Painting With Spots!



my aloe vera plant



I started Fall house cleaning a few weeks ago after a hot summer of inertia.  The dust was inches thick, no exaggeration I assure you. Only it wasn't just dust. As I came to realize shorty after, it was the natural habitat of hundreds of nasty minute beasties
. . . dust mites, spiders, and who knows what else. Shortly my stomach was a red mass of itchy bites and blotches that were unbearable. Alas, I took things into my own hands. I decided to cure myself using the lymph from my own aloe vera plant, as always, to heal the bites and soothe the itching. I didn't think that my plant, secular to say the least, would have dust on it too and. of course, the same beasties!

aloe leaf and lymph

The bites on my back healed straight away but the areas where my hands could reach to spead the lymph  got increasingly worse. It was finally a dermatologist who saved me . . .  cortisone pills . . .  antibiotics ( there was an infection in some ) . . .  and a cream to soothe the itch. She explained that it was the hot, dry summer that had created favorable conditions for the multiplication of these pests and living in the country that didn't help. Aloe Vera had never been a CAUSE before. I had always used it with no negative side effects. A lesson for me, though, caution with home remedies in the future. (and less cleaning?)

Despite this uncomfortable situation, as I had promised myself, I've managed to paint a little everyday. When I paint everything else is blotted out, my concentration is complete and my itching stopped momentarily.

I've organized a small area into a studio space here at home. I'm working with waterolor, water based acrylic and collage on paper. All materials easily transferred here from my studio in the city. Not the easiest materials to use but at least, if something goes wrong. . . muddy colors. . . or the composition that just doesn't work, all you do is tear up the paper and start again. I find it's a good way to gain back my confidence and to play with color.





watercolor

natural pigments



Beginning Again

Four years ago I was asked to take on a job that was far from home and far from my studio.

forms in a structural space

A job with a lot of responsiblity and very challenging, but it took me away from my painting, my printing . . . Now I'm back home, I am trying to begin again. First I joined an art association and have become active  in order to shake myself and to begin new work.

form in a structural space

 I'm not  happy with what I've done so far.  It's as if I'm afraid to mess something up.      But . . . that is exactly what I have to do. . .    

start messing up!

The oil paintings here are new, part of a recurrent theme of mine:

           "Measuring Space"

form in a  structrual space

Since I am primarily interested in the human
body, its forms and substance and I consider the

body a perfect structure with proportions,
measurements and weights, I confront the

structure of the human body with that of a civic building: muscle and bone, tissue and lymph vs.

cement and steel, plaster and glue. They are superimposed: the human form over technical drawings.





form in a structural space
(ink and gesso over a city map)
(framed by the iron rim of a wooden keg)

  











Wonders in nature



wild pears...mini...dolcissimi...masterpiece of nature

 "For every artist worthy of this name everything in nature is beautiful, because his eyes, accepting without fear every external truth, read there, as in an open book, every interior truth"

++++

"Per ogni artista degno di questo nome tutto nella natura è bello, perchè i suoi occhi, accettando impavidamente ogni verità esteriore, vi leggono, come in un libro aperto, tutta la verità interiore."                                        

AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917)

An Installation

I have written 5 previous posts about my Etruscan project at Hotel Fontermosa: graphic solutions, room numbers, greeting card, and portraits. This is the last of the series. . .an installation created for the hotel’s dining room. First a short definition. Installation art describes an artistic genre of  works that are often  site-specific, three-dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a space. It is an art form generally applied to interior spaces.
Using wax and wire mesh, I created two Etruscan  figures, the double flute player and the dancer, ever present entertainers at a festive gathering in Etruria. My intention and purpose was to complete my Etruscan theme in an area used for the consumption of food and beverages, a dining hall, where the magic flute and ballerina evoke sensations of conviviality, music, dance,
In the Etruscan tradition the sharing of food played a role of primary importance. The practice of offering a banquet for various festivities or celebrations signified that there was a special communion between the participants and the divine. Precious  foods were offered: milk, wine, honey, meats and particular breads made with herbs and cereals.

My figures were modeled after a dancer depicted in the Tomb of the Triclinio (above left) and a dancer depicted in the Tomb of the Lion (above right) and, of course, the flute player from the Tomb of the Leopard (below) (all can be seen in the archeological site at Tarquinia.)
  Many sketches, many preliminary plans were drawn and a near-life size drawing was made to help me with proportions. Then the inner structure of metal tubing and wire was made. It had to be solid and secure because I intended to suspend my figures from the ceiling so that they would be free. . .weightless. Now in the dining room, objects of curiosity, they are often touched making them swing (especially by children) and, in a way, they are brought to life.

 

It was winter, I remember, and the wax was hard because of the cold.  I had to use a hairdryer to make the wax soft enough to press into the wire mesh. The process was slow because of this.

The materials I used  varied.  I am a hopeless hoarder so I have a studio full of THINGS  that I hate to through out,  “you never know when they will be useful!” The wire mesh, once cut, twisted and pulled, rolled and folded, was covered in places by yellow colored tarlatan ( a kind of gauzy cloth that you use to clean inked plates while etching), it  was painted, was lined with transparent acetate sheets or just plain plastic.  Bits of metal were used to decorate both figures. Silver leaf was used on the musician’s face.

Once ready to be placed in the dining area, a Plexiglas panel, (1 mt. x 3 mt.) was  fixed to the wall behind the area where they would hang in order to create a virtual space.

Details

www.fontermosa.it

A Detour

Before I continue to describe my Etruscan Project, I have to go back a few years in time to one of the first art courses taken here in Florence. My young son was in school at that point so suddenly I found I had some free time. I decided to look for a course in art as I had always done throughout my school days at home.  This was a logical sequel to my constant search for art lessons, especially since I was now in beautiful Florence, Italy, the cradle of Renaissance art, where my search had become even more serious.

I don't remember, (maybe through the Yellow Pages) by chance I found the Martenot Art Center, Academy of Fine Arts. This school, elaborated by Ginette Martenot, born in Paris in the 30's, uses a method which is a specific approach to the teaching of art  aimed to develop creativity from early childhood and to awaken the artistic capacity in adults. From Paris it spread throughout Europe. What I found was an affiliate of the atelier in Paris.

Of course I knew nothing about the method.  It's basic concept, teaching drawing, painting and sculpture, is that everyone has artistic ability, but, most of the time it is hidden and remains latent inside us. I had no idea that this center, the contact with this method, and my encounter with "maestra Signorina Poggi" would prove to be a landmark in my artistic formation. And . . . .  more than anything,  I learned that nothing happens to us just "by chance".

The why of this detour?

It was during these classes that I had my first experience with sculpture and the use of modeling wax with wire mesh (screening, light fencing). I still have the recipe for making the wax: pure bee's wax, oil,"colofonia" or rosin, a yellow translucent resin made from the sap of pine trees. These are melted to mix and cooled until pliable.

examples of wax figures

These were final exercises concluding a detailed study of each the horse, the dog and the face.
We observed and drew their structural anatomy and their expressions.
(The dog was ours, a gift to my son when he was five.
She was docile, but, in the end got tired of "posing" for me!).

masks.
Here, wire mesh was manipulated, pulled, stretched and perforated by hand until the mask was created. Then, softened wax was pushed into the wire metal at points that would highlight the facial expression but also "fix" the form.

Now back to the Etruscan project. Using this procedure, wax and wire mesh forms, I wanted to create an installation that would be positioned in the dining room of Hotel Fontermosa.

                                                  *   *   *   *

"Drawing, or rather the placing of a mark that has a significance, is a primordial need of man. It derives from the necessity to leave a trace of one's

own existence." ...Martenot

www.fontermosa.it

Portraits and Decorative Motifs

But my project hadn't ended here. There were walls to be decorated and a special project I had in mind for the dining room area that I was anxious to start. . .

I did a series of small paintings, 30x30cm, using a mixed technique of paint and collage on canvas.  The surface of the canvas was prepared roughly with plaster to simulate the rough wall surface of the fresco tomb paintings. Photocopies of Etruscan vases, paintings or statues, chosen at random, were then applied becoming the base for my compositions. Charcoal, oil and acrylic paint were used over these forms favoring the earthy reds and yellow ochre so frequently found in the Etruscan tomb paintings.

Playing With The Image

To start with, I inverted my flute player to the left so that the text could be placed to his right as if his flute was pointing to the message.

That done, I wanted to cancel the backgound decoration and simplify the lines in his cloak.

Then I started to play with the literally millions of  color combinations, visual effects, the fonts (assortment of letters, styles and sizes) that could all be combined.  I must haved tried millions of possible logos until. . .

. . .it became an obsession.

It was a jury of family and friends that made the final choice.

(I would have used them all!!!!!)

Transparent Room Numbers



stencil for figure



stencil for figure

The next part of the project was totally different. I wanted to get back to painting and a solution had to be found for the room numbers. I had been working with transparent material for  awhile, painting on glass, plastic and Plexiglas. So, I thought, why not paint my flute player on a transparent support of Plexiglas along side of each number? The spot light over each door would illuminate the figure as well as the number.

example of one room number

That's what I did. I used a small transparent rectangle, special paints for glass, also transparent, an airbrush, and stencils for the numbers and the figure. Some are vertical and some are horizontal but the figure for each room number is hand painted and each one is done in a different color and style.

Thank goodness the hotel has only 20 rooms! Otherwise,  either I would still be there finishing them or . . . would have gone stark raving mad!!!

www.fontermosa.it