Just a few photographs from my balcny, which overlooked the main square of the town.
As you can see, the place is gorgeous, whatever the weather. Most of the buildings are a pale yellow/pink, which are in harmony with the sky pretty much all the time.
At night the lights have a strong yellow glow, to contrast with the deep blue of the night sky. Stunning.
The photographs kinda speak for themselves - the Palazzo Massimo is beautiful.
On the top floor is Livia's room, along with other frescoes roman houses - one of which may be Agrippa's and although less stunningly breathtakingl is still quite amazing.
There are stunning mosaics, in black and white and colour, of geometrics and fanciful scenes.
Further down are statues of a quality much higher than I expected from all the "roman statues are just poor copies of the greek" stuff you read in art history books - the portraits are particularly fine and interesting.
A trip much recommended - especially as the place is lovely and cool, without all the crowds you can get in some over museums (yes, Galleria Borghese, I'm looking at you!).
This morning was my first day painting - these were really just little experiments to try and figure out what paints to carry with me. Everything is so much bluer here - guess I'm going to have to ditch the sap green!
Above are some drawings from yesterday as I was wandering about, getting my bearings.
As you may have gathered by now, I'm off to Italy.
This is for a residency for two weeks with The Jerusalem Studio School , or JSS for short. They have been going there every summer for quite a while as Israel Hershberg who runs the school felt that his students needed more access to some of the masterpieces of western art - an awful lot of which hang out in Italy. For the last few years the school has settled on Civita Castellana , a town an hour or so north of Rome and not far from the road to Florence. Naples, Sienna, Bologna, Arrezo, San Seplochro and Urbino are also all on the excursion list - the two planned trips when I am there are Florence and Bologna.
This is the first year there has been residents - and the first year Terrano Studio Center has been open. So its quite an honour for me - especially as one of my co-residents is the amazing David Kassan who has been busy wetting my appetite over the last few weeks with his postings on facebook.
Also there will be students and teachers of the masterclass and also there are the students of the affiliate group run by Sharon Sandberg who is an american painter of lovely, calm still lifes. So, plenty folks - all of whom are representational painters. I'm guessing most will be oil painters like myself and most will be concentrating on landscape (also like myself!). This will be a first for me - even in life drawing there tends to be few oil painters - and I am really looking forward to talking to everyone else and seeing how they work. Lets just hope I don't spend so much time gassing I don't actually do any painting!
As mentioned in my last post, I have decided to take a more limited range of paints this time - partly because paints are heavy, partly because I prefer working with a limited range of colours per painting and partly because I did a workshop last time that had an very long list of required paints - this time, I get to make my own mind up!
So how have I done that, bearing in mind that I have done very little landscape painting (as I intend mainly to do) and I expect Italian landscapes will be little different from Scottish ones?
Well, firstly I looked at the recommended list provided by JSS and also the post discussing Isreal Hershberg's palette, which is essentially the same but has more detail.
Then I set all these colours apart and painted only with them for the last month. If I felt it was necessary to add a colour, I did so - and so decided on eight more tubes, which you can see circling the rest. Most of these were added when I was painting skin - as I might do some of this while away - as well as Sap Green and Black, as these are colours I have found useful for painting scottish landscapes.
A couple are missing which are on the recommended list - Provence Violet and Cadmium Green - and I may buy them once there. Titanium White is also missing - I haven't yet decided whether to get some there, as I could easily go through a small tube in two weeks, or persist with my lovely Flake White, which I have instead of the Cremnitz.
So what are the colours? Flake White, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Indian Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Windsor Violet, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Phthalo Green, Emerald Green, Cadmium Green Light and Raw Umber. To which I have added Brilliant Yellow Light, Old Holland Half Burnt Yellow Ochre, Vasari Rosebud, Scarlet Sienna, Video Blue Extra Pale, King's Blue Deep, Sap Green and Ivory Black.
Will report back how I found these - most of the green's at least are new to me!
Well, as I may have mentioned before, I'm off to Italy next week for a residency with the Jerusalem Studio School summer programme.
Being both an organised (ish) type, and super busy this coming week, I have started packing today - the above shows what I am taking, minus the laptop and the camera. Inside the suitcase, along the bottom, is about 20 prepared panels - I just hope they are enough. So far it weighs about 15 kilos, so will be able to acquire a few bits and bobs while I'm there. I had a bit of a hard time of it coming back from New York - I hadn't realised the monday I was flying back was a bank holiday, and I therefore pretty much had to carry a lot more than I had planned to - as the post office was shut. My suitcase then was right at the limit of 23kg - plus a laptop bag and an overnight bag carried as hand luggage. The total weight must have been close to half my weight . . . an experience I will be glad not to repeat.
This time around I am wanting to really focus on oil painting. Over the last few wee while I have been playing around with limited palettes and I have narrowed it down to 23 colours - still quite a range! - and will buy titanium white once I'm there. My pochade box, which has a small palette inside. As the shoulder surgery was fairly recent I am planning on sitting on the ground most of the time - so I don't have an easel. Turps and oil will be provided by JSS - which is just as well as you can't take them on flights anyway - Making A Mark has a useful page about transporting art materials. My fountain pen is going and I am thinking about taking along some charcoal as well as watercolour pans or tubes and pencils for making tonal studies - these, along with a waterbrush, are very transportable and can be used in the moleskin.
So, what else am I taking? Behind the box is all the clothes that are going - including a very large man's shirt with inbuilt UV protection that I am planning on painting in. There are some advantages to being short! There is a huge sunhat as well - and I'll buy loads of sunscreen once I'm there. The spotty thing is a very lightweight raincoat - I've learnt that sunshine means thunder storms . . . The only shoes are two pairs of nike free TR fit shoes - shocking pink and black - which are the most comfy, blister-free shoes I've ever had. Sadly, there are no heels. None.
The Kindle is a must - as is my shuffle and a trusty moleskin or two - I love these, as they function as a diary, a place to write lists and details of hotels/phone numbers etc and a place to draw both when waiting and more formally. Pretty much everything else will be bought over there (including, probably, a kettle so I can make a brew).
So, have I missed anything? Any advice?
The Paisley Art Institute Open Show opens next Saturday and I am pleased to have two works up on display. This is my fifth year as this was the very first open exhibition I entered, the first time my work was shown to the public - and my first sale!
Anyway, promises to be a good show - I'll try and post my favs on facebook next week - so hopefully you can get along.
(For those of you wondering why I'm posting less these days, it's because big things are afoot.)
My most recent paintings - properly photographed by Lighthouse Photographics.
Self Portrait at 38 - Winter
Reflection - Self Portrait
In The Louvre
University Blue
The Guard Chair
Another from the University Library series - this time still a WIP (I think).
The Gardiner building was not named after a relative (that I know about, anyway) and is the buildings behind the big brown one with the white stripes (which I think is the lab building - must have a proper name, anyone remember?). It is, of course, The Western as seen from Glasgow University library, and the first in the series that doesn't make entirely clear it is of a view through a window - although all the reflections may give the game away.
The geometry of these reflections in comparison with the intricacy of the view is what made me want to paint this one - zigzags, big shapes leading to small shapes, more orange and blue as well as the ubiquitous grey of a cityscape (especially Glasgow!)
Not quite finished yet, but a fair way along. Feedback would be useful, as I very much feel I am feeling my way with these paintings as I go along - there is very little similar out there and I can't decide whether that's good or bad.
This is my biggest painting to date, at 20 inches square.
It is another view from the eleventh floor at Glasgow University library, worked from photographs taken just as the sun was rising.
It combines three of my favourite things - Glasgow, libraries and just before sunrise - as well as letting me play with my inner abstract artist.
It is very much based around the opposition of blue and orange, using a lot of greys produced by a mix of the two as well as the occasional sneaky yellow umber. And it plays with the grid structure created by the shape of the canvas, the architecture seen through the windows as well as the windows themselves, and the furnishings inside the building - both seen directly and reflected.
There are therefore several distinct layers - the hills in the background, the University buildings, the window structure, the reflection of the floor below and the shelving of the eleventh floor as well as the barrier I'm standing behind both in reflection and edging into view on the right.
Complicated stuff - and would not have been possible if I hadn't painted this one first. And it, in turn, was based on an idea from the first 28 drawings in 2011.
Each painting in a series leads to the next - questions get thrown up, answers arrive that enable more ambitious workings, simpler ways of doing things become evident, colour can be played with as well as scale, technique, medium, you name it.
In landscape painting in particular both Sickert and Monet used pretty much the same drawing to really experiment with colour/mood/paint application - and in doing so created some of my favourite paintings. What better guides are there to follow - I'm a believer at looking at the why, the thinking process behind paintings I adore and letting that guide me in what I do.
Or why I need a proper one.
Pretty cramped. The window is south facing, so provides quite variable light - especially at this time of year. Also, since the sun is so low it shines straight onto the screen.
As it is a room in my flat, I don't feel comfortable inviting models here. Once I did but the light was so bad my reference photographs were next to useless. Also, there is no room to arrange any kind of tableau - not even a blank wall for the model to stand against!
Never mind, something will come up eventually, and I will be able to put all these things I'm planning into action - not least, working from a model more often.
However, I will continue to work mainly from digital photographs for a while yet. My process is a changing thing but I work better if a painting is done in stages over days or even weeks, with me pondering problems as I go along. Having someone else there makes me bashful and less likely to go hang it, lets just paint over all that lovely bit of painting to try something else. Also, most of my paintings get to a stage where I stop looking at the reference material and just make it up. This is much much harder to do with a person in front of you.
The photo's I use are all taken by me and often manipulated before being used. They need to able to blown right up - part of painting has to be selection, which means there has to be enough information to choose from. Sketches (both drawn and painted) are also useful - and I have not yet attempted to paint someone that I have not painted from life in oils at some stage.
Also you can photograph what would be difficult or impossible to paint - smiles, certain postures and expressions, the view from the eleventh floor of a library . . .
Some of you may remember I took part in 28 drawings later in 2011, which encouraged me to start using a sketchbook for the first time. I will be eternally gratefull to Victoria for starting it!
A couple of the drawings I did were of the view from the library og Glasgow University - my first landscapes. Since then, I have kept returning to the idea and finally I plucked up the courage to try it in oils. Not easy or fun. Those straight lines where a pain - it seems I should have drawn the thing out first, rather than breenging in with the paint like I normally do. I'll know next time.
Anyway, I am already at work on another two based on library views - I can see a whole series happening. This one is going on show at the Glasgow Art Club Show
This is going to be a busy weekend, with not one, but three openings!
The first, on Friday night from 5 til 8, is at Art Exposure, where the above painting will be, along with a couple of small portrait paintings based on New York people. Most of the rest of the show will be small works under a hundred quid so should be quite inteseting. And, of course, the wine, canapes and chat is always good. There is a big, comfy sofa . . . .
On the same night is Virginia Gallery's christmas show. Being a little different, they have gone for a white theme - and I suspect at least a few of the works will be a little naughty. They also promise snow. Hopefully Jon Snow. I would like that.
The next day it is on to the RGI Kelly Gallery for their postcard exhibition - this year there will be small 5x7 inch works unframed for £250 as well as works up to 60cm in diameter. Promises to be very varied - my two little ones are both oils, one a painting done in the life room, the other a small landscape which is part of a new series that I am working on at the moment.
The big brother of the little landscape will be at the Glasgow Art Club Winner's Show from the 8th December - more on that later on!
On the last weekend, I went down to Wall St, sat for a little at the Elevated Acre watching the helicopters and then onto the East River Ferry - this was drawn while waiting for it to arrive.
As I did the full trip - up to East 34th St - it took a fair while - unfortunately more than enough time to get sunburn, despite my factor 50! Ferries are dangerous for that . . . must be the wind.
After such a relaxing morning, watching the sights go by, was an afternoon of shopping. (Several folks have been horrified to learn I only spent a couple of hours doing this - and never went into any of the departments stores. Just not enough time - or the ability to carry anything more home, after all the paint I bought!)
Another thing I didn't have enough time for was sketching like this, which is one of the major regrets of the trip. Ah well. Next time.
Jumping a little ahead here, to day 27 - but thought this drawing the most appropriate to finish the 28 drawings saga. The last week was a real struggle for me, partly due to life events but also I think because I've been so busy recently I've let the life drawing slide only twice in a month! Looking back of the last couple of months I can see that although I have been able to paint, I haven't been able to finish any of them. This may party be because I am attempting various things I haven't tried before - clothing, full figures, interior scenes, a lakeside scene - but I sense is also because I'm missing the life drawing. Many long term life drawers tell me how essential it is to keep the practice up and how it feeds into all kinds of artwork. Now I really believe them. 
Yesterday morning I went up bright and early to the 11th floor of the University Library. This is a place I went to a lot as a student (although my subject's floor was the much more boring 5) and it has been quite special going back over the last year - around this time last year during the 28 drawings challenge I rejoined the library. Since then I have been up and down those lifts many times - they look the same, smell the same, and I swear pretty much have the same people in them. The alarming thing for me is that enough time has passed that the new people could be my children. 
Lots of you will know that I recently went to Amsterdam for a few days - the first time I had been abroad in ages. We did lots of wandering about and I visited the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, both amazing places, despite the Rijksmuseum being mainly closed. Although there were only about 5 rooms open, I still managed to spend at least 3 hours in the place - a large part of this sitting looking at Rembrandt's The Jewish Bride.
In February, I took part in an online exhibition hosted by Victoria Evans, called 28 drawings later - and she has made a book! So fab seeing everyones work in print - including four of mine. At (big) and (small).
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