streets and piazzas are quiet and for me the light is at its most interesting.

The summer of 2020 should have enabled another stay in Italy but like many people we had to cancel because of the Covid crisis. I said how much I enjoyed the quiet of the early mornings but I sincerely wish that post Covid the hustle, bustle and noise returns to Italian towns.