Roberto Castellini Art Santa Margherita Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

One of my long-time friends, Roberto Castellini, is currently having his first art exhibit (mostra) in his hometown of Santa Margherita in northwestern Italy. Santa Margherita is on the coast in Ligure, near the more famous Portofino. I visited there once two years ago, but never recognized the place as Roberto’s hometown because he has always described where he grew up as “my little fishing village.” I include a snapshot of part of Santa Margherita. See if you can understand my disconnect!

Roberto has exhibited and sold his work in England, where he has spent most of his years since I met him in Firenze back in 2006. He was a bit nervous, I think, to show his work in his own town, but mostly because he did not have enough of it available for the Castle where his work now hangs. [This is not an uncommon problem for artists who sell their work!] Here is the Castle in which you may find the paintings and drawings of Roberto Castellini (“little castles”) each weekend until June 30. The Castle is easy to find in the center of the coastal town.

This Italian artist enjoys painting landscapes and still life compositions (much kinder in English than “natura morta” [“dead nature” is the literal translation for “still life” in Italian]). While I was trying to get shots of people at the inaugurazione on 9 June, you may see some of the paintings in these images. He has already received some inquiries for purchases and a potential commission for this genre.

That said, Roberto has begun to focus primarily on portraits. He has spent the last nine months working in Firenze with models, painting exclusively from life. He did not choose to exhibit all of these paintings and drawings though, preferring to show a variety of subjects and skills.

We have a lovely group of artists that get together each Thursday after the art history lecture given at the Charles Cecil Studios in Firenze. Several of us made a car trip up to Santa Margherita to help Roberto start this event in a fun way. I only state this to apologize in advance for the goofy photo of our friend Caroline and me goofing around. She is British and we have been having fun with our personal favorite phrases, as well as pronunciation differences. Caroline often uses the exclamation, “Delicious!” and since I did not particularly enjoy the taste of the drink in my hand, I was being a bit sarcastic about it as we teased each other. That said, I included this shot because the portrait in charcoal that is behind me was my favorite portrait in the exhibition.

Finally, I wrap up this blog post with a photo of me with my artist friend Roberto. I love it that the shot (taken by one of his family members) includes a nude and a portrait. Here are the visiting hours for the show, which sadly ends with this month. The Castle is rented out during the summer for weddings and other festive events. The organizer of this space told me that only in June and September are they able to start showing artwork. Get over to Santa Margherita if you can. Lovely art, lovely little fishing village!

Exhibit hours:
• Saturday 10:00-12:30 and 17:00-22:00 (closes 10 p.m.)
• Sunday: 10:00-12:30 and 17:00-19:00
• Last day = 30 June 2012

Angel Academy of Art Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Well, the last day at Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy was this past Friday. While I am still occupied with end-of-term festivities and helping people move or store stuff for the summer, I hope soon to be back doing my own art full-time. Still, I wanted to share some images from Angel. This first is a group shot that we took in one of our model painting rooms. The second is of the beloved Jered Woznicki, who teaches mostly the advanced classes. I love the lean on both he and his companion skeleton.

This third image is a follow-up of my sight-size copy of the bust of a Roman soldier. You may see already some of the errors that I have made, in particular that overall, I have fattened him up a bit. Still, he will dry over the summer since I have other more pressing work to do. And really, I cannot wait to get to it.

If you are interested in my latest art newsletter about painting in Tuscany, click here: http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2012_05-OldFlameArt.htm

And here is another fun surprise I received recently when my flatmate Gustavo told me that he was looking online for art by Surikov and found my name connected to it on one link, with one of my drawings posted on this site:
http://enlightenedmale2000.com/2011/02/05/drawings-the-male-form-chapter-two/ So happy June and …

Happy Father’s Day!

Sight-size Cast Painting

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

My newest sight-size painting project is of a (plaster sculpture) cast of a Roman soldier. I joke around the Angel Academy that he is pouting so strongly because his helmet is too tight. (That is even funnier in British English.) In any event, he seems to be a rather popular fellow.

This first image is of my project. I have sketched out the shapes of the cast from a viewing distance of about two meters. It is a lot of pacing the floor, in case you were concerned for my sanity. The second image was taken by my friend Lucia, who decided to sign the canvas as her own. [I have been joking with her that I will finish my project before she finishes her almost completed one. I am not known for my speed…] Here I am about to paint her out…

I work three hours minimum each afternoon on this project, but I share the lighting and space with two other artists who spend the same amount of time working on a different cast each morning. For this reason, I move my cast over to a safe place when I am not painting from him. He spends most of his days in front of John Angel’s copy of a Caravaggio. Students pass him every day and one day, I came out of my model session to see that someone has dressed him. This next image shows how goofy my colleagues are as we start to have a good time.

I went off to lunch and returned later to a room full of people enjoying my surprise. They had added a few items of adornment, including a palette, knitting needle (for comparative measuring), and a banana. [We have a bit of nerdy humor around these parts, eh?] So I have my new crush and while I will miss him over the summer, I am actually going to be too busy to fret much about him. Still, there are two weeks left to go …

My latest art newsletter is now available online for your viewing pleasure. In it, I share with you a sneak peak at new artwork inspired by my trip to Morocco, as well as some images that I am quite happy with myself to have taken of Tuscany. Click here for art news.

Poppies Tuscany

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

This self-portrait would have been so much easier (and better) if I had enlisted the aid of another photographer, but I just felt like touching base and sharing my joy in the Tuscan red poppies with you.

For those of you in the USA, I hope you are enjoying this Memorial Day weekend and feeling grateful to those who lived a life of service with the best of intentions.

Angel Academy Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Not much time for writing these days, but I wanted to share that this week, I will have finished my painting of a plaster sculpture cast from a Carpeaux. I will post an image of that painting once she is finished and I have time to take a proper shot. In the meantime, please enjoy these images of my life at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy…

Caption for above: Sophie gave me these flowers recently. She bought them as possible still life models, but they did not work with the other objects. I asked, “Why me? Lots of people here would love some flowers.” She said, “Because you gave me flowers and I love that memory.” Then she had to remind me that several years ago, I used to ride my bike to school from Via Leonardo da Vinci. I passed a large wall full of jasmine and would pick some blossoms each morning. Once in the studio, I placed jasmine on each woman’s easel. [I would have also shared with the men, but I only had so many stolen scents.] Timing is everything and that night (last Thursday), a 70-year-old + Australian model, Victor, told me that it was his birthday and I gave the bouquet to him. He was delighted! And I think the world is all connected.

Caption for above: Martin applies charcoal “war paint” on my face. Several of my colleagues are cheering me on to the finish line with my cast painting.

Caption for above: This is my next cast painting, the Roman man with the helmet decorated with lions. I love his little pouty mouth, as if his helmet is too tight. Ha!

Happy birthday, Dad!

Community of Artists Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

My life in Italy has been quite different from my last decade or so in America. In Texas, I was mostly alone working on my art out in my home in the country. I liked it. I loved it, really. I have always enjoyed being alone when I choose to be, regardless of how few or many people may be around.

To be honest, I did not know if I really wanted to enroll in art school … or any school ever again. I am not a patient person on many levels and I felt hard-pressed at times to finish my college degree. But I am really enjoying being at the Angel Academy here in Florence, Italy. While I still treasure the time I can find to be alone, I am relishing so much camaraderie in being with other artists. We work so hard and long, but there are laughs that we share, although I suspect that a lot of “outsiders” might find our humor a bit dull (puns on shapes, tones, lines… that sort of thing – generally nerdy humor, if you will). For example, the delight in objects… recently Luca brought in a collection of items he bought in Istanbul: A pair of knives in elaborate brass sheaths, small lanterns, Asian tea pots, and other exotic things. The fun lasted perhaps only 15 minutes as many of us stopped our painting projects to take a look at items from Luca’s collection, ahhing and oohing over each one and trying to figure out what the history behind some of the items might be. We looked, we touched, we played with some of them, and we passed them from one to another so that we could appreciate each object on our own. The most popular item was the traditional wedding headdress for an Asian woman. Several of us tried it on. Here is a snapshot that Caroline took of me wearing the headdress. I am standing in front of my cast painting (a painting of a plaster cast model made from an original sculpture), the Carpeaux. I am not quite the “Girl with the Pearl Earring,” but a moment of feeling a bit royal was lovely.

Angel is a painting school and is very strong in still life painting. In fact, I was surprised that this school could change my mind about still life art, not having been interested in it much at all before I came here. We do support one another in our choices of objects (models, as Jered calls them) and the compositions we attempt. It is a wonderful environment. One recent afternoon, a student gave the Maestro John Angel a gin and tonic (hey,… it was ALMOST five o’clock and I have never seen this happen before here), which he offered to share with several of us who were curious about the taste. [I tried it; I will try most anything. But it did not appeal to me much… tonic is too sweet and lingers on the tongue, making me want to drink some water to wash it down. I will stick to my vodka or girly liquors, thank you very much.] However, another female student laughed and asked, “Maestro, are you bribable?” He joked, “No, but I am flirtable!” I smirked, “Subtle.” And we all burst out laughing as he gave me a hug. Not all days are charming in this way, but there is some joy in each day with these other artists. I find that my heart is a little less lonely than it might be otherwise.

Last evening lots of “Angels” and I attended the opening reception for the Florence Academy of Art alumni exhibit. Wow… and I love the interaction between AAA, FAA, and the Charles Cecil Studios. Oh, and the newest classical art school in town is the Russian Academy. The Corsini Stables hosted the art event and the place was packed with artists last night. And as a little plug, I was surprised and flattered when I met a woman who already knew of me and even remembered a blog post from years ago! We were standing near the vintage cars and when I mentioned the photo of model Vida [“Il Dono”] and me inside the car, I did not need to introduce myself. The woman exclaimed, “I know YOU, Kelly!” Later she and her husband saw the Princess Corsini and we were all invited to come out to an event happening in her garden soon. Not lonely at all – Firenze feels so surreal sometimes!

War-Torn Tabernacoli Tuscany

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

On a recent weekend, I took some more painters out to my friend’s home in the countryside outside of Firenze, Italia. After a little walk around the vineyards and olive trees to get them acquainted with the landscape painting opportunities (and the fresh country air!), we ended up speaking with the neighbors here. There are multiple families nearby, but many of them are all related.

Bruno is in his 80s. He and his older brother Renato (who turns 90 years old this July 29th) grew up in their Tuscan “farm” during World War II. Bruno again brought out a picture he has of part of their family home at the time of the war. I had seen it before, but some things are worth doing more than once and my friends enjoyed the “live history.” These Italians seem to like me since I am American and they remember well that American soldiers stayed with them as they prepared to take back Firenze from the Germans. Bruno is in this first image as he shows off his bit of history to my friends.

We had asked about the tabernacle on the outside of the house. My friend Llewellyn is also interested in these. [Perhaps you will remember … or like to read … my art newsletter about the tabornacoli fiorentini that I wrote about some time ago.] Apparently, the original artwork in the tabernacle was a Della Robbia. This is a collective name for a historical family of ceramic artists and the studios are quite famous in these parts. The typically religious Della Robbias tend to be blue and white (white figures with blue glazed backgrounds), but not always. I must admit that they are not generally to my taste, but I have enjoyed some of them and their look is often easily distinguished from other terra-cotta or porcelain artwork of the time.

Bruno and Renato’s Della Robbia was bombed and destroyed during the war. Llewellyn is holding the image of the war-torn home, showing the tabernacle on the right. Later, the family commissioned a female artist with the last name Poggi (I believe), another well-known name in these parts, to create a new “Madonna and Child.” The last image is taken with the restored niche.

Happy Birthday, John Borsheim!