"Ripped Sky" (Detail) Oil on Canvas / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Following up on my last post "A Rip in Time" here is another painting from a long time ago, early 90's

"A Rip In Time" (Detail) Oil on Canvas / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved This painting takes me all the way back to 1992, the first year I lived in Firenze after I was finished with

"Days and Nights" (Detail) Oil on Canvas / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved This painting goes back almost all of the way to my beginnings as a painter, early 90's, when I first moved

"Jupiter and Io" (Detail) Oil on Canvas / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Following up on yesterday's Space Painting Post, here is another one featuring my Painting of Jupiter and

“Cat’s Eye Nebula” (Detail) Oil on Canvas / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Today I am featuring one of my space paintings. I have always been a fan of science fiction, and space in particular.

"Il Putto" (Detail) Oil on Canvas / Private Collection / ©2019, Matthew Holden Bates, Firenze, Italia In Florence there are many statues that are notorious, the David by Michelangelo, Cellini's

Working on my theme of French inspiration, here is a detail from my original oil painting entitled “Girls of Montmartre” . I was collaborating with a gallery in Paris, so I went up there to visit, such

"Cannes Reflections" (Detail) oil on canvas / ©2019, Matthew Holden Bates, Firenze, Italia Here is the next "close up" in my latest series of oil paintings to share on nTopaz. This

"Nymph of the Fields" (Detail) ©2019, Matthew Holden Bates, Firenze, Italia Hey everybody! Glad to be back again today with another "close up" of one of my original oil paintings.

"Prague" (Detail) Whenever I get a chance to travel, I tend to take a lot of pictures which then can become paintings when I get back to Firenze. This is one of them, taken on a weekend trip

“Uffizi View” (Detail) Oil on canvas / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Here is the latest installment of my ‘up close and personal’ collection. Today I am featuring a painting that is a little

Victorian Greenhouse (detail) Original Oil Painting / Private Collection / ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Here is another close up of one of my oil paintings. This is one of my all time favorites.

Here is the second installment of my up close look at my oil paintings. This is a classic, the painting took all Summer to paint back when I had an outdoor studio in my garden. The painting depicts the

Purple Orchid (Detail) Oil on Canvas ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved I have decided to share some of the up close and nitty gritty parts of my paintings. This painting of purple orchids represents

Ferrari Scudo Mixed media painted directly on the wall of my studio in Firenze, Italy. ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Whenever I am working on a large painting project like my Duomo Prainting

“Focus” Oil on Canvas ©️Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved I’ve decided to post some of my paintings up close and personal. I love macro photography, it gives me some amazing inspiration getting

"Poppies on a Hill" Oil on Canvas - 75cm 100cm - ©2017 Matthew Holden Bates, All Rights Reserved Here in Firenze Spring has sprung, with lots of rain so everything is growing like crazy. This

Duomo Project / Work in Progress Hey everybody! Just a quick update today, I started in on some of the intricate decoration, and I wanted to share it with you! I am beginning to see that I chose well which

"The Duomo from the Fortezza del Basso" - Photograph, Digital - ©2019, Matthew Holden Bates I usually don't post photography, but this one is something that I want to see again. I took this photo

Duomo Project / work in progress ©️Matthew Holden Bates Things have been busy here in Firenze, even though I have been painting a bit less than usual, I have been hard at work in the studio this week.