Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy

Although Montepulciano is one of the most beautiful hilltowns in Tuscany, and especially so when viewed from the surrounding countryside, it does have a lot of tourists. Its main street, which connects the lower and upper areas of the town, has too much motor traffic to be a good painting location. It does, however, have some great places to paint if you know where to look. One of these locations is by the Porta de Grassi. The few streets around this zone have that magic three-part formula of:

• Good light/shade pattern on the subject


• Shade for the painter, which is really important in June, July and August


• Little traffic and few tourists.

The trash collector who works in this area each morning is very interested in art and often stops to chat! From Montepulciano, you get beautiful long vistas of the Valdichiana valley. These views can be spectacular on a stormy day, reminiscent of a Turner landscape. Parts of the valley can be hit by sunlight with warm greens and ochres, while other areas are under cloud shadows in cool grays and blues, getting bluer in the distance as the vista recedes to the mountains of Umbria. A great place to get this view is from the Art Deco Caffé Poliziano.

I painted the "Madonna di San Biago", under the walls of Montepulciano. It is a beautifully architectured church in a lovely setting. Sunsets are particularly beautiful. A good place to stay is Montorio, an agriturismo just outside the old town. Although you have some traffic noise from the main Pienza/Montepulciano/Chianciano road, it is more than compensated for by its great location. Not only is it within walking access of the old town, but it has the advantage of being the best sunset painting location in Montepulciano. As a guest you have three options at sunset, from painting the sunset itself from outside your room, to painting the view of the beautiful church of San Biagio as the last rays of the sun catch the warm tones of the stone, to painting the golden orange/green of the sun on the hill of cypress trees just below the old town – simply magical. You have to book early to get this place though, since they only have five apartments.

Overall rating: *****
Aesthetics: *****
Accessibility: **
Tranquility: **
Variety: ****
Shade: ***

Map: Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy

This location contributed by:
Barry John Raybould

Castello, Venice, Italy

The Castello area is one of the few genuine neighborhoods of Venice. In this area you will find some everyday scenes to paint and practice your plein air painting skills. You can paint the market stalls that set up every morning on Via Garibaldi, the vegetable barge on the canal at the end of the same street, and the avenue of trees through the Giardini (gardens) that lead to the embankment where you have open views of the lagoon.
When you are planning any painting, it is important to make sure you spend a lot of time getting the composition right before you put brush to canvas, or you are wasting your time. I am currently renting an apartment in the Castello area so I get a lot of opportunities to practice my compositions, such as in this painting I did of the vegetable barge owner and his customers who tend to stand around chatting for a long time which gives you plenty of chance to get them in place.
If you paint here you my find a few of the local "artists" will come and chat to you about your work, or theirs, but you will not be bothered by too many tourists since there is not much in this area of Venice to attract them.

Overall rating: ***
Aesthetics: *****
Accessibility: *****
Tranquility: ***
Variety: ****
Shade: ***

Map: Castello, Venezia, Italy

This location contributed by:
Barry John Raybould

Giudecca, Venice, Italy

Giudecca island in Venice is off the beaten path for the tourists. It may not be as attractive overall as the other islands in Venice for plein air painting, but it does have some very beautiful spots for painting the water. It also has the advantage that it is relatively quiet and you get to meet the locals Venetians along the quay front where they do their shopping. (There’s a great fresh fish shop here too).
When I stayed there I had a third floor apartment that had views up towards Santa Maria della Salute, and the morning scenes on the water were stunning. I got up several times at five in the morning to paint the canal in the sunrise. The morning light sparkles on the water and the silhouette of San Giorgio Maggiore together with that of Santa Maria della Salute makes a backdrop. The effect lasts around only a half hour so you’ll need a couple of painting sessions to get it.
Be prepared however, if you stay next to the Giudecca canal, that all the large cruise ships come along this canal to the docks, and they completely dwarf the palaces, many of these ships being
twelve stories high. There is a tremendous amount of boat traffic on the Giudecca canal which is interesting to watch, although it does go on all night long if you have a room right next to the canal.
They are rebuilding the canals and renovating the promenades, and I found some unusual canal paintings formed by the construction equipment used. If you go down the back alleyways here though, you can really get away from the tourist traffic since only locals go there, and you can paint the calmer waters of the smaller canals. All in all I like Giudecca island as a base for Venice and have been back several times to paint.

Overall rating: ****
Aesthetics: ****
Accessibility: *****
Tranquility: *****
Variety: ***
Shade: ***

Map: Giudecca, Venezia, Italy

This location contributed by:
Barry John Raybould

Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy

Venice has a unique character and, although packed with tourists, there are some good plein air painting spots off the beaten path that you can get to easily using the public water taxi system. There are several islands in the Venetian lagoon including the less visited Giudecca as well as the more well known islands of Murano and further afield, Burano.

No matter what time of day you go to Piazza San Marco, it is crowded with tourists waiting to get water taxis to other locations, or lining up to get into the Doge’s Palace. I tried to plein air paint along the waterfront a few times where there are lovely views across to San Giorgio Maggiore, and although the view was magnificent, you won’t be able to avoid the hordes of tourists. I like the evening view the best since the late light on the façade of San Giorgio is beautiful. It is best viewed from across the water from San Marco but you can also get a view of it from the promenade next to the Santa Maria della Salute.
I did this plein air painting of Santa Maria della Salute from Piazza San Marco on a rainy day so there were not too many tourists around to bother me. There is only one location where you can get a good view to Santa Maria della Salute without being on a private restaurant balcony or in a main thoroughfare and away from the tourists, but you need to explore the side alleys quite a lot to find it. When you find the right alleyway, it ends up in a small platform over the water in front of one of the palaces and has a great view over to Santa Maria della Salute. This particular alleyway is almost directly opposite the church. You won’t be bothered by tourists, just the occasional person using the boat moorings there to load supplies. I didn’t find any secluded places where you can get an interesting oblique view and I spent several hours trying. The only oblique view was from in front of the water taxi stop, but there was a lot of traffic there.

Money saving tip: if you are planning to stay in Venice for a week or so, buy one of the weekly passes on the water taxis. It’s much cheaper and you’ll have easy access to the whole of Venice.

Overall rating: **
Aesthetics: *****
Accessibility: *****
Tranquility: *
Variety: **
Shade: **

Map: Piazza San Marco, Venezia, Italy

This location contributed by:
Barry John Raybould