I am pleased to announce my upcoming exhibition at the Golden Lion Gallery in Ramsbury, Wiltshire.
I will be exhibiting oil paintings, landscapes and still life and examples of portraits commissions I have recently completed. If you are interested in commissioning a portrait please get in touch or stop by the gallery during the exhibition. Below there is also a box with some information. We look forward to meeting you!
The Private View is on Tuesday 9th September at 5,30 pm. There will be refreshments and a chance to look at my paintings and meet people who love art.
An oil commission of three brothers on separate canvases with a plain background.
Please head over to my portraits page to find other examples of other works. And if you would like a portrait you can also click on my commission a painting page to find prices and other commission ideas.
Jack. 45cm x 50cm. oil on canvas. 2024Max, 45cm x 50cm. oil on canvas. 2024Guy, 45cm x 50cm. oil on canvas 2024Achille. charcoal and graphite on paper. 50cm x 60cm. 2025Brother and Sister. Charcoal and graphite. 2022Newfoundland. Charcoal and Graphite. 2022Harry. Graphite and Charcoal. 2022Remus. Oil on Canvas. 2022Bother and sister commission beautifully framed.Charcoal and Graphite.
Here are some finished landscapes from where I live. The light is always changing and the seasons are so different.
Wisteria, April. 30cm x 40cm. oil on panelChickens, May. 20cm x 30cm. Oil on panel.Fields, August. 30cm x 40cm. oil on panelOctober, Olive trees. 20cm x 30cm. oil on panel.
Here are a handful of still life paintings that I really enjoyed painting last year. They are experiments of colour painted from objects found in the dark corners of my studio! I had fun enhancing the chromatics and big shapes while thinking less of reality. To be continued…
Pansie and Plug 30cm x 40cm oil on board. 2024
Paper Planes 40cm x 50cm oil on board. 2024
Red Jug and Pickles, 30cm x 45xm oil on panel. 2024
Tulip in a Green jar. 30cm x 40cm oil on board. 2025
The Ligurian coastline is possibly the most iconic in Italy. In addition to being extremely scenic and beautiful in its own right, the coast of the Cinque Terre is home to some incredible geology, the sharp jagged rocks are characteristic of this coast.
This is my painting of the rocks at Riomaggiore.
Rocks, Riomaggiore. 40cm x 50cm. Oil on panel.
Many writers and poets have stayed along the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia. Riomaggiore, the first village of the Cinque Terre was an accessable and important place in the painting world in the 19th century. Riomaggiore inspired the Florentine painter Telemaco Signorini.
Sea and alleyways, light and shadow. The dark and narrow streets, the lashes of the sun between the rooftops, the melancholy of the steep stairways, the quiet small piazzas, the bright colourful houses. Riomaggiore has it all. It was thanks to these characteristics that Riomaggiore ended up playing a fundamental role in defining the Macchiaioli school.
Below is the view he painted of the harbour during the end of the 19th century.
I often buy fresh fish from the fish market in town, it is a busy outdoor market in the port town of La Spezia in Italy. These Red Mullets are fresh in each morning and they are very good fried or can also be served painted and put in a frame which was my first choice here. There is something I like when you buy fish wrapped up in paper instead of plastic and at the market everything is hastily wrapped up like this while the fish monger shouts about at whatever else there is for sale. When I got home I couldn’t wait to unwrap the package and start about painting the white paper set against the lovely pinky red and silver tones of the Mullets.
This painting will be exhibited this wednesday in – The Royal Society of Marine Exhibition – in London opening 30th September – 10th October. The show is up on the walls and open to the public (and also online as always for those who cannot be there). What a year it’s been!! I am very thankful that at least a small part of me has been sent to London, maybe I in person will patiently follow next year 😉
Six Red Mullets. 30cm x 40cm. oil on panel.
Every year from May to July when the sea has warmed up and the anchovies are big and lean they come into the markets and we buy enough to put them under salt, a process that rewards you with a tasty treat that will last and taste deliciously fresh for ages. Here are a few left over, the cat got these ones at the end.
FIve Anchovies on a Plate. 20cm x 35cm, oil on panel.
I spent an afternoon at the beach in Pietrasanta in Versiglia which is a big long stretch of sand that is the part of north-western Tuscany just next door to Liguria. It was nice to see so much sand infront of me and I sat on the shore while painting.
Pietrasanta, 20cm x 30cm, oil on panel.
Le Grazie is a small fishing village near La Spezia. There is a beach opposite which gives a good view across the harbour. Many of the beaches are formed of rocky coves and colourful fishermens villages and the sea is always rich in colour by all the reflected light from its surroundings.
Le Grazie. 20cm x 35cm.
And here below are a couple of paintings of Levanto which is the next town north of Monterosso. This is where my anchovies came from. The sea is crystal clear.
Its been 65 days since the start of Italian lockdown and thankfully the weather in Europe has been mild and sunny which all the more easier if you live in the rural hills and can get ouside exercise and avoid bumping into anyone. Italy’s lockdown has been strict with no one allowed to go outside unless for vitals and the schools have been shut since february, so all the better for staying at home and painting.
Normally I wouldn’t feel the need to explore the woods with my painting stuff close to the house but when there isn’t anywhere else to go you are kind of pushed by the force of adventure and just follow you feet. Woods play a big factor where I live. So after skidding down steep banks with the easel in one hand and tip toeing over slippery rocks with a palette of freshly squeezed paint in the other I found this spot on the river Mangia below our house, it’s a short flat stretch with a warm February midday sun reflecting on the water.
River Mangia, Val di Vara. 40cm x 50 cm, oil on panel.
The next river painting is a calm Spring afternoon on the River Vara. The river Mangia flows into this much bigger river that runs along the bottom of the valley. This river is very wide and deep and I liked the reflections from the trees on the water, the colours were lovely and I hope to go back soon. I think we are now allowed to travel for necessity but to be out painting and having a picnic could be seen as having too much fun (!!)
River Vara, Val di Vara- 35 x 25cm, oil on panel.
Travelling a little higher up into the hills you can overlook the whole valley from the Alta Via Dei Monte Liguri. The Alta Via is a stony road that takes you all through Liguria and into France and it could be one way in getting back to the UK on feet or wheels or a donkey without having to fly in an aeroplane! The horses in the foreground are privately owned and left to roam the pastures, there are at least fifty horses, some mules too and they are used to work on steep mountain tracks where tractors cannot go. The moutain in the middle is Monte Dragnone, the highest peak in the area. I wanted to get a sense of space in the painting with all the hills receding into the backround with thin washes of paint, (linseed oil and turpentine glazes). Something I find easier to do with winter colours than summer because there are more earthy colours in the undertones.
Midday from the Alta Via, New Years Day. Val di Vara, 40cm x 35cm, oil on panel.
The Alta Via, Casoni, Spring. oil on panel, 35cm x 35cm.
Here is the passo del Rastrello that is part of the Alta Via from in the previous painting. It is a little colder here and I have come across snow, it looks like I have just taken you through the wardrobe and into Narnia! (I painted this in 2019 when it snowed for a couple of days). This year it has been too mild for any of that kind of weather but it was nice to look at snow and to use different colours than usual.
Passo del Rastrello. 20cm x 25cm, oil on panel.
Dusk from the top of Monte Dragnone. This is the highest mountain in the area at over 1000mt. It takes a steep 20 minute hike to get to the top but once you have arrived there is a Sanctuary that is used during the many religious festa’s. Unfortunately this year they have all been cancelled but the view is rewarding.
Dusk from Monte Dragnone. 30cm x 40 cm, oil on panel.
Thankyou for looking and I hope you are all safe and well!
Here are a few oil paintings of things that grew in our garden this autumn. I enjoyed doing the couple of still life paintings outside instead of placing what you find outside and then bringing them inside and placing them carefully on a table with the right light like i did with the onions.
Saffron Crocus. Oil on panel.
These are the Crocus that you can use for cooking, the red strands of saffron are more valuable than gold and taste better too although I’ve heard some crocuses are posionous if eaten so be careful!
Onions, Oil on Panel
Beautiful pink onions from the garden, one of Renoirs most memorable paintings (in my eyes) was a still life of some onions – “Oignons”- that reminded me of these ones although I think his were a different variety with the skin being more yellow. His onions came from Naples 🙂
Three Quinces, Oil on panel
Three quinces from the tree lying in the grass, I love the shape of them and their classic yellow colour when they are ripe.
Here a few paintings while visiting the Isle of Wight. The weather was always sunny hence the repeating painted blue skies! This is a great spot of the entrance channel from Bembridge harbour leading into the sea. The old breakwater in the foreground is in need of repair as now the sand and shingle from the sea is fillling up the small harbour pretty fast. One day it will end up as a big sand pit. Then what will the owner of the harbour say?
Study Of Shells. Oil on panel, 30cm x 40cm.
This painting is currently on show in London for the Royal Society of Marine Artists in the Mall Galleries. It is a small still life of shells that my daughter found on Ducue Beach. When I got back to Italy I bluetacked the best shells onto a blue book and set them out in the sunlight to paint.
Bembridge Harbour. Oil on panel, 30cm x 40cm.
A nice spot of Bembridge Harbour to set up and paint where you can watch the boats and the tide go in and out, and the sand and shingle come in.
Seaview. on on canvas board. 30cm x 40cm.
Seaview is walking distance along the beach from Bembridge when the tide is out. In the distance you can see the mainland.
Before Summer arrives (snow is due Sunday and we are in Italy!! ) here are a couple of tree paintings that have been pending for a while on my computer.
Here I enjoyed trying to paint the early Spring light as it filtered through the woods behind the three Acacia trees. The light was cold and blue against the branches.
Midday. Oil on panel, 45cm x 55cm.
An olive grove in Tuscany. I walked around for a while and couldn’t make up my mind what to paint. It was winter and rain was on it’s way but I chose the olive trees because I think their colours are shown at their best when the light is muted and grey.
Anna Dennis | Oil Painter 