Friday, October 17, 2008

Street Painting Michelangelo Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It may sound strange, but I paint in the street. In Florence, Italy, we street painters are called madonnari. Yesterday, I chose to draw Michelangelo’s Libyan Sibyl from the Cappella Sistina in Vatican City, Italy. I was fortunate enough to be assisted by this charming little gal from Canada. And thanks to her mother who took this image of us on my camera for me.

I try to save all of my “wet wipes” for when the kids come to help me. It seems a bit rude for me to invite people’s children to paint in the street and then send them on their way as a dirty mess. In truth, I enjoy watching how each child takes to the cleaning part of the job. Some are really cute in their methods, some thorough, some not at all interested in washing their hands.

I have to admit, I am as fascinated by the process of creating a drawing as much as the next guy, maybe moreso. Hence the following image -- I like how the street is visible as I pick and choose which parts I want to develop first.




Normally, I am not much of an orange person -- the color is just too happy for me. But there are exceptions, usually when I see orange in Nature. However, this particular work of Michelangelo’s moves me greatly and any other color than orange might change the effect in a less impressive way. I also love drapery.

Here you see the work just before I called it a night. The distortion from the camera angle and lens is much better on this side. I took another shot standing at the head, and . . . oh, my . . .


Not being much of a morning person, I started this pastel drawing around mezzogiorno (noon). I think I washed up around midnight, but in truth, the reason that I did not finish the art is because I have more friends now than before. For example, my ex-roommates Dragana and Elena brought aperitivo to me in this evening since I was unable to leave my work and I took a bit of a break around dinnertime. We rarely get to see each other now that we live in different homes.

My last image for this post is of the destruction of my work. Granted the patterns in the stone street determine most of the movement of the water, I still find the apparent randomness intriguing. I was really happy with this drawing (except for the feet) and felt sad that I had not done it on paper the way many madonnari work on occasion. But what could I do? I must scrub the street painting away so that the next day, another artist may begin.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Pencil Figure Drawing Florence, Italy



Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

While I was working as a madonnara a couple of weeks ago, I met a charming young gal who lives in Pietrasanta, Italy, but is not a sculptor. It turned out she wanted to work again as a model, so I hired her for one of my Open Studio sessions here in Florence.

I created the figure drawing that you see here in the session with this lovely woman. While I love the shape of Eva’s mouth, I was more drawn to the light around her hand and made my composition with this area as the focal point. In the pinky finger, I see some resemblance to the late artist Tamara de Lempicka, but perhaps that is my imagination.

While in Texas this past summer, I bought a product called “Liquid Pencil” and have tried it here on a watercolor paper. She has a very sketchy, water-y look to her and I like it. The drawing measures about 23 x 6 inches. She is priced at $125 + $18 for shipping from Florence, Italy, to anywhere in the world.

Just click on the PayPal button below for a safe financial transaction and the drawing “Eva” can be yours.
Thank you for your interest and support of the arts (and of me too.)








P.S. Happy Birthday, Danielle. 24, hard to believe. I love you.