FRUTO DI AMORE, watercolor

Fruto di Amore, 9x6 in, watercolor. Painted in Assisi, Italy, after beautiful Aria, who delighted us with delicious breakfasts every morning, during my residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle this past July and August.

The Elements of Design are LSD + CVS + T , which stand for Line, Size, Direction, + Color, Value, Shape, + Texture. Ken Goldman said  that these elements are like the ingredients. Like when you are making cookies, and you need MSF , for example, Milk, Sugar, Flour, etc. The elements alone, by themselves, don't do anything, cannot produce a painting. But without them, we don't have a painting either! Stay tuned...tomorrow the solution!

FINESTRA APERTA, Assissi, Italy, watercolor

Finestra Aperta in Assissi, Italy, 9x6 watercolor.

Continuing with my report on La Biennale di Venezia ,  another interesting exhibition was the comic book form of Genesis, by R. Crumb, American. " By the mid 1970s he was a legend in underground comics. His one-page comic "keep on truckin' became a slogan. in 2009 he published his most ambitious work to date: All 50 chapters of the book of Genesis in comics, 207 pages of black and white drawings. It took him over five years to complete. The sacred is seen through the base and lurid lens of the human." says the catalog. It was awesome to see several walls covered with the framed 207 pages with the story, word by word, of the book of Genesis from the Bible, and the drawings.

SANTA MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, ASSISI, watercolor

Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi, 6x9 watercolor

While being a resident artist at Arte Studio Ginestrelle, in Assisi, I visited La Biennale di Venezia. For a few days, I'm writing about La Biennale.

Today: THE SWISS PAVILION's presentation: THE SNAKE AND THE MOPED, artist: Valentin Carron. A wrought iron serpent welcomes you at the threshold of the Swiss Pavilion. It is a sculpture and a line that extends in space, indicates a path, and questions the status of the artwork and the function of sculpture, using the archaic symbol of the snake. Carron gives it new meaning, shifting into  new material, using the moped for...future generations?

SOLEDAD, ASSISI, watercolor

Soledad, Assisi, 6x9 watercolor

In my last blog post, I described my impression with "U from Uruguay" presentation at La Biennale di Venezia. The artist is Martin Sastre. On the presentation, we read: "With the making of this perfume: "U from Uruguay", he extracts the essence of flowers and weeds from the farm of the President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica. Sastre is really trying to extract the essence of the austere way of life that distinguishes the head of government. Rather than moving into the presidential residence, President Mujica lives on his modest farm on the outskirts of the city, selling the flowers he grows in local markets and giving away 90% of his monthly salary for social housing, thus becoming a global icon of austerity. Sastre's proceeds from the sale of the perfume will go to establish a National Contemporary Art Fund in support of Uruguayan artists, thus applying President Mujica's principles to art. Sastre underscores the unpretentious lifestyle of the president of Uruguay."
Nest stop: THE SWISS PAVILION.

PIAZZA DEL COMUNE, ASSISI, watercolor

PIAZZA DEL COMUNE, ASSISI,  6x9 watercolor

Continuing with my comments about La Biennale di Venezia: URUGUAY. There was a beautiful triangular blue glass bottle, shining under a spotlight, on a pedestal. On it, a big U, for Uruguay. Behind the pedestal, on a video screen, you could see the story behind the making of "U, the perfume of Uruguay". From the flower fields he's collecting the fresh flowers, then a handsome man is climbing an ancient building `a la Indiana Jones style, then a masked (Batman type) man with a cape continues, to take off his mask, and most of his clothes, then he opens his briefcase `a la James Bond, takes out this huge key and opens this ancient door, to find....the blue glass bottle, the "perfume of Uruguay".  There are only three bottles in the world, and they will be auctioned at the end of the Biennale, they said. It was a lot of fun.

SILENCIO, watercolor

Silencio, 6x9 watercolor

From Assisi, Italy, where I painted "Silencio", I recently finished reading "The Garlic Ballads", by Nobel Prize Winner in literature MO YAN. It is a denunciation of the peasants struggle and suffering in China as recently as the 1980s. The writing is beautiful and poignant, Mo Yan immerses us in the stench, blood, sweat and tears of the peasants. Not an easy read for me, I suffered with every character in the story.

VIDES DE NAZARENO, watercolor

Vides de Nazareno, 6x9 watercolor

A few days ago we saw BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON, by Franco Zefirelli. I know it's not a new hot movie. It's an old movie, it's an even still older story. But now I am HERE, where it happened. After watching the movie I went to the Church of Santa Chiara, and stared at the crucifix, not only THE crucifix in Zefirelli's movie, but THE crucifix, painted in the 1100s, that "spoke" to, affected and influenced Francis in the 1200s. Being here in Assisi, being able to walk through the same places Frances and Chiara walked, history comes to life in a very special way.

LA CAMPIÑA, watercolor

La Campiña, 6x9 in. watercolor
painted near Assisi, Umbria, Italy

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in "Circles", said:
"The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our propriety, to lose our sempiternal memory, and to do something without knowing how or why...Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful: it is by abandonment."

UMBRIA, ITALY, watercolor

Umbria, Italy, watercolor 6x9 in.

Walking around Assisi, in the province of Perugia, in Umbria, we often see grapevines attached to a wall, a building, and even to another tree for support.

Reading DANTE, A LIFE, by R.W.B. Lewis, I've just learned that when the first gold florin was minted in 1552, it became almost instantly the basic monetary measure in Europe. Its originality consisted in that instead of being engraved with the pope or the emperor, as it had been the custom, it had the symbols of the city of Florence (thus "florin"), St. Giovanni on one side, and the lily on the other, the city's secular emblem.

BONGIORNO! watercolor

Bongiorno! watercolor, 11x15 in.

While having breakfast  in Assisi, I meditate on the city's history: The first indication of a town inside the walls of Assisi date back to the 6th century B.C. The Etruscans, then the Romans, influenced the area greatly. The Goths, then the Byzantines, the Longobards had wars over it, conquering and losing the town one after the other. In the 12th C. it became an independent commune, and fights between Assisi and Perugia began....and continue up to this day! Assisi not only gave birth to the famous St. Francis (of Assisi) and St. Clare, or "Santa Chiara"in Italian, but also to artists and writers like the poet Sesto Properzio, and painters Tiberio d'Assisi and Dono Doni.

SERENITY, watercolor

Serenity, 6x9 watercolor

An old chair in the garden: Arte Studio Ginestrelle,  Assisi, region of Umbria, in Italy. The yellow flower, "ginestra", gives its name to the Residency: "ginestrelle", little ginestra. A place to meditate, read, and find your "duende", after Federico Garcia Lorca's definition of your inspiration, your passion for creation, your losing yourself in something new, exciting, inviting, the joy of discovering a connection between what's inside yourself and how to express it.