PRESENTING A NEW YEAR resolution

.

 I didn't intend to start the new year by showing  an unfinished painting but I don't  have much time left to do anything about that now. My time has been used up with holiday trimmings and anticipation of the new year leaving my painting by the wayside as often is the case.

But this is where my NEW YEAR RESOLUTIOIN comes into  play. As of tomorrow, January1st, 2015,  that long awaited painting schedule has to be formulated AND respected. More than time, it is the waste of time that I have to combat.. . A revolution  within the resolution. My wishes for happiness and resolutions of all problems to all in the new year that is upon us.

A PAINTING DAY. . . .

"Connections  Red"        50cmx50cm      oil,wax on  wood panel

I've been away from the studio for weeks now.  Working for the annual Bazaar sponsored by the American International League of Florence which aids local charities in need.  It happens every year at this time and I enjoy it I  admit.  We fashioned some fun hat/headbands with a lot of fru-fru ribbons, tulle and sequins. Hope they sell. I also made lavender sachets using old embroidered linens and tulle (check my facebook page). Soo, because of this time away from painting and household duties, today was programed to be ironing day.  . . . but, I never made it to my ironing board.  Started out early making the changes, additions to the last, almost finished panel I have been contemplating in the studio and there it is. A time to absorb and (as Janice Mason Steeves, my mentor, says) a pause to listen to your painting is  important  for moving on. I know that this pause has given me a stronger urge to get back to the studio, to continue.  I have several other paintings waiting to be finished. Nothing will stop me this time. 

A SPECIAL DAY. . .

Entry in " XXIII Premio Nazionale di Pittura" di Città di Civitella 2014

What made this day "special?  I was just supposed to go to Civitella to retrieve my painting, an ordinary procedure when you participate in a show outside of your own territory, and then return home. And since the town is in the vacinity of Arezzo, city famous for its goldsmiths and more, I was convinced that it was in a flat valley.
 It was a beautiful, sunny day, crisp temps but not cold.  We decided to make a day of it. . .to eat out somewhere nice and wait for the cerimony of awards at 3o'clock and then head for home. The drive was south toward Rome on the state highway. . . the warm sun though the windshield  made me  drowsy. Until


slowly the  road through a dense wooded area started to climb and we saw Civitella far ahead at the peak of a hill in front of us.

Civitella dates back to the Roman Empire and became an important fortress in defence during the many battles between Arezzo, Siena and Florence. It is important for its cultural  manifestations including this show as well as a sculpture show in the spring.

The medieville walls of the town are still visible

We stopped in the first piazza where we found a lovely wine bar-restaurant.

The restaurant is at the lower righthand corner of the photo next to the stairs that take you to the center of  town.

From the window of the dining room the view was amazing taking our eyes over vineyards, olive groves and breeding farms as far as the peaks of the  lower Appennine mountains

This area, the Valley of the Chiana, is the official zone where chainina cattle are raised and bred. Chianina beef is the only meat that can be used to prepare  the official "Florentine Steak".

Town Hall of Civitella nella Valley della Chiana home of a lovely modern art gallery.

 So this was my "Special" day. No prize but just a lovely, quiet day to remember.

Feeling "at home" in my NEW studio

my painting space

About 4 months have gone by since I made the big move from the studio in the city to my studio at home.  I'm not settled in completely, but then there isn't any real hurry. My painting area is fine and I am working steadily every day.  There is no "schedule".  I paint when I have the time, whim, or urge.  Some days I start in the early morning forgetting about breakfast or brushing my teeth. Other days I just look, judge what I have done and think about what I'll do next. I know this isn't the best way to work but, for now, it suits me.  I knew that there would be challanges for me here at home,  a mixture of responsibilities to meet, things I like (gardening) and things I have to do (cooking and cleaning). But I am happy and enthusiastic.  I am even searching for new spaces to show my work and at the moment am in two shows,

Show at Gallery ART-ART, Impruneta

 

 one in the Gallery ART-ART in Impruneta that will close Nov. 1

and another, a juried show, in Arezzo that closes Oct. 26, this Sunday.

So, you see, I have been preparing these and am looking for other spaces in the future. The reason for showing my work is only to have a deadline, a date that I have to respect, a date when I have to produce a painting.

It spurrs me on, gives me a point to focus on.

WORKING, Working, work i n g.

Connections  50x50cm   oil and wax on plywood panel

This is the painting that directly follows my last post and . . . I have a couple of others under way.
I am doing more than usual having many panels prepared and ready for use. It's good for me to have more than one painting in the works at one time, allows for more continuity. This is not finished yet but almost.
have  a  good day and thanks for visiting!

Finishing Up . . .

   There is little difference between the first and the final draft of my new painting. . . just did a little "cleaning" up and toning down where I felt it was needed.                          

"Connections"
oil and mixed media on canvas.  50x70cm 
final version

This canvas was first prepared with a base of gesso and stucco to give texture  and relief to the surface.

I continued using broad spatulas and large brush stokes to create  color fields and to blend colors one  into the other.

As always, my interest is in the anatomy of the human body, the internal anatomy, and, in this case specifically,  the spinal column.

Back to Work

 new work (in progress): ... oil on canvas 50x70"

This is a quick beginning for new work, still with reds but new in approach

Amazing is the way a painting can grow and develop in my head without thinking, without touching a color or brush. It's just there.

When finally I put myself in front of a virgin canvas and start to make marks and create color fields it explodes.

Maybe the pause in time is the triggering force.  Maybe it's the need, after a pause, to start afresh, try something new, new color schemes, new breath, new peace.

Whatever . . . I'M BACK TO WORK. . . a continuing process.

Redoing, Moving On. . ..

Connections - Red   50x70 cm   oil, cold wax on paper mounted on panel

This is the first of the two panels I have been working on as I put my new studio space in order.

 During the first stages of my moving days, I only had time to keep looking at it, trying to analize what was bothering me in this painting. (see last intervention in post: Red. . .who's afraid. . .). Then it slowly came to me. It lacked an important ingredient,  contrast . . .and, clarity.  I'm afraid I get so wrapped up in colors while I paint that I lose interest in the image.

Connections -  Blue   50x70cm  oil, cold wax on paper mounted on  panel

 

 This is the other painting that I worked on.  Again I wasn't happy with it (  see earlier version in post: Digesting my paintings and moving on)). The same problem,  I was too interested in color and  not occupying myself with the forms and contrast.

 I stopped here with redoing because the transformation is an entirely new painting.  And that is what I'm about to do. . . a new painting. This time I'll try to remember eveything the first time around!!!!!!

 

Coming Home. . .

My new studio: this is where I paint with all the natural light immaginable

 There have been major changes  in my world these last couple of months. There  hasn’t been time to write.  Since my last post, I have slowly dismantled my studio in the city and returned to my "roots"...my home. . . where I started out years ago. A sad and difficult decision but necessary.

As time goes by, I realize that my needs are changing and logistics as well as comfort are much more important than the physical place where I work. When I started painting seriously many years ago, I had a family to care for with all the obligations that involves. I reached a point when I desperately needed a space of my own to create a studio...a place where I could  concentrate my thoughts and energies on making art...somewhere where domestic chores wouldn't interrupt me. I was very fortunate to have had that beautiful space in the city for so many years with many thanks to my husband...my years of learning, experimenting, and growing. I will miss it.

But now the city has prohibited  entrance by car into the historic center. At first, I would ride in from the country with my husband directly to the studio. Then, when traffic was first limited, I had to walk back and forth from the nearest point allowed for our car to enter. It wasn't that far and would be good exercise for me, I argued. But soon the problem grew out of hand and I realized my painting time was slowly diminishing to almost nothing.

Now that family obligations have diminished, I can plan free time for studio work right here at home without having to go into the city.  The space that I can count my own is almost as large as the old studio, it’s just articulated in a different way.

I’m afraid I will be prey to  some of the old distractions and will have to work out my new schedule but, on the other hand, if I am working on a painting, I have it right there to examine, judge, and work on, even at 6 or 7 in the morning if I like!

Right now I am adjusting to this new situation, putting my materials in order… AND painting! Will soon post something new!! It will work out I’m sure.

Please take notice: I have changed the area where comments can be made. I would love to hear from my visitors, even just to see if this new method works.

My best to all.

The Monuments Men

Up to now I never knew much about  the Monuments Men.

When a few years ago the press and TV spread news about  George Clooney buying  rights to a book about soldiers in World War II called the Monuments Men,  I thought it  interesting but nothing more. Maybe there weren’t enough  details about these men and their mission  to catch my interest at the time.

Then, just over a month ago, I received this invitation in my mail:

 

The Loggia of the Uffizi Gallery.  The door to the library is on the left.

 Ilaria Dagnini Brey's talk on 'Saving Italy's Art during the War' is on Monday 5th May, at the  Biblioteca degli Uffizi, at 5 p.m

Memorial Day was coming soon and there were plans in the air for  celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Allies landing in Europe. I decided to attend for two reasons: to see the Uffizi library as well as to hear the  speech not knowing that she would be talking about these Monuments Men.

The beautiful library of the Uffizi Gallery. The small door at the center opens onto the Loggia of the Uffizi.

 The speaker, Ilaria Dagnini Brey, is a journalist, Italian but now living in NYC with her family. She  learned of the monuments men, the subject of her 2009 book, while researching the 1944 bombing of Ovetari Chapel in Padua, Italy, her hometown. Much of her research was done in this very library in the Uffizi. Her book, "The Venus Fixers", was written much before the book "The Monuments Men" by Robert M. Edsel which was the base for George Clooney's film.

It could have been the amazing setting of the library, it could have been the gentle speech of this lovely woman, her vibrant enthusiasm, but now I wanted to know more about these men and the valorous work they did during the war. Never having experienced war on my own homeland, I was eager to know more about what had occcured in Florence, my new home, suddenly realizing the danger that all of her art treasures had faced.

The two dramatic photos below are taken from Mrs. Brey's book and from her article at the link below.

Thick black smoke clouding the sky over Florence's Duomo and the bell tower after a bombing raid.

Michelangelo's David.A wall of bricks was built to protect him  during bombing raids.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-monuments-men-saved-italys-treasures-180948005/


The amazing thing about these men is that they were all scholars, architects, art historians,  and artists
in their own right. And they were low ranking soldiers sometimes unable to convince officials to listen. Some had spent time in Italy studying and knew the language therefore being valuable to the allies for translation. Along with some of the  Italian superintendents of museums, these men were instrumental in  saving  much of Italy's treasured art from German pilfering and bombing.

The difficulties were many, lack of transportation, shortage of gasoline, etc., but the effort was
spontaneous and strong. The huge statues and paintings that are now taken for granted in all of the most famous museums in Europe were removed from their peaceful settings to safer places in the outskirts of important cities to avoid possible bombing, ruin and theft.

I have just finished Mrs. Brey's book and, recently, have been to a lecture by Mr. Edsel on his book "The Monuments Men", and am about to start  the most recent book by Robert Edsel, "Saving Italy", which will become a movie soon. I recommend that you, too, read about this mission  ignored for too long.

Robert Edsel, at the end of his lecture, posed this question to his audience: In your opinion, if a choice had to be made between saving a work of art or a human life, what would be your reaction?

RED . . . Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad R. . .

Connections   oil on paper applied to wooden panel   50x70cm

Something new!

I have always avoided reds, don't know why, or rather I  do know why . . . too strong, too dominant, too . . too everything I guess. I considered them  too difficult to handle.

But here I deliberately chose red, alizarin crimson red to be exact, ( with touches of cad. red to warm up a little). After my sessions of mentoring with Janice Mason Steeves, I now feel I can defy my self-made taboos and restraints without consequences. It is completely liberating .  I enjoyed working on this piece, a real challenge and intend to continue with reds and new color schemes from here on.

Not only my color choice was liberated but so also was my method.  Again thank you Janice. I began with very thin washes of color (color, oil and turpetine) and watched as they dripped and intermingled down the paper as if they were watercolors. Remembering the importance of tonal contrasts I kept track of the lights and darks as I constructed my composition. Brushes were put aside in favor of spatulas, palette knives and . . . my fingers, also in line with the neccessity to "play" with my paint, to feel it glide onto the support, (which is paper, prepared with gesso and applied to a wood panel.

Again I am continuing my theme of anatomy using the spinal column as the central "figure"!

Just want to show you another "red" painting done awhile ago. There's a difference???? A change?
 

Figures -  oil, cold wax on canvas,  64x47cm

Thank you for visiting.

A Pleasant Surprise!!

This trompe-l'oeil in the courtyard entrance to Palazzo Martelli invites you to discover yet another secret treasure in the center of Florence. An out-of-the-way palace not usually on tour guide visits but my Saturday morning surprise, a guided tour, by a friend.

Museum of  Casa Martelli, a home-museum unique of its kind, created by a noble family over the centuries, and not the result of reconstruction and arbitrary integration. The complex and exhibition includes sculpture and paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The majestic staircase that leads to the museum

We arrive at the museum after climbing this monumental staircase. At the top, at one time, the statue  "Il Giovanino" by Donatello reigned. (Now in the Bargello)

"Il Bagno"   ( The Bath )

 Completely decorated with trompe-l'oeil affrescos, this room is called the Bath. In the recessed area  to the right  a marble bathtub is set among the ivy and flowers depicted in the fresco. The dimmly lit room is  suggestive enough on its own but Saturday  morning a string quartet concert was scheduled at 11 and they were rehearsing here while we looked on. Four young and accomplished musicians.

 

The ballroom where concerts are held.

But, the sights that really were amazing to see were the rooftop views of Florence and her monuments as seen from a terrace  that is being restored at the top of the museum.  We were priviledged to see the city from there. I confess that I didn't have my camera with me so these pics  are off the web.  Sorry!  It won't happen again........

Florence rooftop view

rooftop view

Visiting Pontormo

I have already revealed my love for Pontormo in a previous post.  the  strength and innovation of Pontormo's work is notable. But, yesterday afternoon, my visit to the current show of works by Pontormo and his contemporary, Il Rosso Fiorentino was breathtaking. The vibrant colors, the volumes, the textures of various fabrics, silk, velvet, transparent veiling made me want to touch  as well as look, they were so real.

Fascinating was the famous “Visitation” which was used by Bill Viola as the basis for his video, also in the show, the first room of the show.
(see the link  http://youtu.be/fj17foaKAVU)

I would also like you to see the visit made by Bill Viola  to the studio where the restoration of Pontormo’s Visitation was done in preparation for the show.
 http://youtu.be/ULW45vncMXk

This is a partial view of Viola’s video.
 http://youtu.be/Dg0IyGUVXaQ

The Visitation (1528-29; Parish Church of Carmignano, Italy),  portrays the joyous moment at which Mary tells her cousin Elizabeth that she is expecting a child.
The video by Viola begins with two women--one middle-aged and the other younger--engrossed in conversation. After several minutes pass by, a third woman enters the scene and interrupts the dialogue by greeting the older woman. Through facial expressions and gestures, it becomes apparent that the middle-aged woman knows her well, while the other less so and maybe not at all. The third woman whispers something into her friend’s ear as they embrace, further isolating the other woman. An undeniable awkwardness becomes apparent as introductions are finally made and small talk is exchanged among the three.
Viola wasn’t interested in restaging Pontormo’s painting, He used it to create something new, something more contemporary although in the same spirit of the Renaissance artist’s work.

Pontormo for me is a precursor to Modern painting. He uses  volume and large brilliant color fields in a way that recalls the styles of many contemporary artists.