Park behind S.Agata

Usually after class my friends and I go to this park behind S. Agata. The park is on on a hill with a nice view of Siena.
We study here and relax here. Today I stopped being lazy and did a couple of ink drawings. These were executed with a Sailor fountain pen with waterproof, yes waterproof fountain pen ink.


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Self portrait

Three minute blind contour self portrait !!!!!!

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Siena from Piazza del Mercato

This is a view of Siena from the Piazza directly behind the Palazzo Pubblico. The tower in the back right that resembles the tower of the Sienese Duomo is Santa Maria Dei Servi, a beautiful church connected to my university building.
I would like to do a longer drawing of this beautiful Tuscan cityscape, hopefully sometime before the weekend. The weather is getting nicer here so I'll have no excuse !

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Palazzo pubblico

Altro lato del palazzo pubblico di Siena. Queste edificio si trova nella piazza del campo. Lo ho dipinto tanti volti, ma ancora non sono cento percento soddisfatto con il risultato. Proverò di migliorare ogni volta che lo disegno o pure dipingo.


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San Gimignano WC two

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San Gimignano WC

Watercolor in Moleskine sketch book.

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San Gimignano

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The Rape of the Sabines.

This was one of my favorite sculptures in the Piazza Della Signoria in Florence. I also love Cellini's Perseus, but the dynamism of this sculpture makes it so interesting to look at from any angle. Truly a sculpture in the round with every possible view made interesting.

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Florentine skyline

I was in Florence yesterday and I went to the Villa Bardini. I walked out to a small balcony and got an amazing view of Santa Maria Del Fiore and the rest of this beautiful skyline. Enjoy.

Sidenote: I got to see The Water Seller by Diego Velasquez . It is an amazing painting.

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Classmates

Some of my classmates in my Storia Dell'arte Moderna class. Siena, Italia.

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A few more for Arezzo

Santa Maria Della Pieve





Logge Vasari




A few more quick sketches of Arezzo.

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Sienese postcard

I have been sending postcards to friends and family pretty regularly. I brought some Arches postcards with me so I decided to start putting them to use. This is my first one.

It was already sent, to my parents.

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Una altra chiesa in Arezzo

Altra chiesa in Arezzo. Dopo scriverò un po di più sopra questa bella città in Toscana.

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Arezzo !

Arezzo, Italia. Pictures and info tomorrow.

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Santa Maria Dei Servi, Siena

Quick sketch of Sta. Maria Dei Servi, which is a beautiful rustic looking church here in Siena, which happens to be connected to the building where all my art history classes are !

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150 anni !

Tanti auguri ! 150 anni della unificazione d'Italia !

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Museo Civico, Siena

I visited the Museo Civico here in Siena with my good friend and fellow art historian Enzo. The museum is located in the Palazzo Pubblico and contains mostly art and sculpture that pertains to Siena. I thought the museum was nice and the best part was this awesome view.


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Palazzo Publico, Siena

It didn't feel right to be back in Siena and not draw one of the most important Sienese landmarks.


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Sketchbooks !!!!!

I love sketchbooks. This is what I have with me here in Italy. Some of these are completely full. Some unopened, all will be completed before I return to NY.





One of my favorite things about traveling is finding art shops. In NY there are a bunch of different art supply stores and they all carry similar things. I enjoy the art supply stores here because there's always something I haven't seen. Like my latest Daler and Rowney sketchbook (which I love because it takes a nice amount of watercolor plus it has nice tooth.)





Now here we have some awesome examples of Italian art supply manufacturing. Both of these are made by the well known Italian paper company Fabriano. On the left is a block of 150lb watercolor paper made of 50% cotton. On the right is a Fabriano Venezia sketchbook, with 90lb drawing paper and a page marker ribbon. I found the block in Bergamo and the sketchbook in Milano. I have seen the Venezia book before in NY, but it was insanely expensive and wasn't in this size. I will update you guys on how it goes with these books soon. I'm almost finished with my Daler and Rowney book, and I'm definitely getting more of them. I'm sure I'll stock up on these Fabriano papers as well.

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Back in Siena !

Here's a quick watercolor of the Logge del Papa. This building is on my way to school. I see it everyday and it's one of my preferred buildings here. I've done several drawings of it, I'm not sure if I ever posted any of them.

I have some other stuff from Bergamo, but I'm not sure if I'll post it. I want to have more work from Siena since I live here. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. All I know is it's good to be home !

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Sketching in Bergamo

I've been here for a week. I've visited Venezia and Milano, but most of the time I was in Bergamo. Like I posted before Bergamo is a beautiful northern Italian city with an antique portion called Citta' Alta and the more modern part of the city called Citta' Bassa. Although the latter part of the city isn't filled with antique classic architecture, I still think it's appealing. Here are some quick watercolor and ink sketches of Citta' Bassa, Bergamo.

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Teatro alla Scala

I don't have much time to draw. At least not as much as I would like. This is a quick watercolor sketch of Teatro Alla Scala in Milano. Like I mentioned before I love this building and it's architecture. I would like to do a longer drawing. Perhaps next week.

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Milano round two

Since the first time I went to Milano I knew I would return one day. That day was today ! I woke up early and took the train from Bergamo to Milano Centrale. I was looking forward to spending a day exploring and looking around this enormous city. I had plans of re-visiting Santa Maria Della Grazie, but after doing some research I found out that you have to buy tickets in advance, way in advance. So with that being said I decided to return the the incredible Santa Maria Nascente or the Duomo di Milano.





Even though I've already seen this church it still made me stop, sit and stare. After recovering I walked inside and took a couple of photos, then I went to buy my tickets to climb the stairs up to the very top of the Duomo ! Obviously this building is huge so it took a while to climb the stairs,but when I got there it was well worth the time and effort. The city is so beautiful and it felt so relaxing to be so high up on such an important building. I sat and wrote in my journal and took a bunch of photos.





After hanging out on the roof of the Duomo enjoying the view I decided to walk around a bit. I did some research the night before and found out Pinacoteca Di Brera was not too far from the Duomo. I made my way and found some beautiful smaller churches as well as a well supplied art store (I bought an awesome sketchbook which I'll write about at a later time).











In my opinion this small museum or collection has pound for pound one of the best and most important paintings I've seen in one shot. In this collection was Andrea Mantegna's Cristo Morto, Rafaello's Spozati Della Vergine, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's Cena in Emaus, also paintings by Ludovico Caracci, Guido Reni, Jusepe de Rinera's beautiful San Girolemo Penitente and a nice selection of paintings from the Italian movement of the mid 19th century the Machiaioli. I enjoyed this collection very much and the staff at the museum were incredibly helpful and polite. I will return to both the Duomo and Pinacoteca Di Brera on my next visit, which will hopefully also include a visit to Santa Maria Della Grazie.





Before I forget obviously there are many more beautiful places in Milano like the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where all the high end clothing stores are and one of my favorite buildings in Milano, the Teatro alla Scala.





Teatro alla Scala is a very important and historical opera house. The architecture is nice and clean. The opera house is positioned directly behind the Galleria with a nice Piazza in front of it. There are several museums and art galleries in that same area of Milano that I still have to visit as well. This trip to Milano was much nicer than the last one, hopefully the third is even better.


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Finally ! Quick sketches Of Venice !

Here are a couple of sketches I did of Venice. These were all done pretty quickly.
I had a lot of fun doing these "schizzi" I've been doing longer drawings and these quick sketches really loosened my drawing hand up.
I used a Sailor fountain pen with waterproof pen ink and a small Winsor and Newton Bijou box. It's a small watercolor travel case. It's machined out of enameled metal with 8 half pans and a small sable brush. It is really handy when you're on the road. I have several travel watercolor sets but this one has been making the travels with me lately. Here are some pics of my Bijou box.






I prefer Daniel Smith watercolors, but I couldn't resist buying this awesome Winsor and Newton set. It is really an solid travel box and it has a long outstanding reputation, just like Winsor and Newton.

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I'm sick ! And Andrea Della Verocchio.

I'm sorry the art posts are lacking lately. In my defense I'm sick ! It sucks having a cold when you're on a trip. I'm trying to recover as fast as possible. Im the meantime please enjoy this beautiful sculpture by Andrea Della Verocchio. This sculpture was commissioned by the city of Venice, its an equestrian sculpture of Colleoni who was a war hero. When Verocchio accepted the project he moved to the city to oversee the production of this massive piece. He passed away before seeing the project completed, but it is beautiful and shows Verocchio's sculpting talents. He is mostly known for being Leonardo's teacher but he was an incredible and important figure in the renaissance as well.

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Carnavale di Venezia !!!

Today was one of the most incredible days since I arrived here. I took and 8:30 train to Venice for the world famous Venetian Carnavale. Everyone dresses up in costumes, and walks around the city to Piazza San Marco. The entire city of Venice is beautiful, the architecture is rustic and you can see the moorish influence as well as the Renaissance influence in the buildings.


The streets and water ways were full of people. Of course there were gondolas and water taxis everywhere. They are pretty expensive, but you can ride them with a bunch of people and split the cost.


Like I mentioned earlier Piazza San Marco is where all the people congregate. Here you can see all the people in costumes and all the tourists from all over the place. More importantly there are several important buildings including one of my favorite, il Palazzo Ducale or the Doge's Palace. It's a true Italian style palazzo built after Michellozzo's Medici Palazzo, but with moorish and oriental influences. The building is beautiful and is now a museum and a centerpiece of the city.


I didn't get a chance to go into the Palazzo Ducale or the Duomo or any of the other churches, but it wasn't the right time. Carnavale and all of it's festivities were the most important and I enjoyed being a part of something truly incredible. Next time I go to Venezia, which I plan on doing a couple of more times I am going to try to see some Venetian art. Of course Tiziano, Giorgione, Tintoretto and all the other important influential Venetian artists are on my list.


I had an awesome time and I love Venezia. It's one of the most awe-inspiring places I've ever visited. I'll try to have some art to go along with the beautiful photos, but honestly there was no room to draw in Venice with so many people around. I have some very, very quick sketches which I'll upload as soon as I stop being lazy. In my defense it's been a long day of walking non stop. So more after I recover.


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Bergamo, Italia.

My travels have brought me back to Bergamo. The part of the city that I enjoyed the most is called Citta' Alta, and it houses some of the most incredible churches I've seen so far. I think the most beautiful churches were the Capella Colleoni and also Santa Maria Maggiore.
From the top of Citta' Alta you can see the entire city and the beautiful "paesaggio Bergamasco." Its a city split in two, the antique and the modern, and I'm my opinion its a perfect balance and the city has everything to offer people who are interested in old world architecture and new world commodities.
I have family here so I know I will definitely be back and when I do return I intend on spending some more time in Citta' Alta. I have some more photos and I have a couple of drawing which I'll post tomorrow, it's late and I have an early train to catch tomorrow. Stay tuned.


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Journey to northern Italy

I had a long day traveling to Bergamo, the snow in Siena and most of Tuscany slowed things down. My train to Florence was delayed so I missed my connecting train to Bologna. I hung out and did the first quick watercolor sketch of Firenze Rifredi station. The second sketch is of two trains that were parked at the Bologna Centrale station. It snowed the hardest in Bologna, so I didn't sketch much more because it was freezing out. After Bologna it was smooth sailing all the way to Bergamo. I'll try to get some sketching done here and hopefully I'll visit other cities nearby before I return to Siena.


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La città più bella d'Italia !

View from the art history building. Università degli studi di Siena.

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