Visiting Tuscany, Italy

Tuscany Color Study
9 x 6", acrylic on panel
Rita Salazar Dickerson

It almost seems like a dream to me now. It was a warm, fall day. I sat in the shade underneath a fruit tree and looked out upon this scene of rich greens and sienna colored roof tops. 

Village Church In Tuscany
5 1/2 x 3 1/2 (sketch book) Ink Pen
Rita Salazar Dickerson

We arrived late at night in Tuscany. With the car's headlights, the only distinctions that I noticed as we drove up and down the narrow, winding, country roads was the relatively warm, dry air and the tall Cypress trees that occasionally loomed over us - silhouetted against the dark sky. And so the next morning I was excited to see the great contrasts to what I had been seeing in England.

Our first goal was to visit Siena. Along the way we stopped briefly at a little village. I only had a few minutes to draw and so I looked up to see this church with its simple yet interesting roof line. I had to forgive myself for all of the imperfections from the moment I started - reminding myself that the purpose of this sketch was to study the lines, note the perspective of the bell tower - and to draw a memory!