Madonnari Street Painting Italy Art Lecture

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Just a quick note to invite you to a short art lecture that I will be giving this Sunday around noon in Austin, Texas.
The topic is “My Life as One of the Madonnari (Street Painters in Italy)”

I will share images and stories of my experiences recreating art masterpieces from the Italian Renaissance and other periods of time and place. I will tell you some of the more humorous experiences with tourists, journalists, cops, and the Italian government. And, I will show you the work of many other street painters from my first competition in southern Italy.

The talk officially runs from noon until about 1:30 this Sunday. There will be at least one other speaker, artist Melanie Hickerson. I am looking forward to meeting her. I hope you will, too.

While you are there, check out the exhibit of over 65 artworks by artists in Austin’s groovin’ art scene.

"The 32nd Anniversary Exhibit & Reunion" (group exhibit)
Austin Visual Arts Association (AVAA)
Julia C. Butridge Gallery in the Dougherty Arts Center
1110 Barton Springs Road
Austin, Texas 78704 USA

Visit my art exhibition calendar.

P.S. We are still looking for a digital projector to help me easily display images from my Acer laptop. If you have one I may borrow, please contact me. Thank you.

Pastel Art Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

When I worked as a madonnara in Florence, Italy, there was always that start-up time while I prepared the street to accept my drawing for the day. I generally arrived with my backpack of pastels and other supplies and immediately set to work. And I would study my chosen composition for the day and examine the street space I would work in to determine where I wanted to position the face(s) in the drawing, trying to avoid holes or other textures that might be unappealing for my art. Then I would measure out the space and get started.

This is a necessary, but not particularly visually appealing part of my “performance.” However, I became fascinated watching other kinds of street performers do their preparation. Many of the more colorful artists do not want to wear their costumes from and to their homes when performing in centro. And so, they transform on-site in various ways.

You may remember that back in May 2009, I wrote about my friend “gReY, il mimo” I first noticed him outside of the Loggia dei Lanzi and Uffizi Galleria in 2006 while he was in transition from man to mime. And I could not get the image out of my head.

I guess I was always a sucker for a man in red shoes. And what color gReY wore that day against the stones of Florence!

Allora, I am thrilled to introduce you to my newest pastel painting:

“Il Mimo – Firenze, Italia”
16” x 12”
Pastel on PastelBord
$950 + $20 shipping (anywhere) + sales tax (6.75% in Texas only)

And a follow-up October 23, 2009:
Wow -- the judges awarded this pastel painting a position of finalist:
FineArtViews Painting Competition Winners (September 2009)
(http://contest.fineartstudioonline.com/winners/11)
cool, huh?