Once upon there was an Oak Tree

Once upon there was a big oak tree in an enchanted forest inhabited by golden birds and many folktale animals..including the hen that laid golden eggs.

This is an illustration painted on wood and originally created for a purpose: having a dedicated map of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for the big storytelling event "The Enchanted Wood", as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2012 last October.
I represented the main paths of the Gardens with a big oak tree - as last year a large iconic oak was blown over by a storm. In the map the basis was the West gate and the top the East gate, with the golden birds used for indicating the "storytelling spots".

Impressions

Some years ago I created a few postcards dedicated to Cagliari, in Sardinia. I called them "Impressioni" as they do not represent the actual streets and buildings, but reflect more the image of them which is left in my memory.

I used mixed media: I did the drawing with ink and nib, then I scanned it and completed the image with digital colors. Although I enjoyed the process, I also realised that I enjoy much more working with normal art materials rather than using the PC.

Here are the postcards:

District of Castello in the daylight: in summertime the white rocks are covered by many beautiful caper plants.

Castello at night...

Marina is the district along the harbour, its narrow streets lead directly to it and sometimes the full moon reflects its light on the sea

The district of Marina in the daylight...the smells of the cafès, the restaurants and  the sea are quite nice

An old cafè in the city centre...in the daylight

...and at night.