Chloe Guymer

36x30in oil on canvas. This work depicts one of Venice’s most popular squares. When making the live sketch that inspired this painting, a young child dropped their sandwich and suddenly a flurry of gigantic gulls swept before me. Seeing the crowd gawk and take phone snaps of the chaos was very memorable as I had just arrived in Italy and this was my first time laying eyes on the famed yellow footed gulls.

36x30in oil on canvas. On the day that was behind this composition, it was so incredibly hot in Florence that the powerlines for the long distance train melted. This left myself and hundreds of other travellers stranded for several hours in this glasshouse of a station. Despite it all, cold drinks were shared and unlikely conversations were struck between strangers. By the time the train to Rome pulled up to the platform I had shared stories with CEO’s, custodians, and a honeymooning couple.

36x30in oil on canvas. Next to the famed Statue of David there is a small room filled with incredible plaster sculptures. Sadly most who visit the statue don’t bother to come into this room but I found it well worth it. For hundreds of years these plaster casts functioned as a learning tool for art students and in a way they still do. The small groups and families in the plaster room were so encouraging of my attempts to jot down the likeness of the sculptures that I felt emboldened enough to remix them here in my own visual language.