Amerigo Vespucci Anniversary

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
Today was one of those days that caught me “with my pants down.” I mean that figuratively, of course! That means that I regret not having my good camera with me because today I received a surprise invitation and it would have been wonderful if I had not left the house nude this morning (without camera). I did have my little Nikon, but that is a POS [Piece Of S...] camera, and hardly worth the effort (read WORST PURCHASE EVER!)

Upon arriving in the studio this morning, the Maestro John Angel asked me if I would mind spending my lunch hour at a publicity event with the Sindaco di Firenze (Mayor of Florence, Italy), Matteo Renzi, that John, Lynne Barton (owner of the Angel Academy), Anna, and Jered were invited to attend. He had his good camera with him and likes the photos I take.

Today, 22 February 2012, is the 500th anniversary of the death of Amerigo Vespucci, whose name appears on two continents. Vespucci was a Florentine and Florence wants to celebrate this year with Americans through a variety of activities. The three main classical art schools in Florence (Angel Academy of Art, Florence Academy, and Charles Cecil Studios) that use English as the primary language in school are involved in celebrating the arts for this occasion. I am sure that I will write more about this as the year progresses.

In this first image, the Angel crew (Anna, Jered, Lynne, and John) are meeting up with Charles Cecil (right) at the entrance courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, which I had just visited in my last blog post.

The unveiling ceremony (which is what this turned out to be) was held in the Palazzo Vecchio’s Sala dei Gigli (Hall of Lilies), named in honor of the French, who have historically been defenders of Florentine freedom. [The Florentine fleur di lis has two extra stamen in its design, which otherwise closely resembles the French symbol.] You will see this French symbol in gold with a blue background on the walls of this room. Those are also there because much of the commissioned art back in the late 1400s was never completed by the same artists who had recently finished commissions on the Sistine Chapel in Roma.

Mayor Matteo Renzi . . . as a street painter, I am not sure what I am supposed to think of some of his actions… but then, in all honesty, other than his diverting traffic to the street on which I work on my hands and knees (see my book for more on this), I do not really know the full details of the struggles of the madonnari. I MUST learn more of the Italian language!

In this snapshot of the crowd, you might be able to pick out on the third row back: John Angel, Lynne Barton, Anna, and Jered Woznicki. In the row behind that, from the left: Charles Cecil and Sandro Zecchi.

This next shot is of the map that the three girls in Renaissance costumes and dolled-up hair unveiled. I must admit daydreaming through most of the several speeches, and not understanding the rest. However, I was told that the map of the world was actually purchased by Vespucci in 1424 from the Chinese! I cannot verify that at this moment, but I can simply leave you with the curiosity of the cat…

And finally, I was so thrilled to have been invited to such a cool thing and was thinking that it would be nice for me to have a photo of me with the Angel staff in this Palace. At the same time, it dawned on me that the reason I had lost the mayor was because his back was sitting right in front of me! He had taken the chair of the current speaker! I looked around for someone to use my camera to take a shot of me with him. One woman nearby was too enraptured by her phone and next thing I knew, a tall Italian man with an enormous press camera offered to take the shot for me. Ironically, the mayor’s eyes were closed in each one … so I leave you tonight with this image of us (with John Angel behind us) in the Hall of Lilies.

Florence Italy Palazzo Vecchio

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
The Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”) in Florence, Italy is the seat of the Florentine City Hall government. Like so many other buildings in Florence, it is also an incredible museum. Thanks to a posting on Facebook by Freya’s Florence Tours, a friend of mine and I got to enter the Palazzo Vecchio for FREE this past Saturday. I have wanted to see more than her courtyard for a very long time now, so what a fun thing to do on a winter day in the Renaissance City!

Having been disappointed with my digital cameras over the last several years, unable to take images with high enough quality to sell as affordable stock photography, I broke down recently and bought a Fuji X10. While I have not really sat still long enough to get familiar with its many features, it was quite easy to discover its panoramic 360 image maker! No doubt I will get better at this with practice, but I hope that you enjoy these handheld panoramas of the inside of the Palazzo Vecchio.

On the left side of this first image, you will see covered scaffolding as the search for a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci fresco is taking place. Links of interest:

• National Geographic writes about search for Leonardo’s art in Palazzo Vecchio: cool photos.
  
  
• Discovery News: Searching for Leonardo’s Lost Art: “At least $265,000 is needed to build a portable particle accelerator and a germanium crystal detector.” [sounds pretty cool, like science fiction, si?]
  

This third panorama is of the ceiling of the main room and the first one we entered after walking up one flight of stairs.

The rooms are certainly elaborate and I cannot even conceive of such a thing being attempted in anyone’s palace… but I was told that the Medici or other ruling families might never even leave the confines of this building. If true, one would understand the need for lots of eye candy!

Do you not just LOVE how they believed in child labor? I mean – do you see how many young ones are holding up the ceiling art?

I am including only a small sampling of the art on the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio, but you can see that the artists of the time were quite imaginative in the creatures and in the decorative way they arranged elements.

This last image is of a niche that I think should hold one of my sculptures, don’t you? Haha. One can dream, right? And, hey, why not? I could carve a stone figure that would complement this environment!

Palazzo Vecchio Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Anytime that I receive an invite into someone’s home in Florence, Italy, I try to go. Not just to improve my social life, but because every single space in centro is laid out differently and each one has its charms. I am sure that Medieval Italy never conceived of cookie cutter condos, even though space was at a premium at times. Bathrooms have odd shapes and a tiny window might be snuck in wherever it could fit. And there are often narrow passageways to the rooftops.

I was doubly delighted when I could see the Palazzo Vecchio at night from the terraza on the roof of a friend’s place. The silhouettes of the buildings between me and this seat of Florentine government made for such interesting shapes and I was seeing so much color in what seemed a neutral colored building that I knew I had to paint it.

I hope that you enjoy this work of art, a pastel painting on Firenze-brand paper. I am finding myself more and more drawn into the world of pastel pigments – pure color, as well as the color and light applied to a dark surface. The energy changes so much by the choice of the base. I like mixing warm and cool tones: makes government seem so much more interesting, sì?


Palazzo Vecchio – Firenze, Italia
46 x 64 cm (18” x 25”)
pastel painting on black Firenze-brand paper
$1200 + $20 shipping and handling

Negative Shapes Palazzo Vecchio

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Sometimes I like it that the camera does not see in the same way as the human eye. I am including here several shots I snapped inside the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio in central Florence, Italy. The palazzo is open some nights during the summer and it truly puts a whole new light on things.

For example, even at night the eye can distinguish the details of the bronze sculpture of the Cupid shown in this central fountain. The camera cannot. Or it would do so at the expense of making all of the other areas too light. But I wanted to show you how lovely this sculpture composition is. In shadow against the lighter walls, one can see that each view presents a very different abstract shape. Without being able to make out the details of the figure and if you only look at the dark shapes, you can see more clearly the design of the artist.


If they thought about it at all, people might think that sculptors only think in terms of form and possibly function (technical aspects regarding the material and how it can be used to best advantage, for example). However, composition for a sculptor also means that he will design from many vantage points, trying to create interest in an ever-changing audience position. This sculpture is quite lovely and dynamic.

And just think: this is just the courtyard of the former palace!

I love Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Last night I met up with a new friend at an art history lecture on Guido Reni and Bernini by Charles Cecil at his school in Florence, Italy. I love these lectures because Charles brings his passion for the art into the room with him. I do not always agree with his conclusions about specific works of art “obviously” being inspired by another artist, but then, I am not in the know enough to argue. Sometimes I just do not see the connections myself, and other times, I think that since I would not make that connection, it may be incorrect to assume that another artist did. Still I enjoy studies of compositions and am rarely bored at these events each Thursday evening.

After the lecture, my friend invited me over to her flat and I was delighted to discover that she has a rooftop terrace! So, you can imagine where we drank our chamomile tea! I took this (unfortunately terrible) photo of the cactus with Florence’s Duomo to say hello to my Texas guy. How unlikely to see Texas and Italy connected in this way.

And look at the Palazzo Vecchio (old palace): The silhouettes of the rooftop hiding my view of him create a lovely and interesting shape indeed. We could even see San Miniato in the distance. Although we are both night owls, I left before midnight because I have so much work to do.


Today, I rode my bike through the Porta Romana and up the main road to Siena. Like many cities in Italia, Florence was once surrounded by a wall. Today the wall is now mostly a viale (wide street/avenue). But at various “corners” one can still pass through one of the several gates or porte. Porta Romana is the gate that serves the road to Rome.

Traffic was not too bad in this afternoon hour, so I stopped just long enough to take a snapshot of this stone carving of one figure cleverly balanced horizontally and precariously off of another figure’s head. It reminded me of a recent video that my niece took of my brother Paul diving head-first like a sea lion up over the rail and off of our brother Steve’s second story river deck. Bravo, Paul, for not belly-flopping or dying! (And you will NEVER see me doing that!)

I rode up this hill in the direction of Siena to see a sculpture studio that is for rent. But I cannot afford it, so . . . after an Open Studio of short poses, I rode my bike home and saw a sliver of the moon in a smile under a bright planet. Does anyone know which one? I have watched this star for so long and I should know which one it is. Anyway, this is a view of my brief stop on the Ponte San Niccolò. The moon and planet are on the left with their reflections in the famous Arno River. And the Palazzo Vecchio can be seen on the right. I wish you had seen this vision in person.

Cascine Market Florence, Italy

Cari Amici,
I felt my cold break in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, although even today I am still feeling some lingering effects. I was happy, though, because I had made plans to meet my friend Anna (who shares a birthday with me) to go to the Tuesday market in the Parco delle Cascine. This park stretches along the famous Arno River, downstream from the Ponte Vecchio.

Although I have been told that Florentines love their gardens, a tourist is unlikely to see much of these in centro unless you can get invited inside the historic buildings to see the courtyards and rooftops. I have a tendency to experience withdrawal symptoms if I do not have contact with trees often, so I was looking forward to seeing more of this park.


The park is lovely (by day – by night, one can see prostitutes and it was not too long ago that the police cracked down on a substantial child prostitute business here) and the market was much larger than I expected. I love the food booths, the plants, and the inexpensive clothes. But they also sell sheets, linens, and other household items. Anna bought a pot for cooking.

We got a kick out of our lack of understanding the Italian language: One shoe booth promoted “Stock solo €1.50”. We were unclear on whether solo meant “only” or “each” since the shoes did not appear to be sold by the pairs. The weather was very spring-like and quite perfect, save for the flying seedlets snowing down on us. I know that I should have been able to name the guilty plant or tree, but labels seem to be escaping me. But enjoy the photo of the temporary groundcover!

And finally, I would like to include this image that I took on our return trip. We crossed the Arno and could see the beginning of the market on the left. And in front of the hills that surround Florence, the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio can be seen behind the bridges we must pass before arriving back where we started – Florence’s Ponte Vecchio.

Thank you for reading!
Kelly