The Art Bar in Florence Italy

I missed the sculpture exhibit at the Florence Academy last night because my friend Lisa was leaving for the States this morning and she really wanted to visit The Art Bar. I had taken her there for happy hour one night last month before we attended an art history lecture at the Charles Cecil Studios.

We really had a fun night – three “Chi Chi’s” each as you see in the photos. I love this drink, if for no other reason than I enjoy another way to serve vodka – what a versatile beverage! I drank my first Chi Chi in Hawaii in a luau (loo-ow) in 1999 with my family living there. Not sure I wanted one actually since I discovered in Colorado ten years earlier that in Spanish, chi chi means ‘breast.’ And the drink looks like milk (because clear vodka + white coconut milk + perhaps other ingredients = chi chi). While I have never liked to drink milk, I do love a good chi chi -- very cool and refreshing. And The Art Bar here on Via del Moro in Florence tops theirs with a boatload of fresh fruit and mint!

Allora, we laughed a lot as you might imagine. And then went over to one of my favorite pizza places – Osteria del Gatto e la Volpe – near the Bargello (sculpture museum) on Via Ghibellina. Lisa is on her way to New York now and I hope she did not have a grand mal di testa this morning!

10 Dicembre: I just found my card for The Art Bar and their official name is:
Antico Caffè Del Moro "Cafè des Artistes" -- although I wonder if that accent is a misprint? Address = Via del Moro, 4/r - Tel. 055 287661

All in A Day’s Work – Drawing

So, I am coming to the end of my projects. Here is what my weekday often looks like: from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., I work on my charcoal drawing of Sara. Then from 2 to 5 p.m. I work on my charcoal drawing of a plaster cast of a sculpted ear using the sight-size method. I do not actually see it as an ear. For the longest time I have only seen abstracted shapes, such as the duckie, the infinity symbol, and the sideways apostrophe mark.

Monday, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I draw from live models (portraits the first two days, one 2-hour pose of the figure on the third day) from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. I host the Wednesday evening sessions of lots of artists sharing model expenses. Thursdays are art history night, often with two events at two different art schools here in Florence, Italy: Angel Academy of Art and the Charles H. Cecil Studios. Fridays, I have the option to draw from life again or usually, just catch up on other projects or maybe even go out with a friend.

After drawing each night, I then work some more on my drawing of Sara (without the model) until 9 p.m. Much of working with charcoal means using the point. By this I mean that the charcoal stick must be sanded to a fine point in order to be applied to the paper, especially when trying to remove any blotchiness from using other application methods. My figure of Sara is 60 centimeters tall. She has taken up a lot of time, but I am happy with the progress I am making.

The rest of the time, I am either living life, meeting new people, or doing laundry or something. Perhaps this is not the exciting life some imagined – being in Italia and all – but I am really refining my skills as an artist and I love it.