Artfocus: Tuscan Villa

THE STORY BEHIND THE TUSCAN VILLA PAINTING

My work is tremendously inspired by the French. If reincarnation exists, I was certainly French in a former life for my love of the countryside, buildings and food.

This painting, entitled Tuscan Villa, was created in April 2005 and is in my personal art collection; however, prints are available on my website at (www.alicialeeke.com). It was inspired by the Senanqu Abbey in Provence, France, but with my own personal twist.

Creative license played a major role in the creation of this painting. Up until 2008, I painted very little with grey as a major component in my compositions (I think to date only three so far and mostly as color field studies for landscapes). As a matter of fact, I find grey to be the drabbest color in the color spectrum and try to eliminate it from all paintings where possible (Until the painting of Stockholm and Five O’clock Shadows in 2009). In real life, this Abbey is very brown / grey with beautiful contrasting fields of lavender.

But due to my dislike of grey at that time, and my love of harvest gold, I turned this painting into a tropical paradise making the building a creamy gold with a red Spanish-style shingle roof and lush tropical lime-green trees and blue sky. While beautiful, the lavender fields were replaced with lush crops in varying shades of green dotted with hints of red, gold and a tinge of lavender.

This is truly a painting I painted for myself! I love the distorted lines and lack of perfection in perspective. In fact, I believe freedom to create without worry of judgment is what sets my Cityscape paintings apart from other artists.

The two abstract shapes in the foreground are actually people harvesting lavender. I liked the figures so much as they were unfinished; I decided not to clothe them.

In May 2008, I went on a Spiritual retreat in Star, North Carolina with Gary Spivey and met some incredibly interesting people. Later, I was commissioned by a fellow guest to paint a similar version of this piece. This commission is much larger than my 16 x 20 original at 30 x 40 in size, and after a few conversations, the painting is taking an additional direction and turning into a Montresorri School. The requestor asked for stained glass windows to be added signifying her love of children. Ironically, I don’t believe she knew the original piece was of an Abbey.

This is one of the few pieces in my body of work that I created about three open-edition, gallery-wrapped giclees. At this printing, I am not sure if I will do any additional open editions of any of my paintings because I personally prefer signed and numbered limited-editions.

Signed and numbered giclee prints of Tuscan Villa are available for $250 framed and matted, or $80 unframed. The current edition has 250 prints total with some still available as of this posting. The two open edition prints are available at investor prices and will be customized for the purchaser for provenance. For more information or to order your copy, email me at info@alicialeeke.com.

Image copyrighted by the artist. All rights reserved.

THE STORY BEHIND THE NONNAH'S PAINTING

I've been asked to send out images of available works and I'll be posting some works and a little information about the pieces with a spotlight on them one at a time.

To kick this feature off on my blog, I'll start with a few older works intermingled with newer works. Additionally, as events arise where I'm showcasing new work, I'll include that too.

The first work that is being highlighted is called "Nonnah's" and is very popular around the United States especially after customers hear the story behind it. I'm always glad to hear of other stories about the word Nonnah's which I have learned over the years from my customers during shows, so please share any you might have.

Nonnah's was one of the very first pieces created when I started painting in 2005. The original is in my personal collection and I sell prints of this piece at the Gallery at Nonnah's in Columbia or on my website (http://www.alicialeeke.com/).

Nonnah's is a local establishment in Columbia, South Carolina on Gervais Street. On one side is a restaurant that serves lunch and dinner weekly and on the other is separate Fine Art Gallery with about eight artists. I was included in one of their first shows in 2005 and later became a resident artist in 2008. Just before the opening night of Artista Vista, the state newspaper ran a photo of my mother and our friend Vasa walking down Gervais Street on the way to my first show there which was the inspiration for this painting. I later went back and photographed that building from several angles and painted three different versions (one of which was a commissioned painting.)

The original piece was named in French: MERE ET VASA AUX LIMIERE DE VISTA. However, I later simplified the name to just "NONNAH'S" to reflect the name in the painting and make it easier for customers to understand and give greater meaning to local residents and patrons.

The owner of Nonnah's, Maggy Groff, named her establishment after her daughter Shannon. So, Nonnah's spelled backwards is Shannon. Ironically, after showing the painting and subsequent giclees, my customers began to share with me that Nonnah's also means grandmother in Greek and Italian. Aside from the fact that the painting gives Columbia a "French" feel with this painting, it is also extremely popular elsewhere because of the stories behind the painting and the fact that customers just really like the piece and old world feel of it. I always like to tell the story that if Columbia were Paris (as much of the inspiration for my work is) this is what it would look like.

Gervais Street in Columbia is a straight street, but my creative license has it with a curve to add interest.

Signed and numbered giclee prints of Nonnah's are available for $250 framed and matted or $80 unframed. The current edition has 250 prints total with some still available as of this posting. To order your copy, email me at info@alicialeeke.com.

Image copyrighted by the artist. All rights reserved.