Michelangelo The Delphic Sibyl

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Because other madonnari (street painting artists) are on holiday now, I was able to buy two days in the same spot for making my drawing the last week in September – a Friday and a Saturday here in Florence, Italy. I have not drawn on such active days, people-wise, before, so this was a treat.

I chose to paint Michelangelo’s Delphic Sibyl from the “Cappella Sistina” in Vatican City, Italy. Not being much of a morning person, I started around noon and got a decent start on the portrait drawing. I scratched into the street layers of pastel colors and I am trying to learn to do it in interesting and creative ways. Later, I blended everything with my hands (now raw and very dry: missing my fingerprints even).

Here you see that I am drawing with Carmen and her little brother Vincent: Americans who now live in Korea. Their parents took this image.


An interesting thing happened that evening – well a horrible thing for me. Somehow after this night shot was taken, I managed to use my last 30 minutes of working to make the face of the sibyl masculine! Mamma mia! It was horrible. I could see the problem when I photographed it, but in person the street painting did not look so bad. Still . . . the photographs would be all that would remain. Ugh!


Many years ago, I did a quick life sketch in paint of a rather boyish looking woman, Eugenia. One of my collectors said, “I love this painting, but can you make me another in which the face is the same, only as a feminine-looking boy?” Whoa! What an interesting proposal! Well, I began to study more images of people to determine what made a masculine vs. a feminine face. This task was more difficult than it sounds. Per esempio, one normally thinks of a tapered jawline as being a feminine trait, yet I saw many faces of young men with tapered jaws who looked more masculine than feminine, despite their youth. Allora, what to do?

Anyway, I finished my commission (“Eugene”) to the satisfaction of my collector and yes, the original painting is still available ;-)), but on this night in Florence, I was frustrated that I could not pin down my error. I later studied my photos and was able to grasp better how (and when/why) my circular face became more angular and masculine. Thank goodness the street cleaner passed over this the next morning, so I could attempt to mend my artistic ways.