Tuesday, July 26, 2011
An Opera at the Boboli Gardens (July 21)
July is the month during which Florence holds it's annual opera festival. Tonight, I went to see an outdoor showing of "La Traviata" at the Boboli Gardens. I've never been to a real opera before and seeing as Italy is the birthplace of opera, it seemed like the perfect occasion. Francine and my friend Olga had already bought tickets ahead of time, so I dragged Lee and Ben with me to the show. Our seats were way in the back, but it was still an enjoyable experience. The guys left at the intermission (I looked over at one point during the show to find Lee playing "Angry Birds" on his iphone), so I joined Olga up front in the vacated seat next to her. She had a much nicer view of the stage. I have to admit, the opera was quite long and toward the end I started nodding off a bit (the show finished around midnight). I felt a little bad about this, since Olga later told me that the elderly man sitting next to her was crying at the end of the show.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Figure Painting
I've been neglectful in writing about my figure painting class. It's probably because my painting isn't coming out as well as I'd like it to. This has nothing to do with the quality of the class or the instruction, just me hitting a block in the figurative road (haha). Anyhow, here's the in-progress painting. Hopefully it'll turn around soon...
Dinner with Friends (July 19)
Tonight we joined Francine and a few of our friends at a small restaurant on a side street just off Piazza Signoria. The place has six small tables and 20 chairs. Total. As our party of seven squeezed into our corner table, it seemed as if we took up half the restaurant. Francine, who had dined here before, informed us that the Osteria was entirely run by a family: the mother cooked in the kitchen, the father ran the register, and the son was the waiter. The food was supposed to be excellent.
We were given hand written menus in plastic sheeting (a single page with the specials scribbled in ball point) and left to decipher the Italian. Each sheet had a boxed notation on the side that read "NO ice, NO pizza, NO bisteca". I ordered pasta with mushrooms with tiramisu for dessert. So so good :)
Ok... the tiramisu may not look that impressive but it's made with raspberries and was probably one of the best things I've had in Florence so far.
We ended the evening with tea at Francine's apartment overlooking the Piazza, talked about art, and watched as lightning lit up the sky. That night, Kes and I also had the pleasure of running home under our first Florentine rainstorm.
We were given hand written menus in plastic sheeting (a single page with the specials scribbled in ball point) and left to decipher the Italian. Each sheet had a boxed notation on the side that read "NO ice, NO pizza, NO bisteca". I ordered pasta with mushrooms with tiramisu for dessert. So so good :)
We ended the evening with tea at Francine's apartment overlooking the Piazza, talked about art, and watched as lightning lit up the sky. That night, Kes and I also had the pleasure of running home under our first Florentine rainstorm.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Color study
We spent all of last class pre-mixing value scales for our color study. A whole 3 hours. My instructor was very adamant about getting correct value and temperature and arranging them comprehensively on a palette (I don't think I've ever wiped down my palette so many times before beginning to paint). I've been taught to pre-mix before, but never quite to this extent. It seemed a bit ridiculous to spend THAT much time setting up a palette.
However, when I finally began my color study today, I realized how much easier painting became. Having these neat blobs of paint arranged by value ready to go freed me up to to focus on just the act of painting and gave me one less thing to think about. It's far from perfect, but I don't think I've ever knocked out a color study this quickly before.
And... my instructor's quick color study demo:
However, when I finally began my color study today, I realized how much easier painting became. Having these neat blobs of paint arranged by value ready to go freed me up to to focus on just the act of painting and gave me one less thing to think about. It's far from perfect, but I don't think I've ever knocked out a color study this quickly before.
And... my instructor's quick color study demo:
Monday, July 18, 2011
A Bit of Scottish Home Cooking (July 14)
I met my first REAL Scottsman here in Italy. His name is Lee and he has a beard, river dances, owns a kilt or two, throws logs, bathes in Guiness, and can sort of play the bagpipes. He also likes to paint and cook. It took me about a week to begin to understand what he was saying (he has a really thick accent), and by then we'd become pretty good friends.
Back in Scotland, Lee owns a confectionary company that produces this amazing thing called "tablet" (Tah-blah). He brought some to the studios for us to try and now I'm hooked. It's basically a large block of sugary goodness made of all sorts of things that would make Jenny Craig faint: butter, milk, cream, and sugar. It seems pretty simple to make, but Lee swears that it's a rather complicated and delicate process and that the best tablet can only be created by the most experienced confectioner (such as himself). Curious, I went over to his place today for a lesson on how to make a proper tablet. Despite its simple ingredients, tablet-making is a sensitive process that involves a lot of precise mixing, boiling, stirring, temperature-checking, frothing, stove-switching, and waiting. When cooked correctly, the result is a hearty slab of pure caloric deliciousness.
Back in Scotland, Lee owns a confectionary company that produces this amazing thing called "tablet" (Tah-blah). He brought some to the studios for us to try and now I'm hooked. It's basically a large block of sugary goodness made of all sorts of things that would make Jenny Craig faint: butter, milk, cream, and sugar. It seems pretty simple to make, but Lee swears that it's a rather complicated and delicate process and that the best tablet can only be created by the most experienced confectioner (such as himself). Curious, I went over to his place today for a lesson on how to make a proper tablet. Despite its simple ingredients, tablet-making is a sensitive process that involves a lot of precise mixing, boiling, stirring, temperature-checking, frothing, stove-switching, and waiting. When cooked correctly, the result is a hearty slab of pure caloric deliciousness.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Second Still Life (July 14)
Today we started our next and final still life. I will be working on this for the remainder of the month:
Line drawing with vine charcoal
Raw umber block-in
Line drawing with vine charcoal
Raw umber block-in
Pear Painting Progression
Our first assignment in still life painting was to sight size/ paint a pear. I've tried to document most of the steps here:
After laying in an imprimatura (ivory black, Old Holland raw umber, 1:1 mixture of turpentine and linseed oil) and letting it dry over night, we blocked in a simple line drawing of the shadow/light shapes with vine charcoal.
Using raw umber and a little bit of medium, we blocked in the values while staying mindful of edge quality. I was instructed to use very little medium, so the technique is almost dry-brush (one brush for paint, one brush to "erase" with). I forgot to photograph this step with my own painting, but here is one from Sophia's demo:
Our palette is set up like so:
Ivory black (Rembrandt brand- it's supposed to be the deepest, transparent black)
Raw Umber (Old Holland- it's much warmer than other brands)
Cobalt blue (Old Holland)
Vermillion
Yellow Ochre (I used Old Holland yellow brown since it was on the supply list)
Lead White
We mixed up a value scale of generic "pear" colors and blocked in the general value/temperature relationships on the pear. At this stage, the focus is on correct value rather than accurate color. White is kept out of the mixtures at this stage and the highest value created without white serves as the general light mass. For every value on our palette, we have to use a different brush to avoid muddying up our paints.
The next day, we oil in the dry painting and mix up another value scale with colors specific to our pear. This time, we mix three additional values using white. We paint on top of the dry paint, with our more accurate color mixtures, starting first with the background (correcting the contour), shadow shape, and light shape. Over the next couple days, we continue correcting the drawing and matching the value, temperature, and color, and building up to the lightest light.
After laying in an imprimatura (ivory black, Old Holland raw umber, 1:1 mixture of turpentine and linseed oil) and letting it dry over night, we blocked in a simple line drawing of the shadow/light shapes with vine charcoal.
Using raw umber and a little bit of medium, we blocked in the values while staying mindful of edge quality. I was instructed to use very little medium, so the technique is almost dry-brush (one brush for paint, one brush to "erase" with). I forgot to photograph this step with my own painting, but here is one from Sophia's demo:
Our palette is set up like so:
Ivory black (Rembrandt brand- it's supposed to be the deepest, transparent black)
Raw Umber (Old Holland- it's much warmer than other brands)
Cobalt blue (Old Holland)
Vermillion
Yellow Ochre (I used Old Holland yellow brown since it was on the supply list)
Lead White
We mixed up a value scale of generic "pear" colors and blocked in the general value/temperature relationships on the pear. At this stage, the focus is on correct value rather than accurate color. White is kept out of the mixtures at this stage and the highest value created without white serves as the general light mass. For every value on our palette, we have to use a different brush to avoid muddying up our paints.
The next day, we oil in the dry painting and mix up another value scale with colors specific to our pear. This time, we mix three additional values using white. We paint on top of the dry paint, with our more accurate color mixtures, starting first with the background (correcting the contour), shadow shape, and light shape. Over the next couple days, we continue correcting the drawing and matching the value, temperature, and color, and building up to the lightest light.
Casa Buonarroti (July 10)
Today Kes and I visited Museo Casa Buonarroti, the Florentine residence Michelangelo left to his Nephew upon his death. The house holds a number of Michelangelo originals among a variety of artifacts and antiques collected by the family. The residence was in the family until the death of Cosimo Buonarroti, who left its extensive collection for public enjoyment. Photography was prohibited, so the images of artwork here are from Casa Buonaroti's website.
Collection highlights:
-A number of original moquettes and preparatory sculptures
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Two Wrestlers
circa 1530
-Original preparatory drawings and sketches (rare, since many were destroyed by the artist himself prior to his death. Michelangelo wanted to appear perfect to the world). These were especially interesting to look at, and contained everything from notes, medium recipes, and quick figure sketches to studies in perspective and architectural blue prints.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Nude from the Back
circa 1504-1505
- A Michelangelo "shrine". In memory of his infamous relative, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger commissioned notable artists of his time to create paintings and murals extolling the life and genius of his great uncle (including Artemisa Gentileschi's "The Inclination"). The paintings were installed on the walls and ceilings of a room and depicted important events in the artist's life, as well as his many virtues.
Artemisia Gentileschi
The Inclination
circa 1615 - 1616
-An exhibit of drawings and sketches by Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci (self-explanatorily amazing)
Afterwards... lunch.
Collection highlights:
-A number of original moquettes and preparatory sculptures
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Two Wrestlers
circa 1530
-Original preparatory drawings and sketches (rare, since many were destroyed by the artist himself prior to his death. Michelangelo wanted to appear perfect to the world). These were especially interesting to look at, and contained everything from notes, medium recipes, and quick figure sketches to studies in perspective and architectural blue prints.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Nude from the Back
circa 1504-1505
- A Michelangelo "shrine". In memory of his infamous relative, Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger commissioned notable artists of his time to create paintings and murals extolling the life and genius of his great uncle (including Artemisa Gentileschi's "The Inclination"). The paintings were installed on the walls and ceilings of a room and depicted important events in the artist's life, as well as his many virtues.
Artemisia Gentileschi
The Inclination
circa 1615 - 1616
-An exhibit of drawings and sketches by Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci (self-explanatorily amazing)
Afterwards... lunch.
A Welcome Party and Midnight in Florence (July 8 and 9)
On Friday, FAA hosted a dinner for summer students at a gorgeous Renaissance-era home.
Saturday night: sat on the banks of the Arno with some friends until 3AM. This city never sleeps.
Saturday night: sat on the banks of the Arno with some friends until 3AM. This city never sleeps.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
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