White flowers

I really enjoyed painting the two previous still lifes I did. I decided to do one more, and I like this last one the best. It was good exercise trying to describe the white flowers without actually painting them in individually, or adding in much detail. I am very pleased with the outcome.

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Another still life

I don't usually paint flowers, or even still lifes, but I did a few in one sitting. I enjoyed painting the negative shapes and painting the loose backgrounds. I'll post one more that I really liked after this one.


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Still life

A holiday still life in watercolor.


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Memento Mori

This is a small 8x10 oil painting I did recently. It was a challenge and I'm happy with the outcome.


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Macchinetta

It's been too long since my last post. This has to be a reoccurring theme in this blog, but I feel like it's like that for most art blogs. I produce work almost constantly, but it isn't necessarily work I want to share. I've been busy with school, so I've mostly been doing some light sketching.
So from now on (I'm sure I've written this before) I'll try to post more often.

So I have been doing oil paintings, a lot of which are alla prima plein-air landscapes. Now I'm trying to paint in my small home studio. This is one of the last paintings I've completed.

This is my "Macchinetta" or coffee machine. I received it as a gift when I was in Italy and I use it daily.

8x10 oil on canvas


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Plein air in progress

Doing some painting locally. Photo of a painting in progress.


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Valley Stream village green

This weekend I drove to the Valley Stream village green to do some painting. I painted for about an hour and a half, before it started to get cold and the sun started going down. I got through most of the painting so I decided to call it a day. I'm happy with the painting and as usual I will try to paint outside more often before the winter comes.

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Plein-air painting in Merrick

The weather is still nice here in NY, it isn't as cold as it usually is in mid October. I want to try to paint outside as much as possible, so this past weekend I met up with two artist friends of mine to do some plein-air painting at the Norman J. Levy park and preserve, in Merrick, Long Island.




So when we got there one of the staff members was nice enough to give us a tour of the grounds and he then dropped us off at the very top. This where we decided to set up, I thought it would be a nice challenge. After about two hours of painting, and chatting with random people I was feeling good about my painting. Just about at the same time it started to get very cold, so I slowly started to pack up. I like the outcome, but there are certain things which I think can be improved upon, but it is an alla prima painting so it'll stay how it is.




After we finished painting we then got a ride all the way down to the front parking lot where the car was. So I want to thank Ranger Rob for the lift and tour, and of course I should also thank my two friends and colleagues John Hendrick and Jenny Chin. I find it nicer to paint in a group, we somehow find a balance between chatting and concentrating. Hopefully I'll find time to do some more painting outdoors before it starts getting very cold here. I am also going to attempt to paint in the snow when the time comes, I'm sure it'll be challenging.
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Another completed sketchbook

So I finished another sketchbook and I wanted to do something special, so I have about 30-35 pages of the book here turned into an ebook. So if you're curious please look through it, the book itself is 90 pages long, but I picked these pages because it represents the book well. Thank you.

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Little piazza in Siena.

This is Piazza Alessandro Manzoni in beautiful Siena. I spent a lot of time here in this piazza. There are incredible views of Siena from this place and it was always nice and quiet. Right across from this little square is the church of Santa Maria dei Servi, one of the most important churches in the city. As usual this is a plein air painting.


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Tuscan landscape

A view of Tuscany from the fortress walls of Monteriggioni. I was almost done painting when it started raining. You can see the dots in the sky. I actually don't mind them. I'm happy with the results, rain drops and all.


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St. Peter ob Judenburg, Austria

This is a painting of one of my favorite stops on my travels abroad in Europe. This is St. Peter ob Judenburg. A small town nestled in a valley in Austria. I was lucky enough to be invited to have an incredible Easter with an amazing family. It was difficult being away from my family, but I felt at home there. So thank you to the Meisel and Resch families for such a memorable Easter in Styria.


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Monteriggioni

Here's another watercolor painting of the beautiful fortress of Monteriggioni. One of my favorite places to paint in Italy.


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Aphrodite at the Met

I got to spend some time with my favorite sculpture at the Met, the Aphrodite. It's a Roman copy of a Greek original. It was done 1st-2nd century BCE. I met up with two great friends, who are both very talented artists as well, Min and Maria. We had an excellent day drawing, looking at and speaking about art.


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The actual painting from Cedarmere

So I posted a photo of me painting in Cedarmere, but here is the actual piece. I must admit this was a difficult painting, the light was very strong only in one spot. I was basically under a huge tree so I was painting in the dark. I tried to paint with as much accuracy in color as possible, and in the end I think it was a successful painting. I'll try to go back and paint on the Cedarmere property again before the weather gets bad.

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Doing some painting on William Cullen Bryant's property.

I went to paint with a few friends today, we decided to head east to the Nassau County Museum of Art. After painting the museum building we searched for another spot where we could paint. This is one of the nice little places, on what used to be the property of William Cullen Bryant, not far from the NCMA. It was getting dark, but I pushed through as fast as I could. Here is an "action" shot.

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A house in Valley Stream

Painting a little in my neighborhood.


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A visit to the Met

I did a little drawing at the Met the other day. The crouching Aphrodite and Heracles seated. Both Roman copies of Greek originals. Very fun to draw, I want to make regulate visits to museums for sketching. We'll see how it goes.


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Astoria Park, NY

I'm back in NY now and the weather is amazing. I wanted to go to one of my favorite places and do some painting. I met up with my friend and fellow painter John Hendrick and we headed to Astoria park. This park is in a nice neighborhood, it has a great view of Manhattan and two famous NY bridges run across it; the Triboro and Hell Gate bridge.
I brought my watercolors, and a light travel easel and I set up for a painting. I started out as I usually do, with a sketch in pencil of what I'm going to paint. Like I mentioned in the last post, in this drawing I'm trying to organize the composition as well as make notes about shading and I try to draw the architecture somewhat accurately.

After this preliminary drawing I redraw the scene following the schema from the first sketch. I tighten the drawing up where I think it should be, and in some areas I don't even bother drawing at all. For example the architecture of the Hell Gate bridge itself  I did in much more detail than everything else, the trees underneath I didn't even draw in. I wanted to just paint the trees without having them be so preconceived. I think it's good to balance between following your line drawing and just letting colors mix in a little. So after a lot of catching up and chatting with my friend I finally finished my sketch. 

I think it's obvious that I followed my first drawing almost exactly and I like doing that because I think the second time around I can really build the architecture better. I try to correct my perspective mistakes and small kinks before I dive into painting. Of course this was more of a long sketch, but in an actual painting I would be doing the same, except of course I'd be dedicating much more time to it. 

All in all it was an excellent day, we did one more painting at the park and then headed to Fort Totten park where we ran into some rain. We both enjoyed the sun while it lasted and I'm sure this won't be the last time John joins me for some plein-air painting and drawing. 

This is one of the drawings John did during our excursion, it's a portrait of me painting. It is definitely one of my favorite drawings of the day. 

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Part of the San Miniato complex in Florence

     One of my favorite places in Florence is San Miniato al Monte. It's a beautiful romanesque church on the highest point in Florence. I have drawn and posted the church facade, but I don't think I've ever added the other bits. The church has a cemetery and a small shop where monks sell home made soaps and oils. I did a watercolor of a small corner of the monastery and the store.
     I wanted to quickly explain how I go about even doing a watercolor sketch. I think one of the most important things I've learned to do is to do a quick sketch before hand. This has really helped me with composition and figuring out the light and the way I want to build the painting. This is what one of those pencil sketches look like.

     I'm really just trying to organize the buildings and to figure out perspective and composition. In this stage I am definitely making corrections and changing things. This is why this step is so necessary, I know it's a thumbnail sketch and I don't have to worry. Plus I am already painting in my brain while I'm doing this. These sketches vary in their detail. Sometimes I do much more detailed sketches where I make notes on light and shadow in a more in depth way, and also simple quick sketches just to make lines and place things. Afterwards I set up my paint and I redraw the scene. I am following the sketch, making small changes and corrections in the buildings. I then proceed to paint, which is a process that changes from painting to painting, so I'll save that for another post. Here is the completed painting. 

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Another view of Siena

This is the view from the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. You can see the beautiful rooftops and of course the Torre del Mangia, which is the large tower on the left. It's part of the Palazzo Pubblico, the city hall building in the main piazza.


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Beautiful buildings in Brussels

Looking outside of my window in Brussels, Belgium.


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Beautiful Ponte Vecchio, Firenze

One of my favorite cities in Italy is Florence. I love walking through the city, almost everywhere in the historical center there are beautiful buildings and important symbols of the renaissance and medieval Florence. One of the most well known places or structures in Florence is Ponte Vecchio. It has a long history, having been first built during Roman times. It's been destroyed and rebuilt several times, the bridge that stands now is from the early 14th century, once used for butcher shops. It's now occupied by jewelry shops and is a favorite hang out spot for tourists and Florentines.

It's incredibly hot in Italy so I tried to draw and paint as fast as I could. I tried to make sure I captured the structure first before even worrying about the color. I've drawn and painted this bridge several times, but I must admit I think this last effort is my favorite.

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An old train at the Milano Centrale train station.

Traveling in Europe means you'll be spending a lot of time in train stations. I didn't mind so much in Milano Centrale, which is a beautiful Stile Liberty (Italian Art Nouveau) building, plus I had time to draw. Here is an old train that was sitting at a platform not far from where I was sitting. I wish I had a little more time, but I had to catch a train.

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Paris

A view of Paris from Montmartre.


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The basilica of Sacré-cœur

A late 19th century building in Montmartre, Paris.


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Notre Dame, Paris

Ink drawing. This was intense, but it was fun. Gothic architecture is definitely difficult to capture in a drawing.


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Drawing in Venice

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Tower in Perugia

Perugia is beautiful. I got to spend a few days there, so I did lots of drawing. This is the tower of the church of Saint Peter.


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A boat in Vernazza

I love painting boats even though I find them extremely difficult to paint. It was nice to hang out in Vernazza, which is a fishing village with lots of things to paint, like boats.

Vernazza is also one of the five villages of Cinque Terre.


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Monterosso al Mare

This is the northern most village of Cinque Terre. With an excellent long stretch of beach.



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Liguria

I spent a few days in Liguria, and I must admit I was productive. I'll be posting some of the paintings I did while I was away. This one is from Deiva Marina, a small city in northern Liguria that is almost at the border of Genova.


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Torre delle Ore, Lucca

One if the nicest cities I visited in Tuscany is Lucca, besides its Tuscan charm it had an amazing amount of Romanesque architecture which I love. This is a narrow street that leads to the Torre delle Ore.


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Santa Maria delle Carceri, Prato

The church on the left is a beautiful renaissance church by architect Guiliano da Sangallo. It's called Santa Maria delle Carceri, it was commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici. The building you see on the right is the Emperor's Castle. Built for Frederick II king of Sicily in the early half of the 13th century.


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A view of Siena

This is a view of Porta Pispini in Siena from the church of Sant'Agata.


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Abbey of San Galgano

I had a small exhibition here in Siena, Italy. I didn't posts any of the paintings because I was using them for the show. Since the exhibition is over I will start to post some of the work.

This is the abbey church of San Galgano in Siena.


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Michelangelo

Michelangelo is one of the biggest reasons why I started to study art history. So to be able to see his work in person has been incredible.

I visited the Museo dell'opera del Duomo in Florence the other day, and I was very pleased with the arrangement and collection.

One of the highlights of the museum is the Florentine Pietá by Michelangelo. It's also called the Bandini Pietá and sometimes even the Deposition. Either way it's beautiful and I got so see it and draw it which was even better.

Michelangelo, Pietá Fiorentina 1547-55.


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A view of Siena

A nice view of the city of Siena from the Medici fortress.


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San Cristoforo

This is the church of San Cristoforo in Siena. A church I walk by everyday, I finally decided to take a break and draw.


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Porta San Giacomo

A beautiful 16th century Venetian entrance portal to Cittá Alta. Once a stronghold of the powerful Venetian empire, now the historic center of Lombardy's Bergamo.


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Chiesa di Santi Apostoli e Biagio

This is an excellent Romanesque church I bumped into in Florence. It's in a small piazza called Piazza del Limbo, which is connected by an alley way to the Lungarno. I was told by several people it is the first Florentine Duomo.


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San Ludovico di Tolosa

As I mentioned in my last post, I got to see an amazing exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

The show was consisted of Renaissance Sculptures in the early and mid 15th century. The exhibition was very well put together and the sculptures were all impressive.

I have to say my favorites were Saint Matthew by Ghiberti for Oraanmichele, Donatello's horse head sculpture for the king of Naples, and lastly this Donatello sculpture also for Orsanmichele:


This is Donatello's San Ludovico di Tolosa (1422) which is a bronze sculpture gilded in gold with jewels.

If you happen to be in Florence in the next month do yourself a favor and go see this exhibition.

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A completed sketchbook

I visited Palazzo Strozzi today and saw an amazing exhibition called Springtime in the Renaissance. I completed my sketchbook there.

I'll post the final drawing in the book, but before that I wanted to post this drawing of Santa Maria del Fiore. I found a great spot to sit and draw so I took my time and patiently drew this.


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Hanging out

This is a photo of the Pieve dei servi di Sant'Ippolito. That's me hanging out after some drawing.


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Beautiful Romanesque church

On our road trip we divided to stop at this church. It's on the top of a hill somewhere between Colle di Val D'elsa and Volterra. It's secluded to say the least. After a short hike we arrived and I was very pleasantly surprised by how beautiful this building was. It is mentioned in the 10th century, but is no longer in use. It's still an incredible thing to be able to see a building from 1,000 years ago.


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San Francesco in Siena

A beautiful basilica in Siena next to the Economy school of the University of Siena.


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A view of Siena

This is a beautiful view of Siena from Piazza del Mercato. The tower on the left is the church of Santa Maria dei Servi.


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