The piazza is the beating heart of the town, it’s a magnetic for everyone, full of bars and cafe’s, pizzeria’s and shops. Such a fantastic place for life to happen and for an artist to stand in the shadows and record comings and goings. The Wednesday market is a staple of life here in Tuscany. Rain or shine all year round the market happens.
There’s everything here, from fruit and veg to socks and handbags. All the traders have their spots in or around the piazza. The real draw for me are the fruit and vegetable stalls, all the colours and smells of each season as they change throughout the year. The smell of roasting chicken from a converted lorry. You can buy half a chicken with fried polenta pieces… they normally sell out by 11.00am!
I am drawn almost every day to paint the piazza and I’ve made several paintings already, but I wanted to capture the bustle of the market. All the awnings from the bars and the market traders jostling for position. Shadow shapes and patches of light across the piazza floor. My vantage point was on a slope towards the historical centre so it provided me with a slightly raised aspect.
A kindly neighbour wandered by and wanted to get me a coffee as it’s still fresh in the shadows and this first sitting took about 3 hours.
I worked in thin paint first, keeping everything loose. Then building thicker paint as the composition started to take shape. The palette was reduced as there were no bright colours in this scene. Ultramarine, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow, a tiny amount of cadmium red and the two whites, zinc and titanium.
Hopefully I’ve caught the business of life on market day.
Rupert Denyer 