Flowers from Campo de'Fiori

We spent most of November in Rome, Italy in an apartment near the Campo de’Fiori. Many days we brought home bouquets of flowers, and in the afternoons, after looking at art all morning, I would take some time with the flowers. I did pencil sketches, and some water colour sketches. And I took a number of photographs for reference that I hope to use in a series of paintings of flowers from Campo de’Fiori.

This was my fifth visit to Rome. You might remember that we also visited Rome last November when we stayed near the Spanish Steps. Being near the Campo de’Fiori was quite a different experience. Also, staying for three weeks really allowed us to slow down and spend time with the art and the flowers of Rome, and to dwell on those works that inspired.

I continue to be impressed with the way one experiences the layers of time when in Rome. The past is present, it exists, and is united with the continuing present. So I’m hoping that with my new series of flower paintings, it will help me remember my time in Rome, but also act as a reminder that flowers persist.

Buying flowers at the Campo de’Fiori, Rome

As soon as I got home, amid the jet lag, I began the painting from the top of this post. It’s 40” x 60” and took about 80 hours to complete. Waking up some days at 3 and 4am meant that I got a lot of work done that first week back! There are thirty eight distinct blooms in the bouquet and while I was at first trepidatious about the green blooms, I think they make the composition pop.

Robert Lemay with Flowers from the Campo de’Fiori

Just walking around in Rome is inspiring, taking in the foliage, the colours, and the textures.

One of the delights of this trip was a still life exhibition at the Corsini Galleria which displayed 17th century Roman and Neopolitan works collected by Geo Poletti beginning in the 1950s.

At the beginning of our stay in Rome, we visited the Poggi art store, which is where artists such as Giorgio de Chirico and Cy Twombly bought their supplies. I purchased some water colour supplies, and some Fabriano paper, and had fun experimenting with these. I’ve been using oil paint exclusively for thirty years, so it was lovely to dabble in another medium.

In Rome, you feel that art is all around you, and to have the opportunity to immerse oneself in it like we did was very satisfying, sustaining, and inspiring. We have many months left of winter in Edmonton, but continuing to keep working on this series of paintings,will be a real gift, until the peonies bloom in our garden in the spring.

Flowers from Campo de’Fiori