While living Florence, Italy, I walked into an antique shop looking for a goodbye gift for someone I met there. She's also a painter and a great artist.  Prior to leaving Florence, I bought her a beautiful artisinal hand-made ceramic dish with two lovebirds perched at the top.  The dish was also delicately painted with traditional Italian motifs.  It was the perfect gift to say goodbye prior to returning to New England.  I'm forever buying gifts for others, so before leaving the antique shop, I decided that I deserved to give myself a gift too.  That's when this little green teacup on the shelf appeared. I thought it would be great to paint this little green teacup as the protagonist in a still life.  I really loved that the spout of the teapot looked like a little dragon, so I painted it that way...   I also found a little ceramic soldier at a flea market while strolling through Piazza Santo Spirito.  So I painted the little teacup together with the soldier in my studio.  The antique gold wooden frame is also from Firenze.  As you can see, I put everything from Florence all together and now it is a work of art.  Therefore, this still life is a precious little tribute to my time living in Firenze.  The influence of living in Florence has allowed me to return to my love of drawing.  Click next to see the underdrawing process of my new italian inspired paintings.

​