Sleeping Angel Pastel Painting Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Well, it seemed like a fun idea for me to start a tradition of creating and exhibiting a work of intentionally erotic art for a wish of abundant joy while heading into the New Year. But I seem to be getting tamer as each December arrives! Still, I at least have a new pastel painting of a MALE FIGURE for you! This one is called “Sleeping Angel” and was inspired by light and also the famous Italian artist Caravaggio and his "Sleeping Cupid."

If you would like to read more about the inspiration for this work of art that I have created, please click HERE to read my latest art newsletter. However, I have made a few changes to the 18” x 24” pastel painting and thus, here is a newer image of the ”Sleeping Angel.” I hope that you enjoy him and that you have at least a year of joy, peace, and above all, love.

Links to the other New Year’s Eve posts:
• New Year’s Eve 2011: Art and the Nude Artist poses in front of composition by artist Darryl Pottorf for Roberto Rauschenberg, in Robert and Darryl’s beach house in Florida
• New Year’s Eve 2010: “Anthurium” Nature repeats the patterns she enjoys
• New Year’s Eve 2009: “Tesoro!”
  freely offering our own vulnerability to another is quite a turn-on!

P.S. I am delighted to be able to announce now that my original stone carving "Kiss Me Blue" has been given to a very enthusiastic young woman in America as a Christmas gift (by her parents). So lovely to end the year with a sale, and for a new collector of my work!
”Kiss Me Blue”

In addition: There's a Caravaggio exhibit at Los Angeles County Museum of Art which continues through February 10, 2013. [Thanks to blog reader and art model Andrew Cahner for this tip.]

“Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy”

Convento dei frati cappuccini Rome Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I recently went to Roma to see the Vermeer exhibit with three other friends. It was wonderful to have such a small group so that we could move more efficiently and see more things. After looking at all the art available to us in the National Gallery of Ancient Art inside the Palazzo Barberini, we walked over to Via Veneto 27. Here is the Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata. While the church was closed during our visit, we entered the part of the building that is the Museo Frati Cappuccini.

This museum houses items you would expect in a friar’s museum, mostly objects from the daily lives of the friar, from clothing to clocks and more. There is not a bad collection of paintings, including one from Guido Reni. The painting shown here of St. Francis in prayer was recently attributed to Caravaggio. It is not a bad painting, but like St. Francis himself, perhaps, the painting seemed a little tame to me.

This last image shows my friends and fellow artists looking at the metal whips the friars made for self-flagellation. If you think that is fun, wait until the next post. It gets better!

Sight-size Cast Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

My newest sight-size painting project is of a (plaster sculpture) cast of a Roman soldier. I joke around the Angel Academy that he is pouting so strongly because his helmet is too tight. (That is even funnier in British English.) In any event, he seems to be a rather popular fellow.

This first image is of my project. I have sketched out the shapes of the cast from a viewing distance of about two meters. It is a lot of pacing the floor, in case you were concerned for my sanity. The second image was taken by my friend Lucia, who decided to sign the canvas as her own. [I have been joking with her that I will finish my project before she finishes her almost completed one. I am not known for my speed…] Here I am about to paint her out…

I work three hours minimum each afternoon on this project, but I share the lighting and space with two other artists who spend the same amount of time working on a different cast each morning. For this reason, I move my cast over to a safe place when I am not painting from him. He spends most of his days in front of John Angel’s copy of a Caravaggio. Students pass him every day and one day, I came out of my model session to see that someone has dressed him. This next image shows how goofy my colleagues are as we start to have a good time.

I went off to lunch and returned later to a room full of people enjoying my surprise. They had added a few items of adornment, including a palette, knitting needle (for comparative measuring), and a banana. [We have a bit of nerdy humor around these parts, eh?] So I have my new crush and while I will miss him over the summer, I am actually going to be too busy to fret much about him. Still, there are two weeks left to go …

My latest art newsletter is now available online for your viewing pleasure. In it, I share with you a sneak peak at new artwork inspired by my trip to Morocco, as well as some images that I am quite happy with myself to have taken of Tuscany. Click here for art news.

Cellini Ponte Vecchio

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

When you visit Firenze, Italia (or Florence, Italy, if you prefer translated proper names), you will no doubt see the famous Ponte Vecchio (“old bridge” or, literally, “bridge old”). She was the only bridge over the River Arno in Florence that was not bombed during World War II.

And she has traditionally housed merchants and much later, the Vasari Corridor – the private passage built for the Medici family and designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1564-5. The corridor above all of the shops allowed the powerful rulers to move from one palace to the other across the river without actually mingling with the common folk. These days, for a not insignificant fee, you may pass through this corridor and see a portrait gallery along the walls with other artworks and feel what it might have been like for the Medici.

On the Ponte Vecchio herself, there is a very well done bronze portrait sculpture of Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571). The son of a musician and instrument maker, Florence-born Cellini was also a musician [a flute player, like myself only much better, I am sure], and goldsmith, sculptor, painter, and soldier. The most famous and seen sculpture by Cellini must surely be his bronze “Perseus with the Head of Medusa” that is featured in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria in Florence. I must say I especially love the backside of this standing figure!



Like another Italian artist Caravaggio, Cellini killed people, also for emotional reasons more than justice or self defense. And no doubt his autobiography would be a racy read.

Built of stone and wood, the Ponte Vecchio has shops built along it, as was once common. First there were butchers, but today, jewelers occupy most of the spaces. The butchers were apparently asked to leave to enhance the prestige of the Vasari Corridor above them. Gold merchants quickly took over.

More tomorrow…

Caravaggio Street Painting Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I have written of some of the problems with the Comune (City Hall) that the madonnari (street painters) of Florence, Italy, have been having. We now may only draw in groups because we are only permitted one drawing per day and we have many artists in our organization who need to work.

Last week my group of three artists took on two newcomers. So we chose to draw Caravaggio’s famous painting “The Supper at Emmaus.” This painting depicts the moment when two disciples recognize their risen Jesus because of his way of starting a meal together. Apparently Caravaggio depicted Christ in a young and slightly feminine way to help explain why the disciples had not recognized the man they had spent the day with until just this moment.

Three of us started the work, with the other two arriving later. I chose to draw the old man on the right. Our group had discussed the week before about having some sort of rotations system so that the guy who had to work elsewhere in the mornings was not always drawing the minor figures. So we saved Jesus for Johnny (and he did a fantastic job of him!).



When I draw alone, I determine the outer dimensions of my drawing and grid only the areas of the face. In a group situation, it is better to create a grid over the entire composition, each artist relating shapes to grid marks and not to the work of the other artsts. Some images of my start.

This next image shows our efforts after midnight the first day. In truth, I did not photograph the other parts because our two new colleagues did not draw so well. They asked us to show them how to draw faces, which we did for some time. However, it is one thing to teach a fine artist how to alter their techniques into those of a street performing artist; while totally another to teach someone basic drawing skills.

One artist in our regular group tried to rework the faces after the new ones left, and later, when the sun was down and the tungsten street lamps were on, a bit more color was added. Check out the turkey and the fruit from the previous image. Not so bad in this light, but garishly loud by sunlight! We laughed about the orange in the face and the neon fruit the next morning. Normally we try to respect one another’s drawings by not touching a part another worked on, but since our income depended on quality and also the responsible artists were not returning, no harm done.

I took these last two images after midnight the second and last day. I drew the old man on the right and the green coat of the man on the lower left. I also drew the bread and two vases in the lower left corner. This is a very cool painting. Caravaggio really was a fantastic artist, even if he was a murderer too. ;-)

Street Painting Caravaggio in Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I went chalking yesterday with colleagues Giovanni (Brasil) and Johnny (Ireland). Gabrielle showed up and said she had too much to do to prepare for our upcoming street painting competition in the south of Italy, so . . . we decided to tackle an image with fewer figures than in our original plan. Giovanni was undecided between a Bouguereau or a Caravaggio, images I had with me in my madonnara backpack. The Italian won out. Cool. I had tried to recreate “St. John the Baptist as a Youth” last spring, but was rained out.

With our new situation with the Comune (City Government) of Florence, Italy, the madonnari no longer wash our street paintings each night. Last week, we washed our space in the morning and began to draw once the street was dry enough. However, another madonnaro came over the weekend and just drew another Botticelli over ours. I wonder what it looked like when he was finished? Here I include images of what we saw days later and after a few street cleaners had passed over her.


Do you see the pentemente – an art term that basically means that the “mistakes” of the past come back to haunt you. Usually this means that underpaintings or the original drawings on the canvas start showing through because oil paint becomes more transparent with age. I find these interesting because it shows the thought processes of the artist and what changes he has made in his composition. In this case, parts of our original Botticelli’s “Madonna of the Eucharest” show through to the overlying “Venus” by Botticelli. You can see the baby’s leg at the bottom and I hope that you can make out the face of the Madonna to which I drew red arrows.

While I began to draw the face and body, Giovanni created the frame, sketched out the basic proportions of the rest of the composition and started to darken the background. This helps the public see what it is that we are trying to accomplish, in case they want to check out our progress later in the day, as many do. [Johnny arrived later and drew a wonderful ram.] I actually liked the colorful patterns in the legs and tried to talk the guys into “modernizing” a Caravaggio. Unsuccessful, that was.


And here is the street painting just before midnight. The guys will work a little bit more on it today, but I am beat and want to prepare for Friday’s adventure, as well as attend the opening of the Angel Academy of Art annual exhibit (in which two of my works were selected). I also want to head over to Charles Cecil’s art history lecture tonight and try to be asleep before midnight.

So, about this competition I have hinted about lately: Nocera Superiore is a cittalina in south of Italy, not too far from the Amalfi Coast. Each May they have a huge street painting festival in which madonnari from all over Italy attend. This year’s theme is “La Vita di San Paolo” (“The Life of Saint Paul”)

I will be taking the train south on Friday morning at an hour in which I rarely enjoy being vertical. Something like 80 artists (per the Web site) will start to draw at 6 p.m. Friday evening. We will draw all night long and we must finish by noon on Saturday or we do not get paid. The festival lasts for days, but people are coming to see the drawings, so we work in the night! I am a little bit nervous about this and chose something relatively easy to do – I hope! My first Rembrandt, a portrait of St. Paul, and I will add a window with bars to represent the second time Paul was imprisoned.

This will be one 24 hours I hope that it does not rain!

For more information on this concorso, check out (in Italian, sorry):
http://www.manifestazioni.com/manifestazioni/manifestazione/33c08af039

http://www.concorsomadonnari.it/

If you like what you read, enjoy the photos, and would like to help support this blog(ger) / artist, click here . . .

Street Painting In The Rain - Florence, Italy

Cari Amici,
I debated about whether or not to bother with street painting on Saturday, May 17th. The chance of rain was 50/50 and I have so much work to catch up on, but I really need to earn some euros. So, I worked in the studio during the morning and watched the sky on occasion.

My friend Francesco came by two days before on his way to rowing and said hello while I was working. He later told one of my roommates that although he liked the drawing I was doing (a copy of a Bouguereau), he wondered if I might connect with my audience more if I drew something Italian or better – from the Uffizi. I have heard from many Italians over my years here that there is an interesting dynamic occurring in Florence between depending on the Renaissance for fame and beauty, and wanting to birth new art. Some feel that Florentines are generally having a difficult time with change. It is easy to understand the desire to change when your past is not so desirable, but what if your past is really great?

Allora, I decided to try a work from a famous character in Italian art history, the artist Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio. The work I am copying here is the “Sick Bacchus” from 1593. At least one American remembered that he had seen the original work when he and his wife visited the Galleria Borghese in Roma.

I rather enjoy the shapes of the lights in the face of this figure. I like the abstract quality in this method of working that I am learning here in Florence. I am still struggling with the brightness of pastels. I always seem to be looking for the darker colors and feel a bit limited. But I am sure that I simply need to learn more about color.

I had some strange experiences on this day with audience reactions. I was on my hands and knees, as is often necessary for viewpoint/perspective reasons. And a man walked around to the top of my drawing and asked me if I spoke Italian. I responded, “Si, poco,” with the waggling hand gesture of “a little bit.” And in Italian he said, “It is dangerous for you to work in that position.” He actually used the word ‘pericoloso’ (dangerous). And he waved and walked away. Wow. What am I supposed to do with that? Well, at least he walked around to speak to my face! ;-)

Later on, during the rain, another man walked by and said, “Caravaggio e incazzato.” [That does not look right for some reason (vowels, I think).] The thing is that it was spoken quickly as the man was walking away from me and I simply heard ‘Caravaggio’ and ‘cazzo’. That latter word is Florentine slang for a man’s member and is considered vulgar, even while it is used quite frequently in the streets of Firenze.

Not wanting to jump to conclusions about a potential insult, I asked Matteo, my fellow home-bound madonnaro, to explain. He told me that the man was saying that Caravaggio was angry now. Ok, I understand the words, but the meaning? Was the original artist upset that I was recreating his work in the streets or . . . Matteo said in Italian, “No, he means that Caravaggio is angry because the rain interrupts your work.”

And later, my coinquilina (roommate) Elena explained the different words that I had confused. ‘Incazzato” means angry, but a very strong, passionate word compared to the more usual ‘arrabbiato’ or ‘furioso’. She suggested that a “lady” might not use ‘incazzato.’ So, I sometimes swear like a sailor (as my father laments) in English, and if I keep hanging out in the streets, maybe I can soon start sounding like a Florentine!

I asked a couple of tourists to take some shots of me while working and include a couple here. In these, I have taken some powdered pigment (black) that I bought at Zecchi’s Art Store and am spreading it around by rubbing it into the pavement. Some madonnari mix the powder with alcohol or water and apply it with a brush, but since the rain was about to start, I figured I could just play in the “mud.”

One thing that I have learned from the rain is that once the drawing is wet, it is best not to touch it. My colleagues have taught me that if I cover the part I want to draw next (if I do not have enough plastic to cover all), then once the rain subsides, I can uncover the pavement and continue working in a new section.


Shortly after this last image was taken, I left. The rains were off and on and I decided that my time was better spent working in the studio. I have two charcoal drawings in the upcoming exhibit:

2008 Annual Exhibition of the Angel Academy of Art
Via San Niccolò 88/r
Florence, Italy
Tel. 055 246 6737
Dates: 23-24 May (Maggio) 2008, Friday and Saturday hours: 10:00-18:00
Reception: 22 May (Thursday evening): 18:00-21:00

Since I work at the school, I will be very busy this week, cleaning up the studio and helping install and strike the exhibit. I hope to share this exhibit with you as events unfold.

Thank you for reading!

Caravaggio in the Rain

Today I tried to work as a madonnara on Via Calimala in Florence, Italy. I arrived around 13:30, after my work with model Valentina. Not a good day for making a drawing or earning some euros – it was raining off and on, and then later, just on.

My project for today was to copy Caravaggio’s “St John the Baptist as a Youth with Ram” I really did not get very far – maybe 30 minutes into it since two vans were parked over the square that my permit allows me to paint in. The polizia found the drivers (who also had permits to park within the city during the day), but asked if I minded waiting until after they finished lunch before they moved their vans.

In the meantime, Claudio and Laura (two Florentines who run the madonnari organization, asked me to walk over to Piazza della Signoria at 15:00 for a photoshoot with some journalists who wanted to help publicize Claudio’s strike against freedom of expression. When I returned, I took the photo you see here. Funny that the glare from some of the raindrops makes it look like the whites of the boy saint’s eyes are really glowing!

(Prior to the scheduled photo shoot, giornalista Fabrizio Boschi of “Il Giornale della Toscana” interviewed me in my drawing square, even taking photos of me creating il mio disegno brutto. I laughed when he asked me my age. It reminded me of my first experiences in Italia in 2004 – after establishing my nationality, the men I met in the piazze always wanted to know my age. I was still of the school in which one does not ask a woman her age, and was curiously amused instead of offended by this behaviour.)


These next two shots were taken in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria. Claudio is the chained protester / founder of the madonnari and is seen wearing a red scarf. I just loved this doggie bicycle that one of our audience members had with him. While I hate the dog poo that litters this lovely old city, the dogs here rarely seem interested in biting any stranger who gets close. This one seemed especially sweet.

Then this last image is what I returned to find after my publicity efforts. It was interesting to me how much red remained (especially after yesterday’s blog entry about the Slaughtering of the Lambs. I get frustrated sometimes at the pastel kits I have bought for this job. I never seem to have enough dark colors. This image may look weirder than expected because the top is actually seen here on the bottom. I flipped the image, after needing to take it from the angle that gave me the least amount of glare from the rain-wetting street.

Anyway, I poured my water on the soaked chalk and grabbed my broom for extra scrubbing. Perhaps tomorrow’s artist will have less rain.

Thank you for reading!
Kelly

Artist Caravaggio in Firenze

Now usually on Thursday evenings, my friend Lisa and I attend the art history lectures given by Charles Cecil at his art school in Florence. Yesterday was no exception, despite Valentine’s Day. In fact, Mr. Cecil joked that perhaps he should not discuss the artist Caravaggio on such a holiday since Caravaggio killed a man. But it was a great lecture.

Afterwards, we went to our usual ristorante to share a pizza. We always try something new and just before ordering, I noticed a pizza named ‘Viagra.’ How perfect was that for some dateless wonders on the lover’s holiday? And it has lots of meat on it! Heh. So, Lisa and I got a kick out of our choice.

GianFranco acted amused. He is always our waiter on these nights and he greets us warmly each Thursday. He is one of the few Florentines who actually speaks Italian with us, so Lisa and I have been learning a lot from him. Only, this time, GianFranco returned to our table and explained to us that the owner required that we order two beers with our pizza. That was a bit odd, but we were hungry, so . . . OK. Afterwards Lisa confessed that she did not like beer. Well, I certainly did not need them after the free-flowing wine at the Charles Cecil Studios. But, you know, when in Roma . . . or Firenze . . .

Well, after all that drinking, it made sense that I would need to ask GianFranco to show me the bagno. He did and as I turned inside the room to shut the door, I saw him still standing where I left him. I asked him to speak, “Dimi.”

And GianFranco asked, “hai boys?” (“Do you have boys?”) Since we normally speak in Italian, my brain wanted to figure out what ‘boys’ meant in Italian. I responded with a confused, “non ho capito questo ‘boys.’” He rephrased, “Do you have men?” The plural threw me. For some reason, my often literally oriented mind interpreted this to mean ‘as in a stable of men.’ A little confused, I responded, “non.” He then politely said, “Ok, see you next week” since his shift was over.

Lisa thought this was the funniest exchange and asked me how I managed to have such bizarre conversations while just going about my life.