Fairy Family on Planet Fairly Floss...

Life is a bit too serious at time so I have decided to re launch my Family of Fairies.
http://fairyfamily-planetfairyfloss.blogspot.it/
I originally began to paint these fairies in the early 2000 and finally sold many of them around the world.  I always loved the bit of fantasy and have written some stories to about the fairies and where they came from.
Here are a few of my new fairies...

Abella 

Adana

Adabella

Abby

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Mercato di Napoli

I was so inspired to paint this beautiful market in Napoli.   I loved the way the light was almost like sunshine on all the items that were for sale. I tried to capture the essence and I am very happy with the results.

Exhibition in Via Guilia 194A, Roma 10 December - 7 January 2014

The following are a few of my new paintings for the above exhibition.  They are all the same size of 21 cm x 29.7 cm. (A4) 

Where have I been? Not writing on my blog thats for sure!

We recently went to Napoli for the weekend.  I have been to Napoli before and its truly a very unique place in the world.  A crazy place I call the wild west because its filled with thousands of people living a vastly different life from what I guess I know.  The last time I was there was when the garbage collection strike was on, and every night in the piazza of the railway station people lit fires in the big plastic bins and surrounding rubbish.  It was horrific for all the people trying to conduct business in shops and restuarants and even for mothers with children to go buy some food at the local supermarket.  They have incredible markets with the freshest food.  They sell everything much of which I suspect is highly counterfeit, even cigarettes which I have never seen sold in this way.  The people of Napoli are incredibly friendly and treat you like a long lost friend if they see you more than once.

I loved this place it was great and I could wait to paint it.  I am working on the painting now.

We went to have coffee and were told that there was no hot water in this massively big cafe, its seemed so strange but perhaps not....
So we decided to have a glorious little cake and an aperitivo instead.

This little place sold lots of horse stuff, must have been one of my husbands long lost relatives, with the same surname.  His father was actually born in Napoli.  My husband says sadly that his father would turn over in his grave if he could see what has happened here now.

Fantastically fresh seafood.  Big tubs of fresh vongole and cozze.

ROMA

I went to see a friend who is an artist and lives in the very center of Rome.  I live about 20 minutes away so I had to catch a bus and the metro.  I arrived at the Spagna, the station near the Spanish Steps, hundeds of people even thought it was around five in the afternoon.  But all so stunning.  I walked along a street and had the most amazing view looking over this beautiful city.

Sometimes I actually forget I live here and then I am suddenly jolted back to reality when I see something like this. Its hard to describe the feeling of pure joy at seeing all this history.  I love walking on the streets that millions of people have walked on for centuries.  If only the stones could talk!

When I went for a cafe in the piazza which is what I do normally the view from the night before was still imprinted on my brain.  I went for a little walk and saw these beautiful amaryllis and knew I had to paint both of them togethere.

And I am so pleased with the results.

For me as an artist Rome is filled with inspirational subjects, I am very fortunate to live in this wonderful city.

This weekend I am going to Napoli with my husband who is speaking at a book launch for a colleague.

I have been to Napoli a few times but its kind of a crazy place which I called the wild west.  When I was last there I was staying near the Piazza and the railway station and there had been a garbage collection strike which had been going on for many months.  The beautiful pizza was filled with overflowing big garbage bins which the some of the angry locals set alight every night, so the air was filled with fire and stinking garbage.  It was not that great.  We caught a bus to go to the port and were stopped just past the piazza by a road block of any people protesting and had to get of the bus, could have been very bad for us but it was ok.  My last memory looking out of the hotel before fleeing to the airport was a long line of army trucks driving past my window in the rain.

Lago di Nemi

I decided to have a little drawing/painting trip to a little place called Lake Nemi, about 40 minutes by car out of Rome.  It is so beautiful, the lake where Romans spent the summer rowing huge boats on the volcanic lake.  Its so beautiful and so uniquely different.  

I took my gorgeous dog Lucy, who also loved it!  She is a hunter of all things moving, mice, pigeons and of course her absolute favorite - Cats, not that she catches them.  There were cats everywhere, strutting up and down the tiny streets.  The cats of Italy are very fierce creatures, they live by their wits and are looked after and fed by everyone in the neighborhood and afraid of nothing!! including my dog.

The beautiful thing about the lake apart from the magnificent history, was that when you looked at it, it was different everytime, because of the sun moving across the sky.  

It has been a place where painters have gone for centuries to paint the lake.  I was very inspired and painted non-stop for five days in a row.

This painting by George Inness  1857 is one of many paintings done over the centuries of the beautiful Largo di Nemi.

Its very exciting for me as an artist to be able to go to such a historical place where so many artists have gone to paint before me.   That is one of the most incredible things about living in a country such as Italy.

Largo di Nemi I  

Largo di Nemi III

Sheryl A. Cooke

''One of A Kind''