When we moved into our new apartment a few months ago there was a surprise that had been covered up by the previous owner with a modern cupboard. Set into the wall were some very old shelves and drawers. They were extremely shabby, but perfect that way and a great match for two old frescos on the dining room walls.
After attempting this watercolour, I now agree with Laura - interiors are difficult. She just makes them look easy!
I would love to know more about the origin of our frescos - both exactly the same - either side of the window. They look like a traditional design. Has anyone see it before?
5 comments:
Oh, what a GREAT surprise! And what a lovely sketch, too. You did an amazing job on the furniture and the vase of flowers! When you say fresco, do you mean it was literally painted into the wet plaster? It looks so crisp---how old do you think it is?
Thank you, Laura. It was kind of you not to mention the table running up hill and the composition. The flowers weren't meant to be in the middle of the picture. I got distracted by my favourite little turquoise tea pot. I could crop it but I'd have to tear it out of the sketchbook.
I believe these are a frescos but it has been overpainted at some stage. There are nails in the centre of both bows, so obviously someone hated them enough to hang something else over them. It looks a bit French, don't you think - or maybe 17th century Italian? Then again it could be 1950s. I still like them.
Lovely little fresco. I'd love to see this corner as a painting or drawing - pull back slightly to show a little more of the window and more of the ceiling - great corners! Now there is a challenge for you!
Hi Robyn - I thought it was a really good sketch. Stuff everything being absolutely spot on correct - that's just boring. It's the quirky bits which make watercolour sketches interesting!
I've done a stencilling class which involved stencilling on plaster (in Provence!) and I'm thinking that this looks incredibly like a stencil - albeit you wouldn't generally have all the fruit joined up. It looks too 'fresh' for it to be an old fresco
Thanks for the challenge, Anita. There's nice subtle values in the corner and the shutters that you could capture. I'll have to work on it.
Katherine - Thank you, that's a lovely comment coming from you.
I hadn't thought of my 'frescos' being stencils. Maybe they are. There are shadows of frescos higher on the wall. That's why I thought someone had restored these. I'm sure they are not very, very old. The class in Provence sounds delightful.
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