#  >  > Non Asia Travel Forums >  >  > Travel the World Travellers Tales Forum >  >  Italy Abruzzo region 2014

## nigelandjan

Thought I,d share a bit of our Italian holiday we just come back from ,, try and lighten the place up a little , don't really know whats gone wrong with TD , but its all very different these days .

Anyway , we will try , I,m sorry I,m not gonna post lots at a time so it will be kinda drip fed as and when I can , sorry about that , but whatever it is its gotta be better than tearing seven bells out of each other .

We stayed in the Abruzzo region right up in the valleys in a place called San Vittoreto we could see the lovely old town of Citta St Angelo up on the top of the hills to our right and out to sea in the bay around Silva marina 


I didn't take a picture of the view outside our villa but i did a little pastel sketch

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## nigelandjan

We had a lovely 2 bed apartment under the owners in this huge old Italian farmhouse , it had been beautifully restored by the lovely English couple who live there .

On the first night of arrival they invite you upstairs for dinner and drinks with them so they get to know you and make you feel very welcome .

We are here for 2 weeks so lots to see and do and I have my painting gear with me 

The weather was bloody awful on arrival landing in a thunderstorm on a flooded runway , so after a bit of aquaplaning we eventually stopped and caught the bus back from Yugoslavia  :Smile: 



Anyway we awoke the next morning to an indifferent day of weather so we headed off up the autostrada toward the mountains near Soluna ,, here I am BLUE as you requested , but your gonna be disappointed ) as it never got completed .
BTW these barriers are not that strong to sit on  :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

Now all was going well I had drawn out what I was after , the clouds to my left became very black so I was working as quick as I could in gouache as I had no time to fanny around with watercolour ,, crash bang , splash I got no time for gouache ,, oh well off for a coffee

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## nigelandjan

Next day the weather broke and it was a lovely 30 deg so off we went to Lake Bomba ,, a truly beautiful place ,, her ladyship getting some pics on the piece of road I had previously just took some pictures on  :Smile: 










Ok more to follow I,m off to bed  :Smile:

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## fishlocker

Great sketch, youve got some tallent there. It looks like a real nice place to holiday. Keep up the good work and thanks for posting for us.

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## nigelandjan

This is at the end of lake Bomba , I,m not sure of the village name as we entered the village via the lake edge , it is bloody miles around there , really beautiful scenery although mostly single track with a lot of it falling into the lake .

This village at the end of the lake must have some of the best views in Italy , I will dig out some much better pics to show this later on .














Along the way there I just had to stop and make a quick watercolour splash and dash of the rolling hills , the sun was shining and it was so peaceful and quiet as most of the traffic pays to use the autostrada so this leaves the small old roads nice and quiet for those of us who have time to enjoy life .

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## blue

looks like there are some lovely scenes there to paint, with the  stone buildings and crazy roads all set in dramatic nature .

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## beerlaodrinker

Dammit, I can't see your pics on this iPad or the work puter this morning, how are you posting the pics, Gallery?  Photobucket?

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## nigelandjan

Gallery BLD sort mate


There will be lots more to follow hopefully

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## buriramboy

You drive all the way down there or fly and hire a car???

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## nigelandjan

> You drive all the way down there or fly and hire a car???








> The weather was bloody awful on arrival landing in a thunderstorm on a flooded runway , so after a bit of aquaplaning we eventually stopped and caught the bus back from Yugoslavia



I drive for a living so i kinda like a break

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## buriramboy

My bad, was only looking at the pics, lol.

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## nigelandjan

Now this area could turn into a whole 17 day painting holiday for me and that would be totally bloody selfish of me + the fact the missus has chipped in to help so I have to try to keep the peace by doing a couple of very quick water colour sketches a day and then spending time around the fashion shops etc with her .

So here are a just a couple of the many little sketches I managed to grab down 









I just love the higglty pigglty was these buildings are all cobbled together on all different angles of paths and roads beside them , lots and lots of steps to climb and explore

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## slackula

How was the food? And I hear the locals are really friendly down there.  :Mischievous: 






> I just love the higglty pigglty was these buildings are all cobbled together on all different angles of paths and roads beside them , lots and lots of steps to climb and explore


Italy is a pretty old country, you'd think they'd have discovered the spirit-level by now eh?

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## nigelandjan

The food mate ?? Jeeeeezus I could find something to eat in Issan easier than I could out there .

Every menu was written in Italian ( ok I accept its my fault I can't understand that ) no English subtitles or even pictures on the poxy menu , so we ate out 3 times ,, we got burnt squid + chips , liquidised salad in a glass , and some disgusting rubber shite .

Nearly every where is closed most of the day , so you could go out at 7 or 8 pm at night with a suit on in some poncey restaurant and pay 40 or 50 Euros per head ,, not my scene as if I don't have my dinner by about 6 pm I don't have it .

So we went to the supermarket and cooked our own food , I made 2 really nice spag bolls and the rest of the week was spent eating pollo , thats gai yang to you and me  :Smile: 


There was 2 rather nice meals over the holiday period , the first being at Stansted airport before departure and the second being a Chinese takeaway the wife paid for when we arrived home ,, boy did that taste good !

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## nigelandjan

This is one of the views from up the top of Cita St Angelo an ancient town , I,m not sure when the town was founded but I do know it was destroyed / attacked in 1239 then it was re built in 1240 its very very high up here 















This is another view from the other side of town 
























Another view from the east side of the town 



















and another 























as you can see I could well sit and paint here all week

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## nigelandjan

Here is a small gouache painting I did in a lovely little town called Chietta , I cut this out and framed it and left it with the owners of the property we stayed in , they was very pleased with it in its black frame , infact they was chuffed to bits we had given them something other than the 2 Euro bottle of red people normally leave as a gift

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## grasshopper

A fulfilling hobby to have, Nigel. Much more than most leave behind them.

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## nigelandjan

Thankyou FL  glad your enjoying it , thanks grasshopper ,, yes indeed it is mate ,, last year I was lucky enough to have a kind of early 5 month semi retirement , back a t work now btw ,,, and everyday was filled with my hobbies other than when I was attending the build bits of our house in Thailand which tbh wasn't much time at all .

I work about 55 hours per week , and have to help a bit with some of the domestic type work as the missus works in a care home all hours sent etc , so i don't get so much time for my hobbies , but one things for sure there is never enough hours in the day for me and i love every minute I can sit outdoors and paint .

I would recommend anyone to have a go , as you can see by my efforts you don't need to have much talent or be much good at it , but it really is about the taking part , its just so relaxing thing to do and the hours just seem to disappear

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## yortyiam

Nice to see some more of your efforts Nigel  :Smile: . Nice to see that there are still some unspoilt parts of the world ! You're not wrong in thinking that the pictures thread is indeed a good place to escape the dross too. Good work .

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## Loy Toy

My favourite place in Italy is around Lake Del Garda at the foothills of the Swiss alps.

Another great thread Nigel and Jan has nice legs.

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## Dillinger

> So we went to the supermarket and cooked our own food , I made 2 really nice spag bolls


Fancy going all the way  to Italy and knocking up your  own Spag Bol and masterpieces   :Smile:

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## Fozzy

Great thread, great photos and brilliant paintings. Totally bewildered by the fact you couldn't find any decent tucker though.

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## nigelandjan

> Another great thread Nigel and Jan has nice legs.


Bit cruel mate ,, what about mine ????

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## nigelandjan

> Fancy going all the way to Italy and knocking up your own Spag Bol and masterpieces


Yeah and running up hills  :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

Thankyou all above for your kind remarks and support ,, I always enjoy others similar threads , its always nice to see a little of others lives I believe

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## Dillinger

That first painting you did Nige, work of art


The rest look a tad unfinished,Hope that doesn't sound rude, Do you ever go back to a painting and add more detail? Can you do that once the paint's dried?

Oh and this one, you left the landlord, gives me the heeby jeebys. Them houses have spooky eyes



Do you see what I mean?
 the house on the right is angry or perplexed
The adjacent one placid or ready to blow
the top left one has done something wrong

Do you think I'd make a good art critique mate, or maybe I watched too much Thomas the Tank as a kid :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

TBH mate  NONE of these are what I would call paintings as such ,, they are only very quick renditions of the scene as its in front of me ,,  I will have them beside me when I paint them properly in my painting room at home .

I have a set of solid oak frames and some MDF 6mm board triple primed now ready to oil or acrylic paint , proper paintings on them , then hopefully I shall sell them  :Smile: 


As for going back to finish or go over , you can with gouache / oil / pastel / acrylic  , but not really with water colours , they are best left alone .

Thankyou for your interest , I love how you view the above picture , ,, it really does not matter how you see or interpret paintings ,, the real joy for me now is that it is making you think about it as you view it .

Right lets see now if I can dig some more pics out .

BTW there is a rather nice full and finished water colour coming up on here soon , I painted it in a little village / town square it has plenty of perspective in it , quite challenging it was ,,, BTW please go easy on the mushrooms before you view and leave comments  :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

This was the gaff we stayed in ,, absolutely one of the quietest places I have ever had the pleasure to stay in ,, this wouldn't be for every one there is bugger all here for about 10 miles so with the italian police,s zero tolerance to alcohol + driving it wouldn't suit those who like to go out and have a bit of a session , but for us 2 boring old farts it was idyllic 













Here you are mate ,, my perspective challenge , pick the bones outta that one  :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

Now I took this picture from someones drive , looking toward lake Bomba , if you can imagine behind me is the front of they're house with the living room and bedroom having views over the lake .

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## blue

Do Italians get fined if they don't have an orange roof ?

Did you paint any  nice churches,  those with the  tall slender towers ?

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## nigelandjan

I got some of them Bluey  , I,m sorry its such a mucking fuddle at the moment my collection is in my iPhone ,, galaxy tab ,, mac book , and Jans iPad ,, I,m so bloody bust at work and sorting me garden to ,, will get round to it .


Now you have mentioned the roof tiles , I will add the weird way they put them on the roof .

Basically most roofs are slabs of concrete , covered in torch applied felt , the the first layer of tiles layer on this upside down , then the next / top layer layer the correct way over the top of these , looks bloody awful , you will also see huge stones placed on the top layer to stop them blowing off , as they are not secured .


BTW do you fancy meeting up in London on a Saturday for a trip to the V + A to go to the Constable exhibition , was speaking to some one in the know today about it and he said its a cracker , lots of unseen work + descriptions of how he painted ?

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## blue

I'd like to, but I don't live in London anymore.
I was there from 81 to about 4 years ago, with a few breaks , but have not been there since .
 I'm now back in my native Yorkshire, but in Scarborough - white flight ..

I used to love visiting the London art galleries, if only to gaze at  the  lovely women looking at the paintings .

I think there is a  good Turner  exhibition too in the Tate

Trippy stuff for so long ago


Nice review here about  how you get sucked up into the whorls of paint ..

Late Turner: Painting Set Free | Tate Britain | Time Out London

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## nigelandjan

Yeah I know you live in Scarborough , but nowadays they have things called trains to transport you down to the big smoke .

Were going up by train from Frinton , just get a day railcard there,s some deals out there , we,ll have a gander round the V + A while the women ponce around the shops then we,ll meet up in Chinatown later for a big old buffett all you can shovel in for a fiver nosh up ,,,, deal or no deal ??

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## nigelandjan

BLD aint been back yet ,, anyone else having trouble viewing the pics ??

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## slackula

> BLD aint been back yet ,, anyone else having trouble viewing the pics ??


No probs seeing (and enjoying) them here. Only thing is they are a bit small at 640x480, 800x600 is the limit before you get the "click to view original size" bar I think, but you should post your pics as big as you can, let the board software do the resizing and stick 'em up in their full glory.

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## blue

> they have things called trains to transport you down to the big smoke


I go to bed about the same time you get up...
 my natural rhythms cannot be  upset.
A trip to Leeds a few weeks ago almost killed me off .
I'd probably  fall asleep on the train, miss the  change at York, and wake up in Liverpool.

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## nigelandjan

We can but live in hope ^   :Smile:

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## Albert Shagnastier

> Do you see what I mean? the house on the right is angry or perplexed The adjacent one placid or ready to blow the top left one has done something wrong  Do you think I'd make a good art critique mate, or maybe I took too much acid as a kid


Fixed that for you mate  :Smile:

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## Albert Shagnastier

That's good shit - top work.

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## slackula

> I'd probably fall asleep on the train, miss the change at York, and wake up in Liverpool.


Hmm, Merseyside vs Abruzzo..

Nah, best leave the travel threads to N&J.

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## nigelandjan

Now I am back at home and able to paint in relative , comfort I am doing a proper painting of the area as opposed to quickies ( Dill ) , this painting is about at the 50% finished stage , so I thought you might like to see the work in progress .

This is a scene I am now painting in oil on triple gesso primed board , I made a very quick water colour sketch of this on location in Citta St Angelo last Sunday evening . 

This will be framed in a solid oak frame later on after its varnished and will be signed and also for sale .

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## nigelandjan

For the more observant , you will notice my other pair of underpants I am using to clean my brush ,,, dedicated to the cause I am  :Smile: 

Anyone art minded , colours used 

    Cobalt Blue 

    Cad yellow light .

    Alizarin Chrimson 

     Yellow Ochre 

    Titainium White

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## blue

Interesting how some  painters have a neutral colour scheme in their studios; so as not to interfere with the job at hand.

While  less Sensitive Nigel can work totally unfazed by neon orange  day-glo walls...

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## nigelandjan

Similar in me hong naam mate ,, similar work produced in there to  :Smile:

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## beerlaodrinker

> BLD aint been back yet ,, anyone else having trouble viewing the pics ??


Still cant see em nige, work computer using 2 different browsers and the ipad , this seems to happen a fair bit dont know whats causing it, never mind i will be  home on teusday night should be able to see em on the home computer

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## nigelandjan

OK mate , well lets hope your not too disappointed tuesday night . :Smile:

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## Dillinger

> Anyone art minded , colours used 
> 
> Cobalt Blue 
> 
> Cad yellow light .
> 
> Alizarin Chrimson 
> 
> Yellow Ochre 
> ...

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## nigelandjan

Heathen ^   there is NO black in my painting thank you

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## slackula

> Heathen ^ there is NO black in my painting thank you


The people who name your paints seem to come from the same marketing classes as the people who name car colours!

Car company CEO: What colour shall we call this?
Secretary: How about "black", because it's you know.. black.
Marketing guru: AAAAAAAAAAARGGGHHHHHH! It's because of people like you that cars don't sell, forget about the explosive fuel tanks and hideous styling - get reals peeps! *taps furiously on iPad*
Car company CEO: So what name then?
Marketing guru: Our latest focus group says we should go with Arctic Midnight Satin Pearl Cosmos White!
Car company CEO: Fucking genius! See, that's why the marketing department (2 drink minimum) is worth the big money and unlimited expense account!
Marketing guru: Exactly, we are inventing a new paradigm as we explore the synergistic yet alluring match of language, form and my budget review.
Secretary: *facepalm*

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## nigelandjan

Well here we are a lovely spot in the Citta St Angelo area , still not finished as I still have to glaze some serious cloud shadows in the foreground as and when its dry . Unfortunately the picture on here does it no justice , it looks fairly flat and lifeless , the highlights do not show up on here , but in the real I am overjoyed with how this has turned out .

This time last week we was sitting looking at this lovely view

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## nigelandjan

The beach at Pescara ,, obviously just about the end of the season

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## nigelandjan

This was on the way up to our villa ,, cracking place , but hell to find the first time

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## nigelandjan

Betty was looking for a new bike to impress the neighbours in the village a little while back ,, how about this Italian stallion

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## Bogon

I know naff all about painting, but I can say that you caught the man crossing his legs on the bench really well.



Top thread. Hope to see some more... :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

Sorry the picture uploader is being a right pain in the arse Ive put up 6 pics tonight and only one came out 

This is the pic the entrance to the harbour at Pescara , we walked over that bridge and had a wander round the fish market the other side

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## beerlaodrinker

Great stuff nige, sounds like you had a relaxing holiday, damn shame you had to cook your own eye tie food though,

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## patsycat

I am loving your thread, what with the different piccies and then paintings.  Brava.

But, i do not understand how you could not have found food that you like in Italy!!  You say that you rented your room from a British couple - could they not have helped?

You saw the vistas etc. but sadly missed out on the cuisine.

You talk about the fish market in Pescara, there must have been loads of restaurants around there to eat fresh seafood etc.

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## nigelandjan

Dunno if you have read any of the above PC but I explained  , what with nothing in English on the menus we could understand ,, no pictures even to give you an idea , and no sooner did we sit down to eat , some dirty twat lit a fag up on the next table , to add smoke to our burnt squid and chips.

We also like to eat our dinner before 6pm or very close to ,, not a lot of good when all we could find was a capuchino + sticky bun up until about 8pm.

All I will say is the Italians could survive without food , but not without tobacco .

Its horses for courses ,, others will love it , we did apart from the food .

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## patsycat

I understand, but when you visit a country etc etc.

Here in Switzerland in the summer and autumn the restaurants don't really start doing business untill eight or nine at night.  When the tourists and locals go out and about.  I imagine in Italy it is the same.  Also Spain Greece whereever.

Just, that because you have your tea at six - don't put down the food.  And i am sure there was at least one person in the restaurant to translate for you.

You must have been able to recognise certain food stuffs on a menu - pizza, carbonara, bolognese etc.  so don't tell me that the food was crap just because you eat your tea at six as opposed to the rest of the population who eat at eight.

Nothing against you, but when abroad...  and also you had decided long before going to Italy that you wouldn't like the food..

Your loss.

And the smoking thing, when on a terrace people can smoke.  Inside they can't.  Just like in England, except not a lot of people sit outside all day long in England.

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## nigelandjan

FFS !  I wish I hadn't mentioned the poxy food ^ 

I never went there to eat ! I went there to enjoy the scenery and paint !

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## nigelandjan

One of the many street markets we visited during our stay , not my choice of thing to do on holiday , but you know who loves rummaging around market stalls 











This is the windy hill road which leads up into Citta St Angelo , the parking here was reasonable enough to find and when you did find somewhere it was free to park , even right up the top car park .

I found generally driving and parking was no problem at all , some had said to me before I went about crazy Italian drivers , but no compared to other people in the world where I have driven I found them to be more polite and generally a better standard of driving . 

One tip for anyone driving there , one thing they do is when they want to join traffic from a side road / entrance etc they will push the car out halfway into your path of driving , now at first this pissed me off a bit BUT  ,,,,, I soon realised this is the way to go out here , as when you are in the same situation they will politely stop for you and let you go . 

Also unlike Thailand politeness toward other road users is met with an acknowledgement of thanks ,, unlike the braindead Thais who glumly drive past looking into la la land after you pull over to give way to them .

In my book pure ignorance

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## nigelandjan

A couple more paintings for you from the region , first one in oils second water colour

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## nigelandjan

An acrylic version of the above water colour ,, do you know I could paint all year round in Italy , what a wonderfully inspirational place to paint !


However I would take sarnies next time   :Smile:

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## blue

Nice compostion in that oil.

I like the acyrilic version  much better than the watercolour,  on  which the white rocks  look a bit startling   and  the whole thing maybe too much like,   if I'm remember correctly , the painting of a small fishing boat you did a while ago .

But hang on , I thought you'd thrown those acyrilic paints  out of the pram, due to them Drying  too fast or something like that   and wasn't getting anymore ?,,did you use some  drying retardent or something .


You mut be due another holiday soon with all the money you saved not eating that overpriced slop, in those   Italian restaraunts .

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## nigelandjan

Your right Bluey mate ,, I,m off to the LOFS next month ( alone ) ssshh!!

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## Dillinger

Bellissimo !!








> I,m off to the LOFS next month ( alone ) ssshh!!


That came around quick... Why isnt Jan coming ?

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## SiLeakHunt

there's no numbers on the canvas, how do you know where to put the colours ?

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## nigelandjan

> Why isnt Jan coming ?


She don't get on with the mai noi to well  :Smile:

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## nigelandjan

> there's no numbers on the canvas, how do you know where to put the colours ?


Its in brail     :ssssh:

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## Dillinger

> She don't get on with the mai noi to well


You dont have a kik as an intermediary ? tut tut

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## nigelandjan

^ No I can't be doing with all that hissing when the claws come out  :Smile:

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## roamer

> A couple more paintings for you from the region , first one in oils second water colour


Hi Nigel

I particularly like the oil painting


Lovely thread and sketches/paintings.

Not a part of Italy I`ve been to.

Thanks.

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## nigelandjan

Thankyou for your kind words of encouragement Roamer ,, there will be more paintings as and when I manage to produce them ,, unfortunately what with my full time work being very busy and the wifes working 70 + hours a week now I have to fill in with more and more housework etc ,,,, its not easy

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