Aww Italy, Part II

 

Bergamo

In my two previous trips to Italy, I became enchanted with the hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria. Because our plans to go south from Milan changed, we looked for a hill town near Milan which landed us in Bergamo Città Alta (the hill town surrounded by 16th-century Venetian Walls.) The train station is in the lower modern city, so getting up to the Bergamo Alta meant finding the funicular or getting a taxi. 

We rented a very nice room just down the street from the pictured mustard colored building. With these small unmarked streets, it's very helpful to have a memory of where and when to turn! 

As you can see, it is a popular tourist spot, but we found it interesting to sit at a piazza and watch the families, dogs and couples wandering by.

The most famous piece of architecture here is the Santa Maria Maggiore. Because of the way the town is built, you never get a complete view of the Basilica and the walk around it includes other buildings which are attached to one another. 

Built in the 1500s, it has some astounding art/sculptures.

One of the great things about this town is that you can walk around the entire hill town, following the Venetian Wall.  It is also a way to get free of other tourists! (Being country folks, Mike and I always look for ways to away from the crowds.) 

I hope you enjoy the views

St. James Gate, made of polished marble!

Next Stop, Verona!

Aww Italy, Part I

I recently returned from a great trip to Italy. Mike and I have both been to Italy before, but this trip took us to new places, all in Northern Italy. We are fortunate to have a nephew and his wife living in Milan, so our visit started and ended there. 

Milano

The Duomo di Milano is the most famous structure in Milan and is the largest cathedral in Italy. This stunning Gothic architecture cathedral took almost 600 years to build! The stonework is unbelievable. 

Italian Alps

We spent a short time in Milan at the beginning of our trip, as we knew we would be back. We were excited to go into the Alps. Our relatives have a small but wonderfully located cabin in the mountains.

Cabin in the Alps

 

Wayne and Yoshiko, owners of the cabin.
(Wayne, if you didn't want this to go public, Sorry!)

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I'm not in Oregon!

We visited many small villages, where the history goes back beyond the Dark Ages. The astounding rock work to create the buildings is unforgettable. Having done a bit of rock work around our house myself, it is hard to imagine the labor done without any power tools, cranes, or forklifts!

My sister Janice admiring a stone roof top.

San Gaudenzio Church dates back to the 12th and 13th century.
The Romanesque facade is completely stone. 

And then there are the historic stories such as Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BC. When you see the Alps, it is really hard to imagine!

One more recent story comes from the small village of Goglio. At the end of World War II, members of the Italian Resistance Movement were trying to escape the pursuit of the German Army. As they rode in a funicular toward the boarder of Italy and Switzerland, the funicular failed and many of the Italians were killed. This little spot in the world captured my heart with the story and the one room museum full of art and the remains of the funicular.

Goglio, Italy

Paintings done by a local artist Angelo Bersani

Here are a few more photos of "Aww Italy, Part I." Next we will move on to Bergamo Alta.

Santuario di Re Madonna del Sangue

Mike down in a crevice. 

Towns we visited: Domodossela, Premia, Crodo, Baceno, Goglio, Oria, Croveo

Just Keep Working

Stubbornness is a quality that can be a blessing and a curse. For my art life, obstinacy comes forth when I create a painting that does not come out as well as I hope, yet I don't want to shred it. If you read my last blog I talked about working on a paper that sometime in the past I'd applied a substance, matte medium, keeping the paper from absorbing watercolor paints. 

It was a struggle to put paint on it and when done the painting needed to be cropped leaving only the top of the painting to be worked on. Today I finished it in a way that I am satisfied enough to put it in a frame and say "done"! 

Here are the steps of creating "Round and Round They Go."

The beginning sketch

The initial painting must be cropped as only the top has hope!

I reworked the pond and plants by adding more leaves 

and eliminating the blue in the middle of the plants.

Today I decided to create a window in the piece to emphasize the important part,

the fish. I did this by protecting  the center and using the mouth atomizer to spray

a dark blue green. Now I can frame it and move on! 

Always Learning

Yesterday I grabbed a 1/2 sheet (22" x 15") of white watercolor paper out of a drawer to start a new piece. My intent was to make a painting that would simplify the elements of my pond in a more abstract form. The shape of the pond itself explains, in part, my inspiration for my recent Kimono/Pond paintings, so confining the water into a kimono shape was the start of the painting.

The elements I wanted to include are Kimono shaped water, plants, rocks, and fish.

Surprise! As I put paint on the paper, the paper didn't absorb the paint. I had picked up a piece of paper that sometime in the past I had covered with a coat of matte medium which prevents the paper from soaking up the watercolor. So what could I do? I could have moved on to using gouache or acrylic or ditched the sheet and picked out a plain watercolor paper, but I have this stubborn experimental streak, so I continued with transparent watercolor. Here are some things I learned: 

one must let the liquid paint dry before adding more paint

the color can be easily lifted

it's hard to get a flat looking area 

there are little white parts that will not take color

and finally, I doubt I'll try this again.

The good part of this adventure is that I persevered and learned some stuff.

Let me know what you think of the results and scroll down to check out Mike's advise.

Mike's thoughts--crop it.

The Pond Series, A Culprit Flies In

As I progress in this series about my small pond, Mother Nature sends me more messages. When I began, I used a kimono shape for two reasons. First, the plant life in the pond often creates a kimono shape. Secondly, I have always been drawn to Japanese designs, so the kimono shape is a great start for some of this series. 

Many people expected I'd be painting water lillies and gold fish. And so I am, but they are swimming on and off the kimono as these natural images inspire fabrics.  But then the other day a new critter entered the pond ideas. 

 A kingfisher discovered the easy pickings our 2 back ponds provide. 

The first painting I included our kingfisher in is a wide skinny one.

11" x 30"

So I'm wondering if it should be divided up.

A diptych version

Your thoughts?

In the next piece, I included the birds, making this painting mixed media. I discovered a black gessoed (a matte primer) full sheet of watercolor paper. From that discovery I pulled out my collage materials and the imagination flew. How about a yellow kimono?

Chalk and Tape to start the kimono shape

I cut zig-zags on the edge of an old credit card pulling it through the yellow paint. That put some texture on the kimono fabric. Then I started sampling different bird shapes with different collage papers.

Trying colors and positions of the birds

I liked the gold fish swimming up the arms and the black and white collage birds. Ultimately I decided against a color other than the kimono and fish. For the water below the kimono I chose a gray and included some ripples and gold fish. The realistic birds were painted on watercolor paper, cut out, and glued on to add to the story. I felt quite clever adding the shadows of the realistic birds giving the painting a 3-dimensional appearance.

 

I'm inclined to use the Japanese word for kingfisher and title this one
Kawasemi Kimono
30" x 22"
Mixed Medium

After having so much fun with the black background, I prepared another full sheet of watercolor paper with black gesso last night. Then I pulled out my gelli plate, acrylic paints, stamps and made more collage papers. It was the first time in a long while that I made collage materials and I had a blast! I hope you all have a great many good moments in the upcoming year.

Happy New Year!!

The Evolution of a Painting

One of the things that motivates me in creating art is working in a series. I enjoy thinking of many ways to talk about the same theme using different ideas. Going out to the studio I don't have to think of what to paint, I have to think of how to express the different elements of my theme. 

As I said in my last post, my current work is all about the small pond just outside my art studio. 

I have been working on my third "Kimono in the pond" painting. Why putting clothing in the water? There are many influences behind this, but one is how the beauty of nature influences our fabrics. I like to think of the water plants and gold fish floating onto the silks of a Kimono, decorating the fabric. I also have a respect for and fascination of Japanese art. (An aside: the Kimono is a symbol of longevity and good fortune.)

Maybe these paintings are a reflection of my admiration of Monet with this waterlilies and Matisse who collected fabrics and used the patterns in many of his paintings.

So this third Kimono painting my goal was to place the clothing under the water instead of on top of the water. It started as a watercolor painting then evolved into a mixed medium using acrylic paint to put the water on top. Below you can see the development of this piece

This was the first start painted wet into wet. There was a weird spot that didn't take the painting well, so I flipped the painting over and used the back.

After taking the whole piece into my big sink, I softened all the colors. Next I protected the areas that would become waterlily pads and goldfish using Oramask film.

Next the Oramask was peeled off.

I painted the leaves, telling myself each was a lily pad portrait. They are painted more meticulously than my usual approach to art. I also painted over the lavender on the Kimono with acrylic to enhance the cloth.

It took some bravery to begin adding the water over the Kimono. From the first light colors I forged ahead with the dark to complete the water.

I spent studio time listening to Paul Simon where "50 Ways to Leave your Lover" became renamed to "50 Ways to Fix a Painting."

Wet into Wet

Flip over the painting and use a new side

Give the entire piece a bath

Lift off paint

Protect areas with Oramask film

Lift off the masking

Start a conversation with the painting and listen to it

Paint each of the 14 goldfish

Spend about an hour on each of the 12 lily pads and single lily

Carefully use light blue water ripples

Continue listening to my painting while adding the darks to create the final drama to the art

At the end, I realized that the Kimono had all but disappeared, yet the cloak is still there, hence the title, Ophelia's Gown. Remember Hamlet?

Ophelia's Gown
Mixed Media
29 " x 21"

In The Beginning of a New Series

Once upon a time on Fruitdale Drive there was a little child who was not yet in school. She entertained herself visiting the neighbors who tended to be housewives and retirees. One house stood on a small rise and seemed almost like a castle in a five-year-old's mind. As she climbed the stairs to knock on the door to see if she could visit, she passed a pond--a pond built of stones, a pond with the green of water plants. If she was still for a few moments she could see the dashing of orange goldfish. In this child's mind it was right out of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. 

Jump ahead seventy years and this child inside a seventy year old body had a dream of creating her own pond. I use the term "creating" because she truly is a creative artist who has an idea and inspires a group of those who care for her to make it happen!

First there is a wonderful architect (as this home is having to be rebuild after a devastating fire) who thought it was a great idea. He convinced the marvelous engineer of a husband to figure out how to get flowing water from an uphill stream to flow under the planned walkway. Next step was to inspire a young, physically fit and loving granddaughter and her partner to dig a hole and stream, then use rock to create the walls of the stream and pond. Oh, and there was so much more to it involving many months including more labor and strong young friends. 

Now this creative artist has decided to begin a new series that is not only about the pond, but more about the love for her that created it.

So if you have made it through my personal story,  here are the photos of the first in this series of paintings. The idea behind this first painting is how nature inspires creating beautiful designs for fabrics.

After a decent sketch  I laid out my table to begin. First step was putting down an underpainting.

Then I used Oramask film to cut out my goldfish shapes and place them on the underpainting. The masking allows me to paint more freely, not worrying about painting around an object.

And I used a limited palette. 

And here is the finished work. I used patience, allowing the painting to talk to me over the week.  Yes, I do believe in conversations between a painting and the artist if she is patient.

From Water to Silk
Transparent Watercolor
30" x 22"