Saved by a Rainy Day

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The canvases here in Italy are as smooth as slate – it’s amazing how sanded and wonderful the finish is. There’s no tooth at all, which allows the brush to glide over its surface without any interruptions. I just love it! This morning I painted from the figure once again. I felt more comfortable with it this time around so I decided to do a portrait of the model. This is a quick piece, but I’m trying not to be too nitpicky about detail, so I’m going to say it’s finished.

Andro, 20” x 16”, oil on canvas, 9-14-11

I had a glass (or two) of vino rosso at lunch because I need to enter the world of Bacchus for my next piece. He’s sitting up in my studio – still a work in progress.

Tonight there was the most ridiculous view – the sky was half sunny and half cloudy and there was a rainbow over the Tiber Valley. It was so beautiful – I could see the rainstorm approaching from afar and hear the rumbling of the distant thunder. The smell of rain in Umbria is so earthy and natural – it’s almost as if you can smell all the olive trees, wheat, and sunflowers at once in one highly-concentrated breeze.

Well today was an amazing day, and I have to say that I’ve truly enjoyed every minute of it. I’ll close tonight’s post with a quote about art that I thought was pretty inspiring. It comes from the book The Art Spirit, by Robert Henri:

“Contemplative appreciation of a trace; a picture, hearing music, observing a graceful gesture, may cause the spirit to flame up. We care for and treasure the traces of states of greater living, fuller functioning, because we want to live also, and they inspire to living. That is the value of ‘a work of art.’ The traces are inevitable. The living is the thing. The reason so many artists have lived to great age and have been so young at great age is that to such extent they have lived living, whereas most people live dying."