"MY ITALY" film updated with new frescoes

As promised here is a "sneak peek" of 2 of the new frescoes I created in Italy this summer. You will notice I have been having some fun experimenting with the idea of inserting interesting elements into the plaster! The first includes an antique key and old Italian Lire.

The other is a collaboration with a local Italian mosaic artist. I love the way the small mosaic cluster in the foreground mirrors the cluster of houses of the village. I expect mosaic will be slowly creeping in to my new work, another fascinating, beautiful, and ancient medium!

This summer's abundant rainfall has given me time to work on familiarizing myself with the wonderful world of editing and film via i-movie. Although most everyone is on holidays, those of you who are gracious enough to be visiting me here, instead of the beach or the lake, will be the first to view my finalized "MY ITALY film. You will see many beautiful images in the film and I will write more about that soon but for now, just enjoy the scenery, the rest of the summer, and I will "see you in September!"

A typical 12 hour day in the fresco studio

It is September, and now that everyone is back to school and back to work and I am back in my studio full time, without friends, family and the summer sun tugging at me to "come out and play," I thought I would walk you through a typical fresco painting day at my easel.

I am often asked "how long did it take you to paint that?" A difficult question for any artist to answer, not because the time cannot be measured, but because the creation of a piece of art often includes much more than brush and pigment.

In my case, the fresco shown here is part of an intense study of my mothers village in Italy through time spent, sketches, and photographic references. My goal is to try and capture the essence of this place in a large panoramic fresco which will include some of the village and its inhabitants (my feathered friends, the chickens,) and the awesome view of the Ionian sea.

In order to acheive this in fresco, a fairly unforgiving medium, I will do a series of smaller frescoes (approx 18"x18") These will be segments or close ups of the larger fresco which will ultimately be approx. 40"x60"

For those of you who prefer a more concrete answer to the time question, I have documented the "clock"time for you. As you can see a time sensitve fresco must be completed before the plaster that I am painting on has a chance to dry (buon fresco.) This can vary, but this particular peice, at this size, at this time of year, where I am in Canada took 12 hours (whew!)

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