Primavera - An inside look at the latest collection

I'm excited to share my latest collection with you. After months of work, it's gratifying to see the paintings all together. They were painted over winter in Italy, which has a distinctly different feel to it than at any other time of year. I live in an old farm house, surrounded by rolling hills, patterned with vineyards, olive groves and woodland. The stone walls are thick and take a few days to heat up with the wood burning stove, retaining the heat and the damp cold is mostly kept at bay. The mornings are frosty and often thick cloud descends, obscuring the views until midday. With the reduced daylight hours, there is pressure to be productive before the dark arrives. Flowers are hard to comeby. The last of the year were grown by my friend Guiditta, a local floriculturist. Her flower fields are carved out in the middle of an olive grove to protect from the wind. She has a passion for finding unusual and beautiful flowers to grow. The last of her crop were Cosmos and Zinnias. Together we'd scour the field, selecting different varieties, pointing out the most beautiful colours. 'Zinnias on blue and yellow' was painted with the last of her annual production.

Winter is a good time for reflection, the long hours by the fire, reading, looking at art and planning ahead. This winter I was drawn to the work of William Nicholson, an English painter from the early 1900s. I love his choice of colours, composition and the way that he finds beauty in simple subjects, elevating them to a place of contemplation. He will often include a metal or reflective object in his work, a kind of mirror to the world beyond the picture plane. His work inspired many of my smaller works on panel in this collection.

The first flowers to emerge are primerose in the woods, and hellebores. Followed by wild daffodils, that bring a burst of yellow to the grey landscape. My daily dog walks with Buddy are a great way to keep track of the subtle changes in the landscape and I will often take cutting sheers with me to forage as I walk. After months of winter, finding wild flowers feels like a gift.

Winter in Tuscany

A few times a week I drive the 45 minutes to my studio in Florence. I like to paint at home and in the studio, having the option of both is a luxury. There is a stillness in the studio, almost monastic, a place to go to focus. Setting up a still-life in the studio can sometimes feel contrived. I like to paint the every day, I'm often inspired when I'm cooking something and I look down to see the ingredients, laid out in front of me in a rainbow of colours. One of the advantages of the studio is its close proximity to Sant'Ambrogio market. The seasonal produce and the fish market are often where I'll mentally start a painting. Along the back corner of the market, stands the Pescheria, a glimpse into the ocean. The paintings in this collection involving fish all started out here. I always ask the fishmonger not to clean the fish and explain that I will paint them. They usually reply by telling me I must eat them after. The colder months are the best for painting fish, they keep for longer, and feeling the cold as I work makes me feel fresh and think of the ocean.

'Schiacchiata Fiorentina' and 'Fish from Sant'Ambrogio Market' oil on panel, 30cm x 40cm

'Schiacciata Fiorentina' also started in a small bakery close to the studio. I went there looking for inspiration and was ordering biscotti to paint when the baker insisted I try the Schiacciata Fiorentina, a dolce that is for carnival and only available around this time of year. I love the notion that food brings people together, particularly desserts which make everyone feel 5 years old again. I later showed the owner of the bakery my painting, now, after 15 years, he finally gives me the Italian rate for panini.

The landscape of Florence is one of my largest landscape paintings so far. The cathedral is the defining characteristic of the florentine cityscape. When you're in town, you get partial glimpses of it, framed by narrow streets, but it is only when you get some distance, that you can really comprehend its size. It is so much larger than anything else in the city, towering high above the rooftops below it. I wanted to portray this, as well as the surrounding hills and countryside that the city is nestled into.

Florence, Oil on canvas, 90cm x 110cm

The largest painting in the collection is 'Spring Flowers'. Painted in a small room in the house, where there is little light. The antithesis of the traditional studio, but that is precisely why I like it. There is atmosphere in that room, it feels real. The flowers are a mixture of foraged and market finds, arranged, painted, repainted as I like to do with the larger works. There is a musical element to a large floral composition, playing with the spaces between notes, drawing the viewers eye along a melodic line. I wanted the painting to feel like a moment in time, mid arrangement.

'Spring Flowers' Oil on canvas, 100cm x 130cm

There is a gap that I am always trying to close, where my life and art meet. I want the two to coexist, mirroring each other, inspiring each other.

The title of the collection is Primavera, the Italian word for spring. Life in Tuscany is aligned with the seasons. There is a sense that things happen at the right time, and at the right pace.

For me the paintings are about waiting for spring, the first feeling of sunshine after months of cold, of birdsong and stillness after seemingly endless wind and rain. The having which can only be appreciated by the not having.

The latest collection of 16 paintings is now available to view and purchase online. Click here to view them all.

-Amy Florence