Tony Parsons · Amalfi quayside · October 2025
Gracie Fields, Meeting the Mafia,
and Breaking a €2,000 Table.
"I've always wanted to paint the Amalfi Coast — and a couple of weeks ago I finally got the chance. The whole coast is startlingly beautiful, stuffed to the gills with tourists, and nearly impossible to work in."
The quayside in Amalfi offered the best chance to work at the scale I wanted — everywhere else was just too crowded. While I painted, a few local chaps in white T-shirts and jeans wandered over to see what I was up to. Over the next few days they appeared in rotation, leaning on the wall behind me as I worked.
A restaurant owner brought me a coffee and said, "Ah, I see you've met the Gentlemen!"
I stayed in an apartment clinging to the mountain in Atrani, just around the bend from Amalfi. I tried to shuffle the balcony furniture to capture the morning light on the church below — and managed to drop a hand-painted slate tabletop, smashing it to pieces and gashing my ankle in the process. My horrified landlady patched me up. I never did get to paint that particular view. And yes, I paid for the table.
I ended the trip on the island of Capri, staying just above the house where Gracie Fields once lived — the wartime celebrity who also founded an orphanage in my hometown of Peacehaven. I painted the famous rock stacks from her garden as the sun went down.
"I tried to shuffle the balcony furniture to capture the morning light on the church below — and managed to drop a hand-painted slate tabletop, smashing it to pieces and gashing my ankle. My horrified landlady patched me up, but I never did get to paint that particular view. And yes, I paid for the table."
"The quayside in Amalfi offered the best chance to work at the scale I wanted. While I painted, local chaps in white T-shirts wandered over in rotation, leaning on the wall behind me. A restaurant owner brought me a coffee and said, 'Ah, I see you've met the Gentlemen!'"
"I set up in the most obvious spot to catch the distant light on the cliffs and cathedral roof. As I was finishing, a local painter appeared and said, 'This is my place — you have twenty minutes!' I'd expected camaraderie among artists, but clearly some of these guys were working with different motives."
A3-format oils, each painted directly on location across the Amalfi Coast. Every one TOAT-certified. From £1,000.
These were painted in October 2025 and have been waiting for the right home since. Each is framed to order, TOAT-certified, and shipped worldwide at no extra cost. If something catches your eye, just get in touch — I'm happy to talk through any piece personally.