Crocodile Hangs in Church Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

So my last two blog entries were about the streetpainting festival in northern Italy in il Piazzale del Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie (the large square in front of the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace) in the small town of Grazie di Curtatone.

After I finished my work, I took a look at others and also entered the church. I must say that I have never seen a church quite like this one. The sides of the church were lined with wooden columns and sculptures, but some depicted men being tortured and killed. Only, as one of my Italian friends explained, they apparently did not die. This church wanted to show the miracles that have happened, perhaps in this region.

That might even explain why there is a crocodile hanging from the ceiling near the back of the church (see the photo with the chandelier). Apparently a few years back, he was found in the nearby lake. His presence there must have been quite a shock and for at least the last two years, some madonnari have chosen to honor him in their streetpaintings.

Another side note on the wooden columns. Maybe it is just me, but I could have sworn that decorative patterns on these columns and side walls were made with light wooden body parts, namely hands and boobs. Those shapes are interesting and when repeated in lines, create a rather artistic effect. Still, did I really see nude castrated boobs in a church? Davvero?

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Streetpainting Grazie Di Curtatone Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Grazie di Curtatone in northern Italy recently hosted its 38th Annual Streetpainting Festival. The art of the madonnnari (as streetpainters are called in Italia) began centuries ago as devotional drawings outside of the churches, most often depicting the Madonna, hence the name.

This festival is also a competition with a sacred theme. Any madonnaro/a may draw anything, but if the judges determine your work does not fit the theme, the artist is ineligible for prizes. It is important to win a medal here so that one may eventually earn the title of Maestro. This earns the artist more money. And it does not matter if one is a master artist in general, she must earn this title specifically in this city for it to mean anything.

The money is important because each year, they have been paying the artists less and less. And some artists have traveled a long way to be here and the food is expensive. There are free accommodations if you do not have a problem sleeping in a smelly tent on a wooden floor with bunches of other streetpainters. Artists use up a whole lot more pastel and chalk on this particularly hard street, and if you do not finish your work during the night, be prepared to draw in full sun in August.

Despite all of these obstacles, il Piazzale del Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie (the large square in front of the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace) gets filled with art of all kinds. Today, I am including only a few more images. Even the more political ones at the end were beautifully done and not even particularly controversial.

Because of the rain the night before, we all had from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to draw, instead of the 24 hours straight that we have normally.

Streetpainting Mantova

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I recently returned from a trip to northern Italy, which included participating in a streetpainting competition / festival in Grazie di Curtatone, more commonly called either “Grazie” or usually just “Mantova.” Mantova is the closest larger city and is really quite lovely. I got to see it with three of my Florentine madonnari (streetpainting) colleagues because the Saturday night that we were supposed to start drawing in the large piazza in Grazie di Curtatone, it rained. And rained.

Normally, the streetpainters draw throughout the night, starting around 6 pm and finishing in 24 hours. However, with the rains, we ended up starting Sunday morning on the 15th at 8 am and working until 8 p.m. that same day. And we were lucky to have clouds moving in and out in the skies above us for more than half the day. I hate being in direct sunshine, especially while working on a hard hot surface. Umbrellas helped, but cast shadows over our work, perhaps making it more difficult for those participating in the photo competition held by the festival organizers.

This is truly a festival, with knights and other costumers, merchants selling large parmigiano cheese chunks (see photo) and local produce. This second image shows you the largest garlic bulbs that I have ever seen AND the largest collection in one place of garlic. One colleague told me that this merchant sold at least two-thirds of this pile before the painting competition had finished. We walked to work on a red carpet and under a giant painting frame with an inscription “Arte e tradizione.”



No, this third image is not one of shuffleboarding. These professional madonnari are saving their knees as they lay out a drawing with “distorted” perspective for a more 3-dimensional effect. It is much easier to do this when there is some distance between the artist and his canvas.


For my entry, I decided to rework my original oil painting “Relinquish” I placed the nude male figure of my original composition in a forest this time instead of in a room. Here is the start of my efforts. This street surface is the worst that I have ever drawn on and I cut off my fingertips about three times while trying to draw sfumato the way that my classical training has taught me.


Enjoy these images with more to follow . . .