Robert P Hedden Art: Painting on Capri Italy, Amalfi Coast

Marina Grande Capri (16x20 inches oil)

Not much time left for painting on Capri when you consider the bus ride from Maiori to Amalfi where you take the ferry to the island of Capri. The jet ferry takes and hour (20 euro each way), the bus trip to Amalfi 20 minutes, and add waiting time for the bus and ferry. Then on arrival at Marina Grande you walk a few hundred meters to purchase tickets for the funicular to get up the cliff, and also wait your turn to get on it. Ferries arrive from Sorrento, Naples and Amalfi, which increases the queues. You then have to know where the painting sights that interest you are and walk or take a bus. First you are a little hungry and dry, so you need to find some pastry and coffee or maybe a gelato. In our case we wandered down one road that led to the service industries for the Island. The good part of that was finding a hardware store and purchasing a hex head wrench to tighten up the steering mechanism on my daughters 4 wheel scooter (for someone with a broken ankle and a cast on their leg). Having been there in 2005, I knew I wanted to head toward the Gardens of Augustus, a 15 minute walk from where you get off the funicular. Another good painting spot is in the islands second village, Anacapri (by bus) and pay a modest entry fee into Villa San Michele. This was the onetime home of Axel Muthe (1857-1949), a Swedish physician and author of the best selling "Story of San Michele (1929). I read the book for my 2005 trip. I recall it was translated into 38 different languages. Capri has long been a retreat for emperors, artists, writers, and the international jet set and today gets hordes of day-trippers.
The above painting ( circa 2010) was based on my 2005 trip to Capri, as one stop on a tour of Italy.
At that time I also did a watercolor study of the cliff view from Gardens of Augustus and a remembrance sketch while waiting for lunch to be served. Both appear below.

Watercolor study, Cliffs from Garden of Augustus

Remembrance Sketch

Below is my 2010 watercolor study from the Gardens of Augustus. The sail boat happened by at just the right moment for me to size it. Also shown is a photo, courtesy of my daughter, of a jet setter (?), documenting in a movie me as part of her vacation visit to Capri. I was engrossed and while aware of the presence of onlookers in my peripheral vision I rarely look up unless they speak to me. I have lots of inspirational photos for some studio paintings.