Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Rembrandt Street Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

It is true that admiration becomes refined through imitation. I mean that once a person tries something for himself, he gains a better understanding of the accomplishments of another. In truth, I was not particularly interested in portraiture before I came to Italy. And in the case of the famous artist Rembrandt, I tend to like his etchings more than his paintings. I liked the light in some Rembrandts, but sometimes the scratchy-like texture in the paint does not appeal to me.

But for all of the famous paintings of San Paolo that I researched for this street painting competition in Nocera Superiore, Italy, recently, I found myself drawn to Rembrant’s “Saint Paul at his Writing Desk.” Our group’s organizer, Claudio, asked me to add bars in a window to signify that my drawing depicts St. Paul’s second time in prison. (The Florence group of madonnari [street painters] wanted 19 images in a time-line depicting specific events in Paul’s life.)

I was tired when I arrived in Nocera Superiore, but we had to draw most of the night in order to finish our street paintings by noon the next day. At first I worried that Saint Paul’s head was too small to make an impact, in the stilo di madonnari, but I am glad that I chose not to enlarge the entire composition.




While I see many things that I would have liked to do differently, I was very happy with my work. In fact, I am thinking that I would enjoy creating an oil painting of this same Rembrandt.

I leave you today with a few images of how we madonnari spent our early morning and afternoon of the street painting competition in this small Italian town. No, we are not bums . . .




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Monday, May 25, 2009

Florence Draws in Italian Street Painting Competition

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Here are some of the images of street paintings the madonnari representing Florence, Italy, created during last week’s street painting competition in Nocera Superiore, Italy. In the next entry, I will show you my work.










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Buon Compleanno (Happy Birthday), carissima Hafiza!


Sunday, May 24, 2009

Chalking in Nocera Superiore, Italy

Here are some more images from some of the 80 artists at the street painting competition on Nocera Superiore, Italy. The theme this year was "The Life of Saint Paul":