After the Thaw, Painting Behind the Roman Forum

After the Thaw, Painting Behind the Roman Forum

Roman Forum from Behind Santa Maria Nova6×8″Oil on Linen Panel© Kelly Medford, 2012Wow, we’ve had some crazy winter weather here in Rome, but it’s finally come back to what we know and love, sun!After painting several still lives I was able to get outside to paint. While I wasn’t ready to take on the full intensity of painting amongst a crowd, I found this gorgeous little corner to paint next to the Roman Forum.I’m always such a sucker for those gorgeous shafts of light, giving the contrast between the warm bathing light of the sun and the cool receeding purple in the shadows, and this captured it perfectly.I stopped my bike here and began to paint, there wasn’t a soul in sight and while I could hear the murmur of the tourists’ voices in the Forum just on the other side of these ruins, I couldn’t see them.As I began to paint though a group rounded the corner. I must have looked like an improptu information booth. People stopped to ask where they could buy tickets and enter the Forum, how to get to the Colosseum and someone even asked me where they were. A French group wanted to know about the history of the church I was snuggled up against and when it was open. Geez! No one seemed to notice that I was working painting, granted I had only gotten a few strokes down.I began to wonder if I had chosen the right place to get some quiet painting done: who was I kidding I was out on the first warm sunny day in weeks and right next to the busiest (and one of the most beautiful) spots in Rome.Just as I was questioning whether to stay or go, the crowds disappered and I was left alone to paint. I had just enough time to capture the magic of this place before the shadow enveloped it, leaving it to rest again.If you like this painting, you can own it by clicking here.