Shops in Florence Italy

I have to look for a new place to live. Not sure I should give specifics about why since I am in a foreign country and all. I do not feel free to discuss the problem that the friend I am staying with is having, in case it makes things worse for this friend. And few people know that I am here.

Anyway, room hunting has led me to walking around town at hours I would otherwise be working on my art and I am getting to see many shops that are not normally open when I am out and about. The shop in the image here is near the Pitti Palace, I think. Or maybe Santo Spirito, but I think the Pitti.

You may not be able to see, but there is a man working diligently behind a desk way at the back of a long and rather narrow shop. He makes masks and other art objects for decoration. I do not know if all of the paintings in this shop are his, but some fit the theme with the masks and faces. I have been enchanted with many different kinds of shops here and wonder how anyone can pay his rent. Most shops specialize to a degree that I cannot believe there are enough buyers out here to keep things rolling. But, oh, the eye candy!

Locks of Love – Florence, Italy

The Italians are quite the passionate bunch. It shows in many ways – from the care that is put into the preparing a meal to the pure enjoyment of every passeggiata, the evening walk throughout the city’s streets, usually arm in arm. One can see lovers, friends, siblings, and parent and child couples of all ages walking linked and involved in familiar conversations as they people-watch.

Of course, the passion extends to areas of romance. Pictured here are some of the proclamations of a lasting devotion – the locks of love. One can see them in various, sometimes random, places around Italia. Sometimes so many locks are placed in a spot that they are eventually cut off and the process may begin again. This image was taken at the end of the arched walkway that is near the famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, along the Arno River.

Festival dei Popoli – Documentary Film Festival Florence Italy

Last Tuesday night, I was invited for a quick dinner after I finished my drawing for the day. Then my friend Simone took me to the Festival dei Popoli – a documentary film festival – at Cinema Gambrinus, a movie theatre near the Edison (English language) bookstore and Piazza della Repubblica. I was really tired, but rarely turn down an invitation to see the interior of some space in Florence, especially by a local.

Allora, the first film was a depressing view of an Israeli soldier’s term of active duty in the reserves. It had Italian subtitles, which helped me to learn more of this language, and see how common phrases are interpreted, even some naughty ones. Hey, these are soldiers in a war after all. The second film was titled, “King Corn” and chronicled the adventures of two men who found a plot of land in Iowa, USA, to plant corn for a year. It was a comment on how much corn (usually by way of corn syrup) Americans eat.

I do not often see a lot of documentaries; however, I assume this was better done than others. And the message was “preaching to the choir” for me. And in all fairness, I slept through a lot of it, off and on. The snoozing was more about me than about the film though. And what I do remember was that there were many quite beautiful and artistically composed images of the farmland and skies in Iowa. Simone loved the film’s poster, but it was too much yellow for my taste.

The Cinema Gambrinus is not nearly as beautiful as the Odeon Theatre in Florence, but charming in its way. There was a sculpture of three women (Graces?) above the screen and you can see one pink chandelier in the photo above.

I was really charmed by the live classical musicians playing outside of the cinema when we exited about mezzanotte. But the Italians do seem to love the night, even during the week.

Construction of a Painting

I started one of my “Naked Gondolier” series paintings this past Sunday. I am doing it in my spare time, whatever that actually means. Anyway, I used the drawing I did of “Mario” that I showed you recently in a previous blog entry as the step-off point. I like the idea of the light in a figure emerging from darkness.

However, I also wanted to imply the gondola, as well as a bridge. I mean, what else spells out Venice (Venezia) in bella Italia? I am not looking to create details, but I do want to elicit an emotional response to the romance of this city. So, I began my disegno, starting with line and a vague idea of three tonal values. I photographed my beginning and then, in Photoshop, started playing with various lighting effects.

Not happy with any one thing, I decided to just start painting. Sometimes these things have a way of speaking for themselves, you know. Yesterday, I asked the Maestro John Angel if he could give me some pointers. I felt lost because I liked the light under the bridge, but it might not work in this particular painting. I was not sure that I wanted the reflection of the bridge to alter the shape of the dark water on the left. And the list went on. I could see why artists do works in series – it becomes possible then to choose one element for each artwork and play with it. Too many notes being played at once only makes noise, not music.

Allora, I concluded my confession to the Maestro with a, “I think that I am trying to do too much with too little.” Tilting his head slightly and with a pensive hesitation, he responded, “You took the words right out of my mouth. But also, I think you are afraid to lose too much.”

Wow. He just summed up my life.

So, I will add the darks and get back to you.
Thanks for reading.

Sara – A Drawing In Charcoal

Today has been somewhat of a catch-up day. It has been very cold in Firenze. As such, I have begun to organize and archive some of my images. That includes my progress images of current projects, such as my carboncino drawing of a model named Sara.

Here I have posted five images of my drawing of Sara’s head at various stages. I am spending three hours per day with the model, starting on 22 October. And I am moving very slowly since I am trying to learn a lot and not just produce a drawing.

You can see that each day the head has changed. There is something that I like about each one, although (honestly) there is something that I prefer in the first disegno. The problem with her was that the head was too small for the body. Because I am pushing myself, I chose to completely erase the head and observe fresh rather than simply trying to make all of my drawn features larger.

The first four images are of my cartoon. The cartoon tends to be just regular drawing paper and is where the artist creates the design. The less expensive paper gives the artist the freedom to make mistakes and change one’s mind. Once satisfied, the cartoon image is transferred onto the quality, toothed paper that will accept the charcoal medium, as described a bit in a previous blog.

The last image is of charcoal on the Roma paper. I wanted my drawing to fill the paper, so I took my original drawing to a copy shop and had her enlarged a wee bit. Then I used tracing paper to transfer my disegno. This method allows my original to not be harmed, although in this case I did not transfer from my original drawing. Anyway, the charcoal is faint because while I am going over my lines and pushing the charcoal I have drawn on the underside of the tracing paper onto the Roma paper, I am trying not to emboss the Roma paper.

Drawing of Mario - Florence, Italy

And another life drawing here. This time the model’s name is Mario. We seem to have an abundance of models here in Firenze. Lots of new faces and forms to draw. The figure is about 42 centimeters (just over 16 inches) tall. I drew in the light shapes only with a white pencil on a dark charcoal grey Canson paper. I have done some shape exercises to train the eye in which I only draw what is light, and not shadow. I had fun with it and when working with Mario, I decided to use a much darker paper so that the lights seem to emerge from darkness, adding perhaps some mystery.

The paper for framing purposes is around 47 x 30 cm, not counting what would be under the mat and frame. The drawing is signed and dated 7 November 2007. I did a few minor touch-ups after that, but that is the date that the model session was held and most of the work was done. I may get to use this sketch as an inspiration in my “Naked Gondolier” series of paintings.

“Mario” is available for private or public collexions, so please do not be shy about inquiring! Thank you for reading.

Sara - A Charcoal Drawing - Disegno

About mid-October I started my first drawing for a carboncino (charcoal) drawing on paper. Here in Florence, Italy, the favored papers are Umbria brand and Roma. Rigacci’s Art Store did not have the Umbria when I arrived to purchase my paper, so I am using the Roma. The Roma brand has a very obvious line-patterned tooth (a rough surface for holding the carboncino) that I will carefully need to work with to create a smooth tone where desired.

In this image, taken over the Halloween weekend, I am in the process of transferring my original drawing onto a piece of the fine Roma paper. I do the original cartoon drawing on regular drawing paper. I work out my proportions of the figure and create my disegni. (Those who have visited the newsletter section of my Web site may already know that in Italian, the word disegno means ‘drawing’ AND ‘design.’ They are one and the same.

I have drawn the outline of the figure with props, as well as the shadow shapes. While this is considered representational art, I am not copying Nature. I am using Nature as an inspiration to create a pattern of shapes and tones. Illusion is not reality. Illusion is not copying. I have an almost infinite amount of choices. That is why, even when working with the same model and having the same sort of goal in mind, each artist’s work will look different from anothers. Disegni, baby.