Bella Italia

Just back from an Italian vacation where my creative journey took me to Rome, Umbria, Tuscany and Florence  (or as they say in Italy: Roma, Umbria, Toscana and Firenze).

Italy was a cultural cornucopia.  Every street  was so visually interesting, interspersed with piazzas of various sizes, magnificent statues dotting the city, and paintings of a previously unimaginable scale.  I felt both inspired and intimidated at the same time.

We not only saw some of the most fantastic art from the old world, but also had the privilege to meet some extremely talented contemporary artists.

So this entry isn't a look at my work, but a chance to share some of the incredible masterpieces that we enjoyed.

Godere dell'arte.

    

ROME: Column of Marcus Aurelius - erected in 193 AD

VATICAN CITY MUSEUM:  The Laocoon - original Hellenistic work 1st century BC

VATICAN CITY MUSEUM:  Raphael's Rooms

VATICAN - St. Peter's Basicilca:  Michelangelo's Pieta

ROME: Arch of Constantine (AD 315) and the Colosseum

We were there when it was raining and about an hour before closing.  We almost had the place to ourselves!

ROME: The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon with it's unique and fascinating architecture

ROME: The Trevi Fountain  (the real one - not the Vegas one!)

ORVIETO -  Etruscan art 

ORVIETO -  Duomo di Orvieto 

CORTONA:  The Diocesan Museum 

 painting  by Luca Signorelli (1512 )" Madonna with child and protectors" 

PERUGIA:  Ancient architecture and Etruscan gates

FLORENCE:  with view of the Duomo and countryside

FLORENCE:   Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiori (look how small the people are). Construction of the cathedral began at the end of the 13 century, and the duomo was added in the 15th century.

The Duomo itself has a very interesting history. Built by Filippo Brunelleschi, the dome is octagon shaped and was constructed without the use of any scaffolding.  To build this self supporting dome which spans 42 meters and exceeds the span of the Pantheon in Rome (the largest dome for over 1000 years) Brunelleschi used a very unique and controversial double shell construction.  It took more than 16 years to build and was the largest dome in the world until modern materials permitted construction of stadium-sized domes . The climb up the 463 steps to the top is unforgettable. 

FLORENCE:  Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiori at night - look no crowds!

FLORENCE: The bronze doors of St. John's Baptistery (which is located across the piazza from the Cathedral)

There are 8 depictions of scenes from the Bible carved by Lorenzo Ghiberti. 

This is panel #8 - "The fall of Jericho"

Magnificent ceiling in the Baptistery

FLORENCE:  The Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza Signoria

  

FLORENCE:  the magnificent Salone dei Conquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio

Difficult from this photo to appreciate the scale of the room and the art.

FLORENCE:  Palatine Gallery in the Pitti Palace (takes 3 days to see it all)

Palatine Gallery:  "Madonna and Child with the Birth of the Virgin and meeting of Joachim and Anna" 

Filippo Lippi 1761

FLORENCE:  Ponte Vecchio (old bridge)

The oldest of the six bridges in Florence, and the only one not bombed in World War II.

Originally the shops were grocers, butchers and fishmongers, but were replaced in 15 century by goldsmiths. As you walk across the bridge you are in the middle of lots of tourists and cruise tours who come to visit the high end jewellery shops.

FLORENCE:  Galileo Museum

Ptolemaic armillary sphere  -1593 - model of the universe according to the ptolemaic system

   

CORTONA: Bronze sculptures by Andrea Roggi. 

We visited him at his home and artistic workshop near Arezzo.

The bronze sculptures are made using the lost-wax casting process.  His commissioned sculptures adorn squares, parks,  and churches throughout Italy.

Not included here (because cameras are not permitted) is our visit to the Galleria dell'Academia in Florence to see Michelangelo's "David", the Galleria deli Uffizi in Florence (Sandro Botticelli's "Primavera" and "The Birth of Venus" plus Michelangelo's "Annunciation"to mention a few), plus numerous other museums in Umbria and Tuscany.

CORTONA:  il gatto on a stone wall

Photography by yours truly.

apPear-ances can be deceiving

"If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution.  All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience."   (Mao Tse-Tung)

This post is about neither the pear nor revolution. Or perhaps, it's about a bit of both ...

First, the pear. 

Variety of Pears - Comice, Bosc, Red Anjou, French Butter, Bartlett
Photo © Getty Images, used without permission

I once did a taste test with all the different types of pears that I could find at the supermarket. They differ markedly. Some are a bit dry, others deliciously sweet. One pear website describes the flavours this way:

Comice - succulent, buttery, exceptionally sweet

Bosc - crisp and woodsy with a honey sweetness

Bartlett - signature pear flavour (?) with abundant juice (not my favourite).

In terms of experimentation, it's a worthwhile exercise, not to mention one that is good for your nutrition (a medium pear has 100 calories, 190 mg of potassium, 6 grams of fiber and is a good source of vitamin C).

But our creative exercise doesn't involve eating pears. It's about washing them. With watercolours, of course.

 

Our reference image is a photograph of lots of pears (naturally - remember the cherries? One is apparently not enough). The technique is to do numerous washes - starting with a yellow (for the sunlight) followed by a very light green that gets progressively darker until finally the shadows are filled in with a blue watercolour pencil.

 

The multiple washes are my revolution (see quote above), and Mao's quote holds true about knowledge originating with experience.  Before I attempted this, I thought it was going to be much easier than it was!

Now before I reveal my finished piece, some more pear pontification.

Pears are a unique fruit in that they don't ripen well on trees. They're picked when they are mature but not ripe. (There - don't blame your grocer for bad produce. You just didn't know!)

Because pears ripen from the inside out, the best way to check for ripeness is "check the neck". Gently press near the stem with your thumb. When it gives way to gentle pressure, it's ripe. If you wait until the pear is soft around it's middle belly, it's too late.

"It is, in my view, the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such a texture as leads to silent consumption."  (Edward Bunyard, 'The Anatomy of Dessert')

"A pear will never fall into a closed mouth."  (Italian proverb)

"Eating pears cleans the teeth." (Korean proverb.  The Koreans - not well known for their poetry or romanticism).

And finally, from my guy Abe (I can call him that because we share a birthday) ...

"A man watches his pear-tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap!"   (Abraham Lincoln).

And for your patience ... the finished pears!

  

Back to the Glass

I need to continue my work on stained glass, so have taken a class from a new studio - not because I didn't like the first one (I did) but because they didn't have classes available that fit my schedule. Besides, I think it's helpful to learn from a variety of instructors.

This studio uses a different approach to cutting glass. I was previously taught what I now know is called the "English Method" which uses a Sharpie marker to trace the template pieces directly onto the glass. In this new method, we cut the template out of bristle board and then cut the glass using the bristle pieces as a guide. The theory is that this will result in a more accurate cut.

Pencil Cutter showing the cutting wheel.
This scores the glass so it can be broken
cleanly,

Different types of glass cutters. They all
have oil reservoirs to keep the wheel lubricated.

Cutting out the template pieces is an extra step, and I can see how if one was doing a copper foil project it might result in more precise cuts, but with lead came I'm not so sure (the lead is more forgiving, since the channels can cover a small nick or chip on the edge of the glass). Anyway, that's they way they teach, and that's what I'll do.

My last project was composed entirely of straight lines, so this time I'm looking for curves. I've chosen 4 colours of glass (yellow and three shades of light purple) and also some clear textured pieces.

Our instructor is very specific about how each piece is cut (has to be perfect) and every single piece is ground (which was different again from how I first learned; namely to grind only the pieces that need it).  Even with these stringent guidelines I end up having to recut two pieces (the half moon and the clear texture on the upper right) since they just don't fit correctly. 

Curving the came is not too difficult, and things are going along quite well - until I reach the top of the "flower" and piece number 5 decides to give me a hard time.  It takes some fancy grinding, but eventually we come to terms, and it and the came decide to work together! 

pesky piece #5

After some reshaping, the lead and the pieces
finally fit tightly together

The pieces are held in place with horseshoe nails and it's very important to keep all the pieces pushed tightly together since the whole panel is sort of a spring-loaded "puzzle".  If  the nails don't stop the pieces from moving, it's possible for everything to slide out and that would mean starting over (which would be heartbreaking).

After all the pieces and the lead came are in place, it's time to solder the joints.  The solder gun is plugged into a rheostat to keep the temperature from fluctuating. Each join is "fluxed" before it is soldered. Flux is a chemical compound that helps the lead and the solder bond together.

Solder gun and small cup of "flux"

My soldering technique is nothing to write home about, but it'll do.  Eventually the joints are all soldered (to the instructor's satisfaction), putty has been added to all the edges of the lead came, and the whole piece has been polished with "whiting" (powdered calcium carbonate; a safe inert fine white powder) to absorb the oil from the putty and to polish the lead and the glass.

finished piece

soldered joints

It will take a couple of weeks for the putty to totally harden, and at that point the panel can be lightly washed, and the edges cleaned up even more.  But for now it's done, and I'm feeling confident that curves and I can work together.  

Hopefully spring will arrive soon and
the leaves outside the window will be green!

Next project - a stained glass window for my bathroom (a project with an actual use).

A Pause

My creative bug journal (and journey) has recently been about concrete works and examples, and less about reflection - which is not necessarily a bad thing (productivity and all that) - but perhaps this is a good point to pause for a moment.

I've explored many different avenues over the past year - my first post was April 1, and I had no idea where I was headed.  Since then I've explored silversmithing, drawing, watercolour pencils, flower arranging and stained glass.  There's so much more I want to try - actual watercolours, acrylic, more drawing, oil painting, mosiacs, more silversmithing ... now that I've started, I can't seem to stop. How fun is that!

So in this (brief) intermission, I thought I'd share a few quotes and ideas about creativity and art that speak to me.

From Leonardo da Vinci: "Art is never finished, only abandoned."

Pablo Picasso has many expressive thoughts including: "Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life."
and
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after he grows up."

Some others:

"Remember the great adversity of art or anything else is a hurried life."   Robert James Waller

"If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything."   Marva Collins

"Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm."   Earl Nightingale

"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit."  John Updike

"All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness." Eckhart Tolle

"It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors."  Oscar Wilde

"The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist."   Eric Gill

And finally, from Picasso:

"God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the ant. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things."

from the web: National Geographic (giraffe/elephant)
 and M.Plonsky (ant) with original copyright God

Here's to trying other things!

The Challenge of Cherries

Dry on Dry Technique - that's what our next exercise is about.  And cherries - not Bing (which I think might have been an easier project), but Rainers ... grown in the Okanagan, excellent for eating; challenging for drawing (in my estimation).  That's because the skin colour is a yellowish red blush when ripe, and for us that means layers - lots of them, and pencils - lots of them also.

I'm saying this now - and I want to go on the record - that one or two cherries would have sufficed.  But no - we get a bowl full (insert appropriate Erma Bombeck book title here).

Again, we're not drawing the cherries from scratch - we transfer the image to our hot press paper, then the layering challenge begins.  Each cherry will have seven colours - starting first with yellow - everywhere.

After two different shades of yellow, we move on to the mid tone colours which will be orange and red-orange.  The colours are feathered on lightly, and as we move away from the light course the shading can become a bit heavier.  They don't really look like much at this point, but I have to have faith.

About this time in the process I am starting to doubt my ability/patience to complete this project.  Each x!# cherry takes a lot of time ... it seems to be a process that can't be rushed. I'm also looking longingly at my brushes and water ... with just one fell swoop, my cherry could be complete - shaded, blended, game over.  But no - it's a technique we're learning ... and so I persevere - lightly shading, shading, shading ...

When I began, I was planning to do each layer of each cherry before moving onto the next one.  But I see now that actually completing one cherry, with all it's many layers, has some benefit.  It establishes the darkest tone, and makes the other relative tones easier to see.  

So finally I move onto the "local colours" - two different shades of red (numbers 421 and 142 in the Faber-Castell watercolour pencil palette) and I lightly sketch in the stems because I'm feeling crazy!

It's now days in the making, and as the cherries outside the bowl loom before me, I feel a sense of something ... it's not peace, really, but it is a contentment of sorts.  A sense of wonderment, and a bit of satisfaction, as I actually see these little lovely pieces of fruit come to life before my eyes.

During the process of shading the many layers, my mind is totally focused and is almost in a meditative state.  When I put down my pencils to take a break, I feel rested and rejuvenated.  Wow.  For the first time in this whole endeavour, I like the artistic process.  It's not necessarily that "I get it", but I do get something ... and I'm enjoying myself.  So here they are - my cherries completed (with the addition of the "dark accents" - number 263 for those of you following along).

This would be a good time to call it a day ... but for the bowl and shadows. 

"But I love my cherries - I don't want to wreck them."  No matter.  Time to face the monster head on. Courage. Be bold. Just draw the darn thing.  So, armed with my Blues (#63 and 247 for the edge of the bowl), I press on.   

Here it is.  That's it.  Rainer cherries in a bowl.  Done.