Masts Forgiving Lateness: the bar that stays open
Nice's old port after the crowd left, one bar still lit, masts holding the last hour.
Marco Bellini
Based in Florence, Italy. Works in a style called Tuscan Impasto: heavy palette-knife impasto, cypress trees and terracotta rooftops, golden Tuscan light, visible knife ridges and drag, warm saturated earth palette.
Violet Before the Stars: The hour I paint from memory
Santorini's caldera at the moment the blue turns violet, one taverna lamp holding the last warmth.
Train Arriving Amber: I painted the lamp smoke, not the train
The Cinque Terre train pulls into Vernazza at lamplight, and the harbour bowl holds every reflected bulb like pooled honey.
Cable Climbing Blue: I painted it from memory a week later
The funicular in Kotor climbs into blue air while the town lights below switch on one by one.
Steps Cooling Down: why I paint harbour towns after dark
The best time to paint Amalfi is after you've left it.
Table Still Warm: Painting the moment after you leave
A Venice canal painted from a table nobody cleared yet.
Balcony Already Lit: One Window Still Warm After I Left
I paint harbour towns after dark, from memory, so the lights stay where I needed them.
Stone Held Horizontal: Dubrovnik as one clean line
I kept the walls flat and let the harbour do nothing, because that is how the eye actually takes it in.
Wake Turning Gold: Why I Paint Harbours After Dark
The ferry leaves at six-forty and by seven the wake is catching the first lamp from the cliff.