Welcome to my Blog.

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Welcome to my blog.

I'll be posting thoughts, photos, happenings, and other art
related information from time to time.


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Thank you.

giovedì 31 dicembre 2015

A New Year Resolution

 

 
painting present at show "Small is Beautiful" 30x30cm oil and wax on canvas

There isn't anything I can do about it. At this time every year, starting from the month of November, Other Things get in the way of painting, mostly projects for the annual Christmas Bazaar that AILO runs for charity. For readers who don't already know, AILO stands for American International League  ONLUS, that is, a non-profit organization here in Florence. All our earnings are donated to charities in the province of Florence that ask for our help. What I mean is that my studio work goes by the wayside and all other creativity is aimed at the  success of the  Bazaar

But I haven't been idle artistically. Using work done previously, I have participated in various shows. The small painting at the opening of this post is now showing in the ART-ART gallery in Impruneta. Another is in a show in Chianciano Terme, a SPA  south of Florence.

 

 "Trasparency- Following the Light"  oil on panel   115x115cm

AND, in the Spring I will be participating in a show here in Florence. A show of Sacred Art. Strange for me but I have decided to participate with this painting. The theme of this show is  "Portraits of Charity" and this is the closest I get to portraits and sacred art.

 

 

oil and wax on canvas


But now to my New Yeat's resolution, (almost identical yearly)  I will (try), starting tomorrow???,to go back to an organized studio schedule. Actually, I never have stopped painting.  I do it in my head always, even while working on other things. Maybe I'm just not made to be working in an organized time schedule. I just need time to work on the ideas that pass through my head. Next year.! Happy 2016 to you!



lunedì 19 ottobre 2015

Exchange art show with Prachatice, Czech Republic

part of the show of paintings by artists from the Czech Republic 

I would like to take you with me to 
this  beautiful show in an amazing setting that exists only in Tuscany: the Corsini Villa, Impruneta,  on the first day of timid sunshine after days of rain.
Villa Corsini

Persimmon tree
gate to gardens


Last rose of summer leads the way to art show

After  entering the gates of the Villa, a long road took us down to the studio where the show was hung.


approach to the studio



paintings by artists from Prachatice, Czech Republic, in oil, tempera, acrylic and watercolor




 Impruneta is the  area famous for clay production; pots, bricks, etc., but also terracotta sculpture.  This "pot-sculpture" marked a tiny staircase which led us up to a formal boxhedge garden where the  sculpture by Italian artists was placed.

Boxwood garden



While waiting for the cerimonies to begin, I explored the gardens enjoying the unexpected sun.

main entrance to the villa
spreading chestnut trees


young Czech musicians preparing for opening ceremony
typical Tuscan views from the walls surrounding the villa
vineyards and olive groves
 







An amazing setting for a show!!! Do you agree?




mercoledì 14 ottobre 2015

Roaming Around . . .

 While I'm waiting to begin new work, (I've ordered new cradeled panels from a local carpenter), I've been messing around with other little projects:  the Christmas Bazaar, ( the decorations booth this year will be selling little houses for the Nativity scene so I'm making some ceramic figurines),  friends are having shows.. . and there is a fun project called Mail Art that I will be participating in just for the heck of it, no great involvement, just to play around, So. . . here is some of that. (Please excuse my pictures,  I took these with my (stupid) Phone and they are not very clear.  My camera's batteries need charging......


Figurines made with a mold


figures

 
Il bambinello  - Baby Jesus adapted from mold


Mary- made by hand


MY Friend's SHOW     Francoise Bertolini with Anna Rose

video -Anna Rose


Installation Francoise


Installation  Anna Rose


Installation  Anna Rose

Francoise

Installation  Francoise

 The MAIL ART

These are my first letters.  As I understand it is the envelope that counts as art work. Once done the letter is mailed to the organizers of the event.  If anyone can give me more or better feedback please do!




lunedì 21 settembre 2015

My "What Did I Do Wrong" Video




Well, as I said in my last post, I wanted to share my experience of  making a video for the first time and the difficulties (!XQ//%&$))&) I ran into.

It all began during those torrid days in August as I was preparing for the show in Pontremoli (my last post). I innocently thought "Why not give it a try!!!!! "There would be a room especially for video projections that I would be able to use. so....?  Using the VIDEO program that every computer has (I assume) I went straight to my old, and I mean old, computer, hand-down from my son's college days, but so easy for me and where my art pictures are mostly. (A Windows XP, by the way) I began to pick the images. Clean them up, turn them around, etc., etc.The next stage was adding text, a presentation, some notes about my work and then a title page at the end to give credits for music, ecc.

The real challenge was then the music, I hauled out all my CD's and tried to find a suitable soundtrack but there wasn't anything I liked, either too moody, too fast, or too ....just nothing. So I turned to the web. Amazing what can be found there. And finally I hit on a lovely Bach sonata and fugue group that was downloadable. That's what I chose,

But finding the music is just the first step, Then you have to make sure it fits into your storyboard time frame. It can't begin after your title page and can't end before your credits' page. AT one point, trying to stretch it out, the whole sonata disappeared!  PANIC! I don't know how, but I managed to fish it out again and start over.

As you can immagine, this took time. . . hours, days, and weeks and I thought all was well, until.....
finally ready, that is I didn't have anything more to add, I decided to save and copy the video on a CD that I could bring to the show. To make sure that all had been copied correctly I took it to my newer laptop and tried to open it there. This was the first disaster! It wasn't compatable. " no video to be found" was the message.

Complete dispair!! What do you do now? Start over again I cried, couldn't  give in at this point. There was still time. All my art photos were copied and inserted into my laptop. I had to learn how to use  the video making program of Windows 8, Movie Maker. And so I thought this was the answer. Again I waited until there was nothing more to add, correct, and made a copy to be taken to the show.

Another surprise was in store for me.  The video, that is, the storyboard, appeared on the disk, but, for some unknown reason, not the music. Why??? I had no idea but what I did know was that I couldn't solve the problem by myself at this point.  There was less than a week left before the opening at Pontremoli. So I rushed over to my computer store, sure that it was something simple and stupid and that I could rely on them to find the way out.

That was the Wednesday before the show. I hoped beyond hope that by Saturday I could pick it up before leaving for Pontremoli.  It just wasn't in the cards I guess. No video. AND, as I write this, I am trying to upload the same  video, now converted into 4 different versions at the computer store, onto this blog but not even this is working!!!!??? Guess I'' have to try the other 3 versions to see if at least one of them will work..................!

PS. Blogger tells me that the video has been processed.  I am about to publish this post and will see if this is true or just another . . . . . . . . . .

PPS.  EUREKA!! It's working! . . . hope you enjoy. . . . Please let me know!

giovedì 10 settembre 2015

Three rooms, Three themes. . . .

room 1-"Measuring Space"- Pontremoli
On Saturday my show premium opened in Pontremoli bringing to a close months of planning, preparations, and even a video that , unfortunately, never saw the light (but I will tell you about that later.)

I was given three rooms in this beautiful undercroft with its walls of stone that must have many  stories to tell.  I gave each room a theme as a way of organizing my work and also a clarification of my use of the human body,  my main source of inspiration.

The first room, Measuring Space, is a series begun as a gift to my son when he recieved his degree in engineering. I used one of his technical drawings, part of an exam, as the basis for a painting and on that superimposed a figure. From that point on, I began to consider the figure as an object having the proportions, measurements and weight that are similar to an  architectural structure. The body lives in symbiosis with the architectural spaces it inhabits giving them breath and vitality. The energy given off by each being makes space live.

room 1 - "Measuring Space"

room 1 - "Measuring Space"

 In the second room I hung paintings from the series, "Connections",  my most recent work.
My idea here is that the human body exists in relationship to other beings and to the entire universe, that it has a balance of energy that is  physical as well as mental, emotional and spiritual. Man has a particular place in the world that is part of and relative to the entire universe. Here the spinal column is the form that embodies the energetic force and the connectivity that the human body exerts upon the universe. It is the physical and spiritual hinge that creates a relationship between the individual and all that surrounds him.

Room 2 - "Connections"

"Connections"

"Connections"

  There is a corridor that connects these first two rooms with the others including sculpture by another prize winner, and where, to continue the sequence, I hung other small paintings in the same theme, "Connections".
Scupture, "Le Stele", by Fiorella Noce

countinuing the series "Connections"

"Connections"

part of next series,"Transparency"
The 3rd and last room I  kept for my work with transparency.  "Transparency is a series that developed as I began to use internal forms of the body as elements of abstraction often suggesting internal and universal landscapes. The body's transparency reveals elements of harmony and conflict that are present in the vital process. During this phase of my work I began to experiment with transparent materials to underline my ideas: Plexiglas, glass, resin, fiberglass, wire mesh and wax.

"Transparency"

"Emerging Figures"

"Emerging Figures"

"Emerging Figures"

"Transparency"


small piece on the left is resin and glass . "Icon"

view from the corridor toward connecting rooms.
There were three glass cases in this room which again I divided into my three themes but displayed work on paper; drawings and etchings that pertained to each group.