"Not close enough" 35/45см

It reads like a sun-warmed corner of the Mediterranean caught in paint: whitewashed walls scored with textured brushstrokes, sunblotched steps, and a bright cobalt shutter that seems almost to hum against the pale plaster. The composition leads you up a short flight of stairs to an arched recess where a large terracotta urn overflows with trailing green fronds and tiny red blooms, their color picked up in window boxes along the upper ledge. A second pot sits tucked to the side, casting a soft shadow, while petals and leaves litter the steps in a casual, lived-in way. The iron railing above adds a steady vertical rhythm, its cool blue echoing the sky beyond and balancing the warm earth tones below. I like the way the paint itself becomes part of the story — thick, tactile strokes that suggest rough stone and sun-bleached paint rather than spelling it out. Two small black cats punctuate the scene with quiet curiosity: one perched on the step, attentive, the other stretched out on the lower ledge like a bit of moving shadow. It feels domestic and calm, the kind of place you could imagine pausing for a minute of shade and the smell of clay and flowers.