Liechtenstein Palace Vienna Austria

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I took a night train from Florence, Italy, to Vienna, Austria. I was fortunate to have a friend tell me about trenitalia’s SMART card, which got me a ticket for less than half the normal price. I only had two days in Vienna and I came to see artworks of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.

I arrived on a Tuesday morning and the Leopold Museum was closed that day. However, it worked out that the Liechtenstein Museum was closed on Wednesdays, so my choice became clear.

The Liechtenstein Museum is actually a part of the Liechtenstein Palace. Perhaps you can get this idea as you walk up the stairs into the museum with me . . .



I was kind of creeped out by the loveliness of this detail shot in the ceiling painting. The subject of the painting is not so lovely. A woman is pouring something onto a man being tortured by putti. Maybe I misunderstand because I know not the story, but I think that if she were helping him, she would be physically closer to him.
Still, with these colors and composition, the emotion seems quite tranquillo to me.



These next two images were not supposed to have been taken, but how could I not? I mean seriously, this marble sculpture is beautiful and intelligently designed. The motion in the babies, incredible and the stone touches in enough places to keep the material supported.


This marble carving inside the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna is by Alessandro Algardi in 1630. Titled “Eros and Anteros” the statue depicts Eros removing the blindfold from his brother Anteros. The accompanying text that I read from other works explains that Eros represents the god of heavenly love, initiator of all conception. Anteros represents Earthly love (which is why he has no wings), and is the god of unrequited love or spurned love. In art Anteros often appears in the shadow of his brother Eros. The leaden arrows of Anteros represent carnal, earthly desire, whereas the golden arrows of Eros represents the love that conceives children.

Really, we have lost (or at least I have never learned) our abilities to read a painting. Allegory was big in the former days of art. I enjoy learning more about these things that are our eternal struggles and joys.

I do recommend this museum in Vienna. Unfortunately, the day that I was there, the gardens behind the museum were closed for a private party for a bank. It looked to be quite the affair . . .


For more information, visit the site of the Liechtenstein Museum

Or this other site on the Palais Liechtenstein

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San Giovanni Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

The 24th of June was the festival of San Giovanni (St. John), Florence, Italy’s patron saint. I was street painting that day with my colleagues Johnny and Lalu. We chose to draw a copy of a painting by Pietro della Francesca, I believe. It depicts Jesus being baptized by Saint John. I show you a detail here of the work-in-progress.

Naturally, there was a parade through the center of Florence. I caught some of it on film in between drawing time. I love the expressiveness of this one man’s face as he points to one of the parade viewers.



On Day Two of our two-day pass to paint on the street, I arrived to discover that all three drawing spaces were occupied by Italian school children. Although I found them charming enough to photograph, I was not too amused professionally. For one, some of my colleague Johnny’s friends had come by around midnight the night before and invited us all to go to a nearby pub for a bit. Needless to say, I was not happy to have gotten up earlier than desired for no reason.

While our group paid for permits, apparently since 31 May, we have been paying the police. The teacher for this class, however, paid the Comune (Florence’s City Hall) and had more rights to draw than the madonnari did. The teacher assured me that they would be finished by noon. Since I was not prepared for this surprise, I did not have all of my street painting tools with me. So I asked if she would please wash my square again before she left (the drawing from the day before having been already removed).

The sun is normally straight above us until 2 pm, which helped to dry the street, but was not the condition that I wanted to start drawing in. So, I got a late start, but Johnny later joined me. I had chosen a Raphael painting, “Madonna of the Chair.” hoping to make a connection with a more recognizable (and for me fun to draw) image. Lalu was not working with us today, so Johnny took the left half and I the right.

This turned out to be a fun day and I got practice drawing babies. We did not have time to finish, but with all of the weird happenings of our day, we decided to just try to enjoy ourselves a bit. This last image was taken around midnight once we stopped working. In the foreground you can see some Persian language written by a very charming Iranian mother visiting Florence with her grown daughter and son. They wrote something to the tune of, “Kelly, this is a lovely painting.” Meeting them was one of the day’s highlights.

If you like what you read, enjoy the photos, and would like to help support this blog(ger) / artist, click here . . .

Florence Italy Favorites

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I wanted to share some random fun images from Florence, Italy, while I am on the go and not writing as much as I normally do.

These images are from the market (il mercato ambrogio), a florentine lion wants David’s head, another image from the “Found Objects” series, and one of the many of Florence’s lovely sunsets.

Enjoy and thank you for reading and viewing!

Tabernacoli Fiorentini Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

The other night some friends and I went to Hemingway’s in central Florence, near the Chiesa (Church) di Santa Maria del Carmine. It is known as one of the better chocolate places around. I thought I would indulge, but instead of chocolate, I got a mascarpone con fruitti di bosco (cheese and berry) crepe.

Afterwards on my way home, I again photographed one of the more attractive shrines one finds around bella Italia. I have been photographing the tabernacoli fiorentini for a few years now. I am not sure why I find them fascinating, but I suspect it is because there are so many and sometimes in unusual places that it makes me envision people just stopping in their tracks to pray.

The one I show you today is more elaborate than most because it has the double images. The painted terra-cotta bas relief of madonna and child was especially beautiful this night because of the fresh flowers someone had added. There was a sign there that listed the title and date (XIX for “Gesu’ Coronato di Spine), but my blurred photo in the night was too blurry for me to determine whether the artists’ names were included.

This tabernacle was restored in 1995 and apparently is still much beloved.

For more information, check out sites such as this one on tabernacoli fiorentini

Calcio Santa Croce Florence

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I am not a big sports fan, although I loved watching the Olympics. However, if you catch me watching some kind of game, it is more because I want to be around the people who are fans.

Calcio (soccer) is an extremely popular sport in Europe, and Italians are quite addicted. The first time I noticed an entire group of guys in a pub, all facing the same way whether standing or seated, extending their heads beyond a reasonable posture, mouths dropped open, eyes glued forward in a hypnotic stare, I thought that I had just walked into a strip show. No, only calcio -- on TV even.

June 24 is a Florentine holiday. There is the annual Festa di San Giovanni, to celebrate the patron saint of Florence. I wrote about the Bapistry of San Giovanni (St. John) earlier. Typically there is a parade throughout the historical center of Florence, which would naturally include the traditional sbandierattore, flag wavers.

Then there is a Calcio Storico match in Piazza Santa Croce, which I show you the makeshift stadium here. The entire piazza inside of the bleachers gets fills with sand. This historical game is traditionally more violent than a normal gioca di calcio and a couple of years ago, after some serious injuries, the games were stopped. They resumed last year, but still people tell me if you enjoy watching fighting, this might be the event for you. 30 men from each side battle in the sand.

All this is finished up with a pretty good display of fireworks shooting over Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. Last year I was impressed with how long the fireworks lasted. They are best seen from the three bridges closest to Piazzale Michelangelo. Fireworks are more lovely when reflected in the River Arno.

So, get ready for the Festa di San Giovanni in Florence, Italy, and . . .
Happy Summer Solstice today!

Male Nude Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

After seeing my artwork at Sei Divino’s here in Florence, Italy, some time ago, an acquaintance told me that he would like to become a nude model. So we talked about how to go about applying for the job and I would hire him to work for my Open Studio at the Angel Academy of Art.

When the day came, he was late. I called him and he said, “in 15 minutes.” I responded, “Ti aspettiamo.” (We are waiting for you.) When he arrived, he asked, “We? I thought I was modeling only for you.” Uh oh. How could that have happened? Not wanting him to feel put on the spot, I showed him the workspace and the model room and told him that he could leave the robe over him as he desired.

Fabric is wonderful to draw and when it is on a model it is even more complex because it never returns to the pose in the same position. One must work fast and one ends up creating a composition of many variants. Our model did a wonderful job and afterwards told me he would love to model again. I told him that the school closes its Open Studio sessions soon and it would be October before they start up again. He was very sweet and replied that he would wait for when I come back because he prefers to work with me in the session. So, here is my charcoal figure drawing of the charming Giovanni.

“Giovanni --10 Giugno 2009” 17” x 11” $150, includes shipping.
Charcoal / carboncino
A greenish paper -- Canson Mi-Teintes

Gem and Mineral Exhibit La Specola Florence

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Yesterday I went to see Mostra Cristalli: la più bella mostra di minerali al mondo inside of La Specola Natural History Museum in Florence, Italy. While I cannot claim to have seen all the mineral specimens in the world, this was indeed an incredible collection. And I went with a friend who collects gems and minerals and was told the high selling prices for stones much smaller than the ones presented here. The value of this collection boggles the mind. So much is one man’s passion!

Adalberto Giazotto, a particle physicist, started his collection as many children do: with small pieces that created a “wonderful obsession.” As an adult, he traveled the world to add to the quality of his collection, often buying an unusual mineral or an entire collection from other passionate people. The minerals and gems came from countries such as Brazil, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Russia. Some even originated in the United States (Colorado, Tennessee) and I enjoyed the special section on minerals from Tuscany.





There were over 500 stones on display, most beautifully lit in a comfortably dark space. In fact, I was a bit disappointed by the book for the exhibit because the lighting of each mineral and gem was rather flat. In some instances, all sense of dimensionality was lacking. I am sure, though, that they created the photography before the exhibit lighting showed more possibilities.

Certainly the wide variety of both saturated and subtle colors dazzled. But I think I enjoyed most how strong geometrical shapes seems to push their way through organic shapes. I was reminded of the life under the ocean a lot. There were delicate fibers inside and extending beyond hard crystals. And I include here one piece in which one does not need to be a cloud watcher to recognize the form of a rabbit!









As we left the museum, we took another look at the tribute to Galileo. I include an image of this room because it is so typically Italian.

You may see something of Mostra Cristalli: la più bella mostra di minerali al mondo on the Web site: www.mostracristallifirenze.it and relax, it is in English also.

If you like what you read, enjoy the photos, and would like to help support this blog(ger) / artist, click here . . .