Saturday 28 April 2012

Just one week ago...a round up



Laura Genovese

I thought I would show you some of my favourite artwork from our exhibition.  We were over 100 artists including musicians, film makers, photographers and writers so there was plenty to choose from.  These two paintings by Laura Genovese were very large, taking up a whole wall.  Laura is very young but already has so much talent. 

Laura Genovese

This sculpture entitled 'Volte dell'Ullivo' is carved from wood from an olive tree.
Enzo Puleo

The lovely Nina Pellitteri is a retired doctor and very well known in town.  She started to create her sculptures only after she retired, despite her father being a well-known sculptor.  He told her when she was young that it was impossible to make a decent living out of art and advised her to follow a different career!



Nina Pellitteri
All in all the exhibition has been a very positive experience, it was amazing to see how much talent there is concentrated in one small town and most of all I made so many new friends!

Giuseppe Caiozzo








Art Runs in the Family





Davide Baiamonte aka Dado Greene is a young man fresh from art school where he studied graphics.
He wants to unite music, movement and art in someway but is still experimenting with  ideas. 


Antonio Baiamonte is Davide's brother (art must be in their genes, there is a third brother who is an artist too!).
He studied religious art at the Academy of Art but now paints something quite different as you can see.
'The barbed wire around the woman is seen as a protection rather than something that was inflicted' was how he described it to me. 

Acrylic on canvas



Thursday 26 April 2012

Art and Tradition /Carretti Siciliani





I couldn't miss showing you one of our traditional Sicilian cart artists.  Tommaso Provenzano  worked on one of his smaller pieces for the whole 10 days we were at the exhibition, willingly talking and explaining his work to visitors.



These traditional carts are now used for display and events such as weddings, a full size decorated cart can cost up to 10,000 euros.  The whole thing is hand carved in wood and then passed on to the artist.  Tommaso uses acrylics to paint every single part, inside the wheels, underneath the cart....not one inch is left untouched.



Most of the scenes painted are from Sicilian folklore and history featuring red, blue and yellow (the colours of the Sicilian flag).  Originally brought over by the ancient greeks, the carts showed pictorial history to those who were illiterate, becoming popular in the 1800's..  The craft has been handed down generation after generation and there were three such artists in our exhibition all local.  



Tommaso has a web site www.tommasoprovenzano.net

Sunday 22 April 2012

The Old and the New (a second artist's showcase)






In the second of my posts about artists at out local art exhibition I've chosen to showcase the work of Concetta Ducato.
Concetta is the daughter of an artist, she grew up in her father's workshop where she learnt how to paint colourful traditional scenes on Sicilian carts.  After her father retired from the business Concetta began to concentrate on expressing her own art.  She started to experiment with new techniques and materials and now works with a palette knife instead of a brush.


She loves to paint the sea and the coastline (there is plenty of inspiration around here!).




Although my photographs here have come out a little dark I've been attracted to the light in these paintings everyday as I walk through the exhibition.
I wanted to show you some of Concetta's traditional work too although as she says they are two very different styles.  




Thursday 19 April 2012

Puzzled





















Illustration Friday - 'puzzled'

This is actually a page from my 2011 sketchbook project (puzzled face), but it fits perfectly with the theme.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Ten Days of Art




Our big 10 day art exhibition is on its fourth (exhausting) day.  The weekend was very busy with crowds following a winding route through the villa, three floors of sculpture, paintings and photography, all by local artists.  Its amazing how much talent there is in one small area and there is an interesting variety too.

I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the artists and will be showing some of their work here.
The first artist I want to introduce to you to is Flulvio di Genova.

Flulvio di Genova (pen and ink)


Fulvio is an architect originally from Taranto in the South of Italy.  He has been drawing since he was at school where he frequently got into trouble for creating masterpieces on his desk top.  Nowadays he uses graphite to create beautiful portraits and ink for his artwork in pontillism inspired by his travels to Eygpt, Marocco and the Netherlands  The portrait below is his most recent, although I had difficulty taking a photo without the sun reflecting on the glass.

Fluvio di Genova (graphite)

I was allowed to have a look at his sketches and this one of a musician really jumped out, especially as Fulvio himself is a talented cello player.








I hope you enjoyed a quick look at one of our artist's work, keep checking back as I will be showing you quite a few more this week.





                                                                          

Sunday 15 April 2012

The Sketchbook Tour has Started!

Arthouse Gallery  photograph

The Arthouse Sketchbook Project 2012 is on it's way.  It opened in Brooklyn , New York on Saturday and already my sketchbook has been viewed!  It's a strange feeling to know something of yours is being looked at on the other side of the world.



What I'd really like (pretty please) is if anyone who is going to visit the sketchbook project exhibition could take a photograph of my sketchbook for me?
Hopefully I will get to London in October to see it for myself but until then it will be making it's way around the USA.

Thursday 12 April 2012

Watch This Space!


Watercolour

It's been a busy week and not much drawing or painting going on!  This all I managed during the week and it's just a larger version of a small sketch  I did last year.
The more interesting news is that from Friday for 10 days I will be exhibiting four paintings in a local art exhibition, but that's not the most interesting part!  The exhibition  will be held in a large important villa and there will be 100 artists including photography.  The exhibition will wind it's way round the old palazzo, that has recently been renovated to it's (almost) former glory.
From the few rooms I saw today there will be an enormous variety of styles and techniques and I can't wait to tour the whole exhibition.
I'm hoping to get some photographs of work from artists who are willing to be interviewed and blog about them here...and of course I will take my sketchbook!

Monday 9 April 2012

Holiday home - in need of some renovation

Mixed media sketch

I can't resist a lovely old villa bathed in sunlight.  This villa is closed up and falling apart, wouldn't it be wonderful to restore it back to its former glory?
These country villas were used as holiday homes by the aristocracy in the 17th century to get away from the summer heat in the city.  The area where I live was once one of the most popular areas to have  a 'holiday home' and the wealthy owners tried to outdo each other in elegance and the latest fashions.  This one has a typical double staircase on the front and inner courtyard but it's behind a big gate and I can't get a good view!

Friday 6 April 2012

Return


Watercolour sketch

The long and winding road that leads to your door
Will never disappear
I've seen that road before it always leads me here
Leads me to your door.

(Lennon and McCartney)


 'Return'  is the prompt for this week on Illustration Friday, the words to the Beatles song fits with the idea of a road taking you back to wherever it is you need to return to.
You can listen to all the song  here

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Down on the Beach


Coloured Pencil 16x12cms

To go with the little boy on the beach below, here's the little girl.  I used an old photograph of my daughter as a reference, although she's 21 now.
It is also the same photograph that I used the very first time I attempted something in coloured pencil nearly six years ago.  Just for fun I dug it out.....I only had a set of 20 colours  which made me learn quickly how to mix the right (ish) colours.