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.

Street Painting in Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Yesterday I again worked as a madonnara on Via Calimala in Florence, Italy. Someone asked me if I ever did the same picture twice. Well, that day I attempted to draw again Pompeo Batoni’s “Madonna and Child” from 1742.

I include here an image of both day’s efforts. I struggle with drawing or painting faces and working on the street is even more difficult than working vertically and on my feet. I find it interesting how different both of my attempts are. I have made quite a few improvements on the madonna’s face, especially in the hair and the dark side of the face. The shorter nose seems more feminine and young to me.

But I see many things that I need to improve. I hope to get the opportunity. One Italian woman asked if I would paint this image on tela (canvas) so she could buy it. Time will tell if she is truly interested. In the meantime, I continue to work on improving my understanding of design and shapes – and color.

If you happen to be in Florence, Italy, on Monday, September 29, please stop by and see me. I will be working the space near the Mercato Porcellino. I usually arrive between 10 and 11 am and draw until mezzanotte (midnight). Cold temperatures and rain usually send me home earlier.

Cultural Heritage Week in Florence, Italy

Cari Amici,
I must apologize for being a bit dull today. Today was just one of those days in which too much sadness just punched me full-on. It did not help that it was raining this morning. While I normally am enchanted by rain, today was one of my potentially last days to work as a madonnara, or street painter. And earning income is one of my largest weaknesses.

However, it stopped raining around 1:30 this afternoon and I looked out over Via Ghibellina to see if the streets were becoming dry enough to draw on. I decided to take a chance and at least try to earn back my permit fee for today. I include a photo here to show you how far I got before the loud thunder strike and more rain hit Florence. I had only just begun the face of the Madonna and her child.

I am not sure if I was just feeling desperate or blue. Or perhaps I felt optimistic that this would just blow over, but at some point, I pulled out my umbrella (after having put all of my belongings under a plastic bag) and kept trying to make some kind of beauty out of chalk that was quickly acting like mud. A few people dropped coins into my little buckets. I vacillated between feeling grateful for the generosity of strangers and feeling pathetic. I mean: I am a 43-year-old broke artist working in the street in the rain to make art for a living. Is this really what I wanted for myself?

At some point, I just stopped. The other artist had given up minutes before and washed away his quickly drawn face. Another madonnaro (not working that day) came up and spoke to me a bit. A wee bit later, I decided that the rains were not going away and took my broom to scrub my drawing off of the street. I noticed that each raindrop turned white as it hit the stone. Whaaaaa??? I looked at the sleeve of my jean jacket and realized that it was snowing! Fantastic, but mamma mia, I was not dressed for this.

Anyway, I packed up and arrived home soaked and decided to try to paint something. But the depression felt too great and so, I began to read to get my mind in a more positive frame.

The good news is that Cultural Heritage Week starts tomorrow and runs through 31 March. Translation: All state- and city-run museums, galleries, and archaeological sites in Florence, Italy, are free to enter on these days, including lectures and guided tours. For more information, visit: www.beniculturali.it or call 06/67232635.

And thank you for reading.

Pastel Portrait - Artist

I rarely feel that I do anything well enough. Portraits are certainly no exception. So, I decided to use some of my leftover pastels from the madonnara (street painting in Italy) work that I described to you a couple of times ago and work to improve my skills – with faces and with color.

Pictured here is a pastel sketch that I did of a beauty named Maria. The drawing is about 40 x 25 cm. The first night that I applied color to my pencil sketch on the dark grey paper, I was only equipped with a small box of “earthtone” pastels. This meant lots of the orange family – from yellow to brown.

The work-in-progress image of my drawing is rather brutta (ugly). High contrast, garish colors, and no blending of tones. More typical of the “note-taking” that I do while I have the model in front of me.

I was thinking that the final work looked not as good as I expected of myself – until I came home, looked at the other images, and saw my actual progress. That said, I did learn that generally speaking, it is the lights that should have the chroma (color) in them, while the darks play it down, in the same manner that a backup singer supports and allows the star to take the stage.

Had I started with a larger box of pastels, with a broader range of pigments, I might have done this correctly. As it was, I first started using my pinks and cooler colors to tone down the large oranges of the lights. I did later work in the dark areas, but perhaps they still have more color than the light areas.

Maria’s hair was blue and red, but I think I was lost on how to handle this. I did enjoy adding the blue (first) to the black (compressed charcoal) – reminiscent of the comic book Wonder Woman. Ha ha.

Street Painting in Firenze, Italia

I drew with pastels again yesterday for the Madonnara work in Florence. This time -- no blues. I am out of blue pastels and did not want to buy more right now.
So, I chose to re-create another of my favorite works: The Libyan Sibyl of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. I love the colors and the twisting figure.

It was a fun day and I met many people; some even remembered me from last week. I even met the man who does Charlie Chaplin
impression
It was another good experience and my body thus far has not hurt nearly as much as it did
after my first day as a street painter (3 days!). This must be all of the stairs and walking that I am doing here.
You perhaps can tell that as the day went on I got more tired and my drawing was not complete by the end of the day. I added the little
figure on the left in the last thirty minutes. I also did some kind of number on that nose! Sheesh. Oh well, I received
many compliments on how I am able to capture form. For me, this was kind to hear that people can even distinguish these sorts
of comments. Isolation is necessary to do work, but this direct feedback from an audience is quite fun and appreciated as well.

I hope you enjoy -- and see you after some of my travels in the next few days.
Ciao, ciao.

Madonnara - Street Painting

So on 12 Settembre, I just tried my hand at becoming a 'madonnara' -- a street painter in central Firenze (Florence). This being my first time, I thought it would be funny to depict a virgin. No, seriously, I was trying to find something a little different from what I had seen here, but that would appeal to my audience. My friend Mark Cummings (San Francisco) told me that 'madonnas go over BIG in Italia.'
Allora, I had bought many pastels and a few other supplies while in Texas, thinking it would be more cost effective. I had wanted to try this during my last visit to Firenze, but . . .
Anyway, I chose the "Blue Madonna" an oil painting by Carlo Dolci that I had seen at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. Such a beautiful work and love those blues!
I am attaching an image that a tourista took of me while working. In one day (I started about 11 am) I tried working in this new media for me, in color, and on a street! What a canvas.
I finished as much as I wanted to a bit earlier than I thought I would, but I stayed working until almost midnight. There were many visitors throughout the day and evening. Most were very complimentary and many were impressed to learn that I have not done this before. Although I definitely wore more pastel than other artists do! Colorful dust everywhere and at the end of the night, I wash the entire artwork away to make it known to the street cleaners in the morning that a new artist will start in my square that next day.

I will also be trying again next Wednesday, so if you find yourself in Firenze soon, check it out! I am working near Piazza della Repubblica -- closer to the Straw Market.
Ciao, and thank you for reading.