Pastel Streetpainting in Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Yesterday was a fun day in streetpainting here in Florence, Italy. I saw some old friends, met some people that I only knew from my Web site and Facebook, had a little party, and even got some pastel painting done in the street.

I have been given Thursdays with my colleague Johnny from Ireland. I drew with him last year, as well, and he is fun to work with. However, he draws with our friend Kumiko on Wednesdays and asked if I minded picking up where they left off the day before. Johnny models in the mornings (when I arrive to work) and later on Thursday evenings, he attends life-drawing sessions. I should, too, but since I only am permitted to draw one day as one of the madonnari fiorentini, I will draw in the studio another day.

Allora, we drew Michelangelo’s “La Sacra Familia” otherwise known as “Tondi Doni” -- all in pastels directly on the street. I was amused that a woman working as a badante (assisting people needing special health care in their homes) and living in Firenze for the past two years (but from the country of Georgia) stopped to ask me if I was Russian. I get this guess only second to my being French. It always amuses me and makes me want more to visit Russia.

Last year I wrote about some of my street performing friends, including Mimito Sorrydista He stopped by to say hello and I got to see him as a blonde this time ! I hope you enjoy these images.


This next image was of me with a high school class visiting Florence from Belgium. This was their last day in the Renaissance City. They stayed with me for at least 20 minutes (good for street painting visitors) and later several of the boys returned just before getting on the train home. I asked them that after a week, what was their favorite part of Florence and one boy (white T, standing) said enthusiastically, "You!"
I think he has a future in politics or maybe as a lady-killer. :-)

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If you would enjoy getting away from your normal routine and working with pastels, won’t you please consider this art workshop I am teaching in an amazing location on the Big Island of Hawai’I. We will work on-site, and even with a model for part of the workshop. This happens in early September and is hosted by Hawaiian Art Journey and the Kona Village Resort. They will take care of all of your concerns so that you may relax and focus on making your own art.

Registration is refundable up to 30 days before the workshop starts and we need to get commitments from art lovers early so that you all have time to make your travel plans. (You may also combine this art event as a romantic getaway – guests are allowed to have non-workshop attendees accompany them.) Check out the details below.
Pastels in Paradise – Art Workshop with Kelly Borsheim
Hawaiian Art Journey

Liberation Day Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Sunday, April 25th was a national holiday in Italy, best known as the Festa della Liberazione, or Liberation Day. They celebrate the day in 1945 in which the Allied troops finally liberated Italy from the fascists. It is also a date in which fallen soldiers are remembered and honored. There are a few partigiani (veterans) left from this time and on this day, I helped my local friends celebrate them.

Piazza G. Poggi near the Torre San Niccolò was filled with tables and chairs and my friends and I enjoyed a sit-down dinner in the sun, with unlimited wine and we even made new friends as others joined our table. We wrapped up our long lunch with cantuccini from Prato and vin santo (those lovely crunchy cookies dipped in a sweet liqueur – my favorite!)

After lunch, but before the dolci (dessert), there was a program to honor the vets and one of the attending partigiano made an impassioned speech, that I believe included hoping that Silvio Berlusconi could be defeated. The Italian President is not particularly popular in these parts, and no one I know can fathom how he keeps getting re-elected (other than that he owns all of the media companies.) But, in truth, maybe I was not paying attention closely to the language and the vet was just wishing the president good judgment or something.


Lots of singing followed with folks afterwards forming a small parade to walk uphill to Piazzale Michelangelo to see the irises and other flowers. My party and I moved instead down Via San Niccolò for a coffee before heading down to the Bargello Sculpture Museum and just taking a giro around town. Later that evening, we enjoyed a series of concerts in Piazza Santo Spirito.

For me, this was the first consistently warm day and it was lovely to be out in it with the celebrations going on. A special day for me, too, despite the fact that I did not get any art accomplished. So, now I leave you with images so that I may get to the work at hand. If you would like to see more, check out my Facebook Photo Albums. Enjoy. PACE! (Peace).


Liberation Day explained on Italylogue.com

Ceiling of Uffizi Museum

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Some years ago one of my local friends told me that you could always spot the tourists in Florence, Italy, because they are always looking up. I say “Peccato!” (It is a sin!) But it must be the same for many people the world over: when you live in a place, sometimes you do not see it. I look up, down, and all-around. There are treasures everywhere.

Today I share something with you about il soffitto della Galleria degli Uffizi (the ceiling in the Uffizi Museum/Art Gallery). This first image is of only one room in the museum. It looks like many of the really fancy interiors in Europe, to me. I only include it here to show you that not all the ceilings in the Uffizi in are the same style.


The Uffizi Gallery is laid out in a square-shaped U. The latter leg has frescoes more in the style of realistic, large figures and I have not shown these here. But in the first leg you will see there is a lighter feel, since the graphics are thin, delicate, fanciful, and permit much of the white background to be seen. I love the imagination in these patterns – people morphing into animals and architecture.





So, I hope you like those. This next is a ceiling painting to look as if birds and plants are covering a glass lid. I do not know how old this is, but I do know that contemporary artists have used this idea time and time again. Perhaps they were inspired by the Uffizi?


For these last two images, how could I not show you some sculpture. And THE sculpture that inspired Michelangelo so much: Laocoön This marble in the Uffizi is a copy of the original one in Vatican City. That was discovered during Michelangelo’s lifetime and one can make an easy connection between the two.



I hope that you enjoy these images – I was not supposed to take any of them. Sneaky artist! But without flash, I fail to see the damage I have done, especially when my intention is the entice you to see some of these beauties yourself. So, chin up!

Official site for the Uffizi Gallery (click on the “eng” link in the upper left corner to read the site in English)

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Streetpainting Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

So, I last Friday I did my first stint this trip as a street painter on Via Calimala in Florence, Italy. On this day, I worked with one of the best street artists that I have ever met: Tomoteru Saito (who we all call simply “Tomo”). He is a gentle soul and you can see this in his lovely style of creating art.

This first image came from the camera of a Canadian artist who recently finished his art history studies here in Florence. His name is Antoine Mountain. We met the day before while I was crossing the (bridge) Ponte Santa Trinita. I saw a cute couple trying to take an image of themselves with famous Ponte Vecchio in the background and asked if I could take the photo for them. Then I heard a request from the man (Antoine) sitting on the bridge nearby, “Would you mind taking one of me, too, please?” Afterwards he decided to take a shot of me and I invited him to come over and check out the street painting the next day. He gave me permission to share this image of us that a tourist took while I was working.


Shortly after Antoine left, Tomo and I got rained out a little. Here is Tomo posing with our “good fortune.” I am not sure what the deal was, but with the rain came the cars and vans! This is strange to have happen around lunchtime. There is very restricted traffic in centro and I have yet to comprehend if the rain made the rules somehow obsolete. And yes, one of my money baskets became a taxi casualty.



One bright thing happened as the rain was slowing down: I met one of my blog readers! He happened to be in town and wondered if he would be able to find me street painting. So, this was quite fun and we got to have a decent conversation until the street became dry enough for me to return to work. Allora, Tomo and I finished well enough and we left just before midnight. Oh, and the original artist is William Adolphe Bouguereau.

Conti – Tasting Tour Tuscany

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I once heard that “you can either write about life or live life, not both.” Boy, that is a tough one for me. So many interesting things – good and not so good – happen and seem worthy of documentation for a variety of reasons. So, perhaps you will bear with me today as I share more good things about the Conti family food products here in Tuscany. In my last post, I wrote about the balsamico that Stefano and Grazia Conti offer in their colorful shop in mercato centrale here in Florence, Italy. They also carry all things TRUFFLE!

But during the tour given by the brains and passion behind the Divina Cucina, Judy Witts Francini (in violet) shared with us a wide variety of Italian foods, spices, leather goods, jewelry, and more. She knows all of the merchants here, especially the Conti family. Judy’s tours are fun and you move at just the right pace. She keeps all tour groups small so she can offer the most personal of experiences. And she delivers!

So, a quick explanation of some of these images before I get back to my drawing board.
1) Judy, right, gives her tour group a moment to look over the Italian labels.
2) Judy and Grazia Conti share a laugh with the group.
3) Getting a whiff of a special spice mix (I think for putting on meats) – a perfect example of my shooting an image with my right hand while the rest of my body wants to pass up the photo-op for some yummy fragrances.
4) The fresh fruits and vegetables are displayed in a way that you may see all at a glance and reach everything that you desire. I had never before seen horseradish (the tubular shapes to the left of the Conti sign).
5) Loved the mushroom display!
6) Candied fruits – strawberries in the front, kiwi in the back, and my personal favorite: zenzero (ginger). Fun to say, fun to eat!
7) Grappa in test tubes and a box in the style of a cigarette case! I think grappa is stronger than vodka, and not for the faint of heart. I like it in the right circumstances.

Enjoy your day – I cannot wait to be able to show you my new artworks soon.

Useful links:
Tuscany Flavours – the site for the Conti Family’s delicious offerings
Divina Cucina – get to know more about Judy Witts Francini and her cooking knowledge
Judy’s blog about food and Italy

Conti – Tasty Tuscan Food Products

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Recently I attended “Mondays at the Markets” with the fabulous Judy Witts Francini. Judy not only teaches Italian cooking classes, but she gives tours on how to buy the right ingredients (and wines), blogs and publishes cooking books, and SO much more. Monday, she took her small group (always small, she says, she prefers it that way) on a tour of the Mercato Centrale di San Lorenzo (central market) in Florence, Italy, as well as many of the surrounding merchants that she adores.

Today I want to share some of my experiences that day with the Conti family. I met Stefano and Grazia Conti, as well as their son Manuel, who I understood to have recently received some prestigious award that permitted him to be considered an expert on wines or some other culinary honor. [I really need to work in my Italian language skills, not to mention my memory!]


There was so much tasting and so many scrumptious things that I had to narrow it down for this blog post. I choose today to talk about the Conti’s balsamico. I have tasted balsamic vinegar plenty of times – it is a staple in Italian homes and goes well on salads and even pasta. But what we tasted this day was not this. Sure it had the similar tanginess to it, but was so much more intense and pure of flavor (and I think Judy said – no vinegar)! One drop of this thick concoction, and one was thinking of the nectar of the gods. I am not exaggerating.


These images were taken at the Conti’s tasting table inside of the mercato centrale. The first image is of the handsome Stefano and his charming wife Grazia. In the second image, Grazia is showing us one of the family’s offerings, while their elegant and perhaps modest son Manuel lays out the tastings of the day.


In this third image, the fabulous Judy [wearing Florentine purple, the color of the local soccer (calcio) team], explains to us how balsamico is created over a period of many years, moved from one barrel into the next in line. In the fourth image, the lovely Grazia waits for the balsamico to find its way finally to my spoon. When one knows of the time involved to create such treasures and how long it will last (a tiny amount goes a long way), the price becomes reasonable indeed.

And just look at some of their offerings! The bottles are beautiful, as well as the treasures inside: worth every euro. Life can be a dream when we follow our passions. Thanks so much to the Conti family for sharing theirs.

Useful links:
Tuscany Flavours – the site for the Conti Family’s delicious offerings
Divina Cucina – get to know more about Judy Witts Francini and her cooking knowledge
Judy’s blog about food and Italy

Just wanted to acknowledge this: My friend Keith Hogan left this world on the 14th of April. He was a strong advocate for people with disabilities and had the sweetest soul.

Fresco Santa Trinita Church

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

This is the last of this series of images from the Church of Santa Trinita in Florence, Italy. I wanted to show you something that is sad and unfortunately quite common in the frescoes in Florentine churches. In this first image, I give you a snapshot giving you an overall view of the church. But look at the upper left part of the image: In a church in which there is quite a lot of symmetry and order, you can see that this part does not. It is because of damage over the years.


In this second image, you can see not only how much of the original fresco is missing, but you can also see how lovely the colors are. I cannot help wondering how beautiful this original artwork would have looked when it was new.


In these last two images, you can see the warmer fresco colors. I also really enjoy the border patterns and how they placed several complete compositions into one giant composition that worked with the architecture. And not unlike when I destroy my street paintings, I often find beauty in the ruins of . . . well, many things.

I am not sure, but I believe that the cracks and missing parts of frescoes give away their secrets on how they were made, or at least, how the work was separated into batches of plaster. I find it interesting that in the third image, one can see that the shapes of the missing art are more organic in nature. This composition, while having a number of straight vertical elements in its composition is quite different from the one across the space from it (image 4). You can see the lost space wrapping around the one figure in red’s robe.



Whereas the last image depicts a rather rectangular composition and the missing painting in the lower right is also a rectangular shape. One suspects that this artist worked in a very methodical manner perhaps based more on his brain’s way of thinking than even on the way the image was originally drawn. I wonder if he was part engineer?

Italy has such a wealth of important art and finds itself the custodian of so much of human culture and history. It must be a great expense for a generally not super-wealthy nation and it is no wonder that so many of Italy’s artworks appear to be waiting for restoration attention. I, for one, am generally happy that more artworks have not been restored after seeing how Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel was ruined by the “restoration experts.” But this is another topic . . .

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