More Street Painting - Florence, Italy

Cari Amici,

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing my process of being a madonnara (Italian street painter) in Florence, Italy. This past Monday was a national holiday for la bella Italia. I was hoping that this day would make up for all of the rainy Mondays that I have paid for a tessera (permit) to create paintings in pastel in the street. But . . .

I arrived to my spazio on Via Calimala around 11 a.m., about an hour or so after the other two madonnari, Roderick and Giovanni, began their day’s labor. I chose to draw a work by William Adolph Bouguereau in 1888 titled “L’Amour au Papillon” or “Cupid With A Butterfly.”

Bouguereau is a difficult artist for me to copy because his key is so light. I have a challenge to try to determine what is a light shape and what is dark on his figures. I think that was ultimately my main problem with this drawing of the bambino. However, I was able to get a decent head drawn and placed the shoulders so that I could draw in the wings. And then the drizzly rain hit. The kind that makes an artist wonder whether it is better to wait it out or just go home and work on other art projects.

I took the plastic that I had and covered up the next areas that I wanted to draw. I can work on dry pavement only. While the rain was still light, I took out my black pigment in powder form and created the background. I love the way that a black background makes the figure’s form just pop out of the ground! Most of the street painters use rubbing alcohol or even just water to help spread the powder over a large area. I prefer to simply sprinkle dark dust everywhere and rub the pigment into the pavement with my hands. But in the rain, there is no problem. Go figure . . .

I lost several hours due to the rain and called up my friend Martinho Correia to see if I could do something productive during this time. Martinho had asked me if I would work as his assistant while he teaches a class later this month called “Painting Methods of the Great European Academies” and so I was able to drop by his place nearby and find out what my job entailed. Click here if you would like more information about his workshop here in Florence.

By around 4 p.m. as my meeting was just getting started, the rain let up and the day turned out beautifully! In this next image, I am trying to fix the face after the rain. You can see how the pigment has faded a bit (compare the blacks and general contrast). And thus, I began to finish the drawing, first working on the body and legs of Cupid, then adding the architecture in the background and foreground. Lastly, I added the greenery and grasses at the bottom of the image.

You can see the Mercato Porcellino in the background, as well as my fellow madonnari street painters. The image on the right shows Giovanni cleaning his square. (Rod on the far side of Giovanni had already gone.)

Hafiza’s lovely bicycle is serving me well. I still have difficulty navigating through tourists and narrow roads, but I feel these wheels give me a freedom I did not have before. I am loving it, especially after a long day’s work and an otherwise decent walk home with all of my supplies!

Below, you may see how I finished this street painting. So many people express dismay at the idea of washing the art away each night, but I have made a discovery. There is a bizarre beauty in the destruction of such fragile art. And I find myself fascinated by the paths and patterns the draining water makes over the dry art before I start to scrub. So, for me, the destruction has become a temporary creative act. Like the rest of my “performing art” day, I am ending on a high of sorts.

And some cool news: I was contacted by Anthony Cappetto of StreetPainting.tv and interviewed for their blog about street art. Here is the interview:

StreetPainting.tv Interview of madonnara Kelly Borsheim

Buona notte!