Author Archives: santacruzmountainrunners

After hiking around the coastline near Rafina, I decided on this view to paint.

I spent about a week visiting friends in a small town outside of Athens in a town called Rafina which is on the coast. Some hills and small white churches make for some interesting painting subjects along with the beautiful blue green waters of the seas.

Here is another view looking downstream toward the busier part of town and the wonderful, colorful houses on the bank of the river. A small pre-sketch on the card above the painting.

I was able to take a few painting classes at a small art school where one class focused on painting with palette knife and another class focused on various painting techniques and processes. Here are the two paintings and the instructor from Greece.

Just outside of the Florence are steep hillsides with houses tucked into the mountains. Rain came to Florence for a few days forcing me to paint inside my apartment so here is a picture of my studio

Here is another painting done on the same park section as the other Urno river but a different view direction.

In late October 2025, I spent some time in Florence, Italy painting and taking painting classes. Here is a painting painted in the park on the Urno River.

Today I painted another picture plein air style out on the trail with the lake in the background. I hiked about 1.5 miles down the side of the lake to reach this area where the light comes behind the aspen trees and other oaks just back from the lake.

A real plein air painting session with another local plein air painter Andrea. This was a fun afternoon painting with a local, very seasoned artist who has painting styles and techniques that I am working toward in my oil paintings.