Night on the Town
Winter Lights, Via del Corso8×6″Oil on Panel © Kelly Medford, 2012Winter in Rome has gotten chilly recently, but I couldn’t resist going out to paint some of the Christmas time lights. Armed with just a tiny easel that I can rest on one arm while painting with the other, I set out to the center of town.In one of the main drags, which is the longest straight street in Rome, via del Corso, they have adorned the entire length of the street with lights the colors of the Italian flag in honor of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. It’s quite a sight, and a bit overwhelming while standing directly under them, so I went to a sqaure and stood looking towars the steet to paint this.Now the tricky part of painting at night is of course that it’s dark! So this adds an extra element of fun, not being ably to fully see what I’m painting, just knowing which colors are which on my palette from memory and mixing what I think is more or less the right value, more so than the right color.This is a sketchy sketch, meant to give the sense of the moment in the square and the lights against the sky coming into the street. I liked stalking around with my little thumbox and it’s a time of year not to be missed for painting.If you like this painting, you can bid on it here at my Daily Paintworks site.