This scene is based on a photograph taken from the University of Siena residence on Via delle Sperandie, the site of a former nunnery. This my home away from home for six weeks in the summer of the year 2000, while studying Renaissance history with the University of Toronto's Siena Summer Program. You can see the classic colours and textures of the Sienese countryside surrounding the residence complex, close to the Porta San Marco in the district of the Chiocciola (Snail) contrada. This large painting is my earliest of example of palette knife painting. I loved the blurry edges and textures created through losing some control that you normally have with a paintbrush.