Lavender in a terracotta pot by Christina Randall

Artists in Residence

A couple of summers ago, the artist Eugenia Pell and her daughter Christina Randall (also a painter) came to Tuscany to find inspiration. The result of their sojourn was a wealth of paintings, photographs and drawings, most of which were done at Il Poggiolo. One of my favourites is the window that casts light on the landing of the Casa Colonica stairs (see below). Eugenia – known to her friends as Genii – has caught the very essence of the cracked paint and warm colours of the faded stucco.

Below are reproduced some of the artworks they made: a postcard of the laundry line, where clothes dry in the balmy summer breezes, parts of the garden, and especially the spent flowers, whose astral shape seems to have enchanted Genii. Originally blooming as a ball of lavender colour, these flowers fade to skeletal starbursts which we keep on the window sill all winter long.

If you are interested in learning more about the work of these artists,  do visit their websites:

Eugenia Pell -  http://www.eugeniapellstudio.com/

Christina Randall – http://www.christinapellrandall.com/

Il Poggiolo - Garden view by Christina Randall

Casa Colonica: small window (Photo SMG)

Tuscan window by Eugenia Pell

Dried sunburst flowers on a windowsill (Photo SMG)

Sunburst flowers by Eugenia Pell

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