Italian Heritage

Hi Everyone,

SOLD "Italian Heritage" 11" x 14" original watercolor on 260lb Arches by Carrie Waller

Here is my finished painting.  I had a lot of fun with this commissioned piece.  I have never had so many components in a still life and never painted any of these elements before except for the green bottle.  It was a great challenge and I feel ready to tackle more veggies:)  Maybe I should make this into a series, I say that about almost every painting.  But wouldn't it be fun to travel around the world through food.  What is in the kitchen of someone in Greece, Spain, Germany, England, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China, etc.  Wouldn't that be fun.  I'll add it to my ever expansive list of painting ideas!

This piece was commissioned by my favorite 3rd grade teacher.  We reconnected through facebook after 28 years.  I moved around a lot as a kid so I was thrilled we found each other.  The still life is comprised of pieces from her heritage and things she saw in the kitchen when she was growing up.  She mailed me the olive oil can to include in the piece because it is from Sicily where her family originates.  We talked about other elements to include, she wanted the Italian trinity (carrots, celery and garlic) included.  She said there was always olive oil and fennel in the kitchen when she was a kid.  I added in the olives. She also loved the green bottles I painted and asked if I could include some green glass.  And of course I did all of my photo references with dramatic natural sunlight, which proved difficult during these gray winter days.  All in all I just love the lively colors in this piece even though it's mostly greens, there was just such a variety.  And the graphic punch from that olive oil can really sets everything off. 

Carrie