When I saw Neal’s art it was an instant connection for me. The colors, the whimsy and the detail in his art of the Italian countryside & towns attracted me. This is how I ‘see’ things in my mind, and it was wonderful to see this in an image.
I was fortunate to meet Neal through an expat group and get exposed to his work. I love his art! Because of this, I wanted to feature him so that other people have the opportunity to see his art, for inspiration or simply just to transport someone to one of his magical destinations.
His work is based around the premise that when we visit a place we remember the interesting and outstanding features. We don’t recall every house, tree and brick, so the paintings have a feel of the town, the landscape and the street, rather than being a slavish attempt at copying. Scenes change over time too, so what was there once will not always be the case and we are often left with our dreamlike memories of the town.
Fabrecce, Italy
Anghiari, Italy
A bit about Neal:
Originally from the UK, he came to Italy on holiday and loved it, ending up in Umbria purely by chance. Once he was in Umbria he realized that many of the grand masters he studied in his art history classes had worked in Umbria. It seems that Umbria is a great area for creative inspiration!
Over the last seven years, Neal developed his style and expanded his portfolio to the art you see today. His vision and mission is to continue to explore the wonderful Italian countryside and capture its essence with his distinctive style.
Assisi, Italy
Citta di Castello, Italy
Interesting fact – Neal is blind in one eye and colorblind in the other. This is how he explains the deliberately strange perspectives and occasionally misplaced colors. These are normally done intentionally and meant as a way of illustrating the wonderfully distorted view on the world he experiences.
Neal’s Art background & journey:
He studied glass design and art history at the now non-operational Stourbridge College of Art in the West Midlands, UK. He started out running his own stained glass studio, but the ‘rewards’ of artistic poverty pushed him to resign to working in a more traditional industry – recruitment. He suppressed his creative roots for 16 years but then made the decision to return to his passion – art. He is a happier man these days while he paints, writes and teaches in Central Italy.
I, for one, am glad that he returned to art!
Where to see more of Neal’s art:
Fine Art America – portfolio including original art, prints, greeting cards, etc.
Contact Neal:
Email: travellingcontent@gmail.com
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Niccone, Italy
** Top featured image: Valtiberina, Italy
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored article. I wrote this article because of my sincere appreciation of Neal’s work. I have permission from Neal Winfield to publish his art images.
