Tanaro III is the third painting of Anno Tanaro. It is the August painting.
Anno Tanaro is a year I am spending with one point of the Tanaro, the river close to my studio in the Val Tanaro. Once a month, from June 2026 to May 2027, we go to the exact same spot and photograph it from the same position, as near the first of the month as the weather allows, and I paint it from that reference: twelve visits, twelve paintings, one place. I use the same 60×80 canvas every time, so that nothing changes except the year itself, the water as it rises and falls, the stones when the river uncovers them, the trees, the snow when it finally comes.
August followed weeks of heat and no rain, but it rained the day before the photograph, so there is some water in the river. The morning was hazy, one of the haziest so far, and I used the same colour again for the haze. Some green remains, because a lot of algae is growing. In the shadow I used more blue. The shadow is growing, the blue is taking over more and more, and that is where I put more focus. There is lots of vegetation, and flowers at the spot now: low in July, absent in June. The tree has grown a bit. Summer is in full bloom.
I paint it with my fingers, in oil, straight onto the cotton, no brushes, so there is nothing between my hand and the place, and the surface keeps the pressure of each fingertip. The place stays still, and the year moves through it.
