Sara Calcagno - Still life

An autumn painting with pumpkins and sunflowers


Still life with pumpkin and sunflowers. Oil painting by Sara Calcagno, 30 x 40 cm. Last autumn I painted this still life study with pumpking and sunflowers in one session.. only in a second moment, I refined the painting.

I love autumn color and autumn fruits and vegetables. I love autumn. I think maybe is my favorite season together with late spring.. Anyway, if you think about it, both autumn and late spring are magical moments for nature! Lots of different seasonal fruits and flowers are at their best  and very mature and so rich in their colors. The painting has already found a collector.

Sara Calcagno - Still life

Peonies’ Dream, the idealized memory of peonies


With this painting I tried to paint the idealized memory of a peony garden: the dream of a peony garden. It is a study and it isn’t so big but neither so small.. I enjoyed with experimenting on this piece.. I finished it some days ago.

Peonies are such a poetic flower, with all those gigantic light petals. They amaze with their size and with their splendour. I adore going in peony gardens and absorbing their energy and their beauty. They are such beautiful and poetic flowers! For some years, in the past, I lived in Montefiascone (Viterbo, Italy) and in april and may I used to go very often to Centro Botanico Moutan in Vitorchiano. There they grow all kinds of peonies, they say they have the biggest collection of chines peonies in Europe! I don’t know, if it’s the biggest. For sure it is astonishing. They have such a gorgeous collection .. you can litterally walk among peonies high like yourself for hours.. This year I would have loved to go again but due to covid lockdown, we couldn’t move from our region. Pity but it will be for next year! I was lucky that my neighbor has the most amazing peonies and I could make so many pics.

Hope you will enjoy this study. It was funny to paint it and the result is what I expected, a little bit dreamy and ethereal.

Peonies’ Dream, oil on canvas by Sara Calcagno, 41 x 22 cm