Making Terra Pozzuoli

Terra Pozzuoli is a natural red-earth colour, although originally from southern Italy, it can be found in  many other locations around the world, to me it would be the perfect colour to paint the Australian desert and similar landscapes. It is a very strong colour with a big personality, while mixing, a little will go a very long way, overpowering all other colours, it is in fact, the strongest of my palette. Used in small amounts with other colours can create the most beautiful, natural and harmonious mixes ideal to paint anything nature-related, from landscapes to architecture, wildlife and portraits.

Handmade Terra Pozzuoli watercolour paint on Etsy

Summer holiday sketch: view of Monte Conero from Porto Recanati

During my recent holiday in Italy I enjoyed sketching on the beach of my hometown Porto Recanati, this is a view of Mt Conero as seen from the northern beach of the town.

The page previous to the sketch contains some colour tests and a bird list from a day spent bird watching in the countryside.

A Horse named Gemma

Gemma

After coming back from my latest trip to Italy last June, I decided to make a portrait of my sister's horse named Gemma. To me this watercolour represents a link to my past, when I lived in the country, and when my love for nature and art started.

   This will be my last newsletter for 2013, so I would like to thank very much all the people who in one way or another supported my creative journey this year.

   If you would like to send me some pictures of how you framed or arranged the artworks you purchased from me, please feel free to do so, you can email the photos to matteogrilliart@gmail.com, I would really like to see where they ended up to and I'd like to put the best photos together and share them online to give people some inspiration on how my artwork can be used, of course only if you agree to share corners of your house on the web.

   Thank you very much again to all the followers, I wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best for the New Year.

MG

Galahs

In Australian English (for non-Australian readers), a person may be called 'galah' when acting silly, probably because these birds, intelligent and curious, love playing and can be seen hanging upside down and pirouetting, all behaviours that may be perceived a bit eccentric to human eyes. Galahs - Eolophus roseicapilla

A very happy birthday!

Last October the 16th was this blog's first birthday, I am amazed by the wonderful community of people it has gathered so far, to all the followers and visitors I would like to say a big big THANK YOU. This painting is a rather old one, dated September 2007, long before I came to Australia, but I consider it kinda Australian as those feathers came from my budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) which are one of the most common pet birds and originally from Australia. In their native country, in the wild, they live a nomadic life following the rain and the abundance that comes with it. To see more about the amazing life of Australian parrots I'll give you this link, it is a beautiful documentary, let me know what you think if you had the chance to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQb2o0Lzomo

Until next time!

Little Ringed Plover's chick

I rescued this little chick as he fell trapped through a hole between the rocks, although he seemed to be a bit weak he was able to run toward his mother who immediately took him under her wings. I was positive and hopeful since he didn't look too bad. I'm not sure how long he spent under those rocks in the sunshine without water. Unfortunately, the day after there were two chicks instead of three running about. As we all know, that's nature.