Urbino Alley



Urbino Alley, 30x20, oil on linen

Can't let those alleys go! where-ever I go, there they are...just calling out to me. There is an interesting story behind the little side trip we took to Urbino. This town was not on our agenda at all. On my last trip to Europe, we went to Venice; since we would be on the Adriatic side of Italy, I really wanted to go to the water to walk the beach and I thought it would be a nice place to catch our breath before heading to Rome. I picked the town of Pesaro after doing some minimal research. We would be there after the "season" was done, so I figured we would find at least a couple of hotels still open for business, and usually at a discount. I did not book a hotel in advance. I did not bring a map of Pesaro with me, thinking I could check it out online somewhere along the way. I do not have the latest technology but I did have my iPad and the internet is accessible most big tourist places, right? Wrong. NOT in Italy. After we got off the train in Pesaro, and went outside to find we were in the middle of a hub with 5 or 6 streets leading out in all directions! The one map I had managed to look at briefly beforehand showed the sea was 4-6 blocks from the train station...I had no idea which one of the streets to pick to go to "the sea." Looking down them, they went a long ways with no water at the end. I tried talking to a few people, including employees of Trenitalia, but no one understood, "the sea," "la mer," or "Adriatic." So, I am trying to just find a map of the town. Nada. I go check out the INFO sign...closed. BUT I hear English! There are 3 Brits looking at a bus schedule, so I ask them if they can just point me in the right direction, and they not only did that, but walked us into the old town and towards the sea. On our 20" walk into town, with luggage trailing, we discovered that they were 2 siblings and one girlfriend. The sister of the young man was the guide, as she was studying at university in Urbino. She said we MUST go visit Urbino, that we would not regret it. Pesaro was okay for the beach but as a town, not so exciting. Urbino was a walled city, with winding streets and alleys, and the birthplace of the artist, Raphael. So, she told us the ins and outs of taking the bus to Urbino, and we spent our one full day in Pesaro, going to Urbino. It was a fun day, and though she did not tell us of the Saturday market, we fortunately tumbled across it. While my friend shopped to her hearts content, I roamed around talking photos and even happened across the Raphael Museum, though we did not go in. There is also an art institute and the university. It is not on many American's iteinerary, but I am glad we went the eastern route. I am sure enjoying painting my way through my photographs of our time on the Adriatic.

Anniversary Bouquet

Anniversary Bouquet, 18x14, oil on panel

Our daughter brought us these lovely lilies for our anniversary a few weeks ago. A week later...I decided to paint them with the thought to be more expressive in my brushwork. I did this painting in a couple of hours and as I was painting it, the buds were opening. It was amazing to watch. It was, a Hey You! that is not how I sketched you in! Just goes to show how alive cut flowers can be and not so "still" afterall. I set the old wine stein on a chair as it was the only thing I could find handily that was the height I wanted it. So there you have it. A fun sketch just for the heck of it.

Before and After-an orchid odyessy

Once upon a time, I was into orchids. I was thinking I would be this painter of portraits of all the odd and beautiful orchids. I even joined the orchid society to have more access. This was in the time before every grocery store sold phalenopsis and other more common varieties. This orchid is one of the only paphiopedilum that I ever owned, and I managed to keep it alive for a few years, but never got it to rebloom. I painted the original portrait about 10 years ago. In my quest to practice and to rework older paintings, I picked this one to rework awhile ago, but then decided to play with it some more. I actually took a photo of this plant (only one), which was not always the case back then when I was painting from life in my studio. It is very overexposed, so I think the flash must have gone off. I have tried to reach a happy medium between the colors of the original painting and the overexposed image I have.

2013

A couple of things to note: I did a search for the name I had written down for this orchid, and I did not get anything to come up for it. HMMM.  I corrected some of the drawing, but not much; I added the bud coming out and I softened up the background. I like the bluer background better. I added the two paintings that were on the wall at the time; the blue one is another orchid, and the one further back was of tulips in my garden. I like the way those two rectangles add to the other rectangles in the composition. Phaps are stiff, waxier orchids, but I still tried to soften that down a bit in the reworked piece.

Flight Into Egypt, oil on canvas, 18x14, 2002

Deja' Vu

Walking up the Beach, Melbourne, FL, 24x24

We are back to the beach! I tend to see problems once I post a photo of a painting; I know it feels never ending, but bear with me.
Melbourne, FL, which is where this beach is, had little done to it this time. I just added a bit more detail to the buildings so that they worked better with the overall painting. They seemed too unfinished relative to the whole. Otherwise, it is the same as when you last saw it.

Adriac Bicycle, below, I redid the shadow in the foreground. It did not feel like a unified piece of sand nor integrated to the whole beach; along with reworking the shadow, I lightened the water and added more of the sky color to it to show the reflected light. These may seem like minor details, but it is the little things that can make or break a painting. I think it now has more of a sense of depth.

Afternoon Ride, Pesaro, Italy, 24x24

As always, I am open to dialogue here if anyone is wanting to give their opinion. Also,  if something comes to you while looking at any of my work, I sure can use some help with titles.

A Little Touch of Beach

Melbourne Beach, FL-October, 24x24, oil on board

Here is the finished painting from my post of May 19th, before critique. This painting was about paint quality, or as I interpret that, expressive brush work. I spent the morning unifying the sand. Someone had made the comment to me that it looked like two paintings. That I should cut off the top and make a long skinny beach painting with the figures and a bird painting below. That is what told me I had to unite the top and bottom via the beach. I do think it works better now as a whole.

Adriatic Bicyclist, Italy-October, 24x24, oil on board

I have also worked on the painting from March 16th post. I worked on refining the main figure, and the two little anchor figures that form a triangle with the bicyclist. The girls face did not please me, nor did the whole figure over all; she did not need anything major just a little here and there. The figure on the right was too small relative to the guy on the left in the water, so she is now bigger and the one on the left just needed a touch up. I also added the bike trail in the sand. It is the little things that can get you.

Of these two beach scenes, I thought more people would be drawn to the birds, but so far, more people like the bicyclist. As I study this photo, though on this post, I think I may play some more with the sand in the shadow. I think I can unify the whole shape better, to be more pleasing. I learned alot on doing the sand in the Melbourne Beach painting. You may see the Adriatic again...

Brooklyn Museum, other exhibits

The room next to the JOHN SINGER SARGENT exhibit was an exhibit of quilts. Not modern quilts but from earlier times, even centuries ago. The details in these quilts were remarkable. I really liked the crazy quilts, some of the best I have ever seen. The detail above had the most amazing border of morning glories. They were so beautifully done with the finest of thread; if I did not know better, I would say they were machine made, the stitching was so perfect. And then the binding around each piece of fabric was like a sampler of stitches. The detail below was to not only show the outline of the fabrics but the ribbon appliqued flower. No two flowers depicted were the same. I can only imagine the time and energy that went into these quilts. (These details are from two different quilts)

The quilt below I liked for its simplicity of pattern - a stark contrast to most of the quilts in the show. I don't know enough about quilts, but I want to say it is a ribbon quilt. I saw this only because it seemed to be satin fabric. I certainly would not want to cut all those pieces, if it were not in fact done from ribbons!

We were on the elevator getting ready to leave and as we were getting off, a woman who had been on the elevator with us was telling her friend who happened to be getting on the elevator, that she had to go see this exhibit on the 5th floor-all made from "bottle tops." Well, this intrigued us as my cousin was thinking of famous paintings made with bottle caps- something she had seen on TV. Okay, so we bit and went back up to see this exhibit. It was nothing like we had imagined it. I did recognize it though, as I had recently caught a snippet on PBS on this man, El Anatsui, who uses only recycled materials for his installation pieces. Each time he has a museum show, he personally does the installation, and each time, he arranges them differently. The bottle tops ended up being the end cap off of twist top alcoholic beverages, as well as the wrapper that stays on the bottle after the cap twists off. Here is a detail of that strip of foil, folded and attached together to form a facsimile of chain mail.

The photo above shows on the wall, a "sculpture" made with the tabs off of bottles as in the detail above. This one shows  the use of multicolored wrappers, but some were all black, or all red. I took this photo to show the scope of them. The "sculpture" in the foreground is made from the tops of tin cans, but put together the same way, ie with little pieces of copper wire. On the PBS snippet I caught, it shows worker bees doing  the actual putting together while El Anatsui supervises. The photo in the middle is an example of his wood pieces, which I personally really liked better, not only are they more manageable, but also more aesthetically pleasing. But again, since each piece hangs on its own, he can change how it hangs each time it is installed. I really liked that concept. The ability to change your art around without really having to do anything but move the strips of wood to please you.

Isn't mankind creative, whether painting, gardening, sewing or re-purposing found materials?

The final exhibit, of which we only had the energy for one room, was on drawing; "Fine Lines, American Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum." I had read a review in the WSJ, on this exhibit and the companion exhibit at the Frick, which was impressionist drawings and prints from the Clark, including some Americans. The critic thought the Frick exhibit the better of the two, so I went there the next day. I must say, though I only saw one room of Fine Lines, I was impressed enough with what I saw that I ordered the book/catalogue of the show so that I could study it further. I am very happy I did. Maybe because I have seen so much of what was exhibited at the Frick over the years it is not as exciting to me, personally. (although I always enjoy seeing Lautrec!) It was also more crowded. I was however, excited to see what some big name American painters drew that you don't often see. And there was NO ONE else in the gallery with us. Such a shame.

Melbourne, FL - Beach with Birds

Melbourne, FL Beach with Sea Birds, 24x24, oil on board (Day 3)

Our last class project is to paint outside our normal  modus operundi. So if we normally paint with thick paint, to paint thinner; if you normally paint thin, paint with more texture. I normally paint thin and fairly graphically, so I am attempting to paint with more texture and less line.  I am using the brush to allow the strokes to be more integral to the painting. I am having so much fun.

I forgot to take a photo after the block in, but after two class periods I had gotten close to where I wanted it to be. Just needed the birds and the rest of the people on the beach to be added. By the end of day 3 I had the birds added and worked on a finishing the water. I also had added more color into the wet sand while make it all read better as one value. In the beach tomorrow the sand looks too choppy. Tomorrow, before critique, I hope to have all the rest of the people added on the beach. I don't expect that to take too long.

Day 2