Per amore dell'arte... schizzi e riflessioni.. (For the love of art...sketches and reflections

Hello again...  I have been away for much too long and seem to have abondoned all of my students, friends, colleagues, and followers. I hope to make this up to you as work to bring you up to date. So much has happened as life took some interesting turns.  To begin, these are things that need to be said:
For the love of the art one does not abandon the creative inner being in dificult times.
For the love of the art one finds a way to stay focused even though outside stresses take their toll.
For the love of the art one must continue to expand and develop their skills.
For the love of art, we live. All art, music, literature, drama, feeds us and restores us.

As the world around us changes and new pressures crush even the most willing souls, great literature and art are the only things that can feed us and bring us back to life. My father, the son of Italians who came to the US to make a better life for their future generations, devoured great literature. Among the various works he often quoted was "If" by Rudyard Kipling. If you have had any personal struggles recently, read on and see if you can relate.

If you can keep your head when all about you
  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
  And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
  If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
  And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
  And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
  And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
  To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
  Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
  Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
  If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
  With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
  And which is more; you'll be a Man, my son!
http://allspirit.co.uk/kipling.html
All art, music, literature, drama, feeds us and restores us. We must continue to create even when - perhaps, especially when  - we think no one is paying attention.

The North Carolina Opera Ball...highest bid

This weekend the North Carolina Opera held their annual ball and fundraiser.  Having been asked to donate a portrait to help raise funds in this dreadful economy, I was happy to help. The lovely lady you see in this graphite drawing told the audience of the work I had done to create her mother's portrait last summer. (You may remember the oil I showed you in stages as we worked together before my sitter left to go home to Singapore.) It was a wonderful evening at the opera event - a very nice dinner, a lovely dance, with beautiful performances by NC opera hopefuls, and a very successful auction.  I am proud to share with you that Mrs. Romano's talk to the audience apparently encouraged some very generous patrons to bid for the portrait. The winner will have a head and shoulder portrait painted of the person of their choice. The bidding was very lively and very exciting. It claimed the highest income ( by more than a third) for any item that night! We all need to do what we can to help non-profits stay alive.  We must not lose our music, art, opera, ballet, drama to these uncertain times.  Read more about how the NC Opera has merged with other opera companies in NC. http://operanc.wordpress.com/

Red Cross Ball 2010 - Fundraiser

The Red Cross is one of my special activities.....  Now more that ever we need to be raising funds for their good works globally.  Happily, I am their signature artist here in the Triangle again this year. Their theme this season was "Carolina Nights."  This offers so many visual opportunities. Our state is wide and diverse in its topography, people, food, etc. So I decided to offer three designs - one for each of our regions. To the east, there are lovely white-sand beaches of the coastal region.  The extremely diverse central area of the Piedmont has the busiest of towns known for banking, universities, and technology,and are interspersed with rolling pastoral farmlands.  Then to the west, the wonderful Blue Ridge Mountains.  Tonight I will share the painting of the Coastal Scene. Now go to http://www.trianglearc.org/EVENTS/AnnualGala/tabid/896/language/en-US/Default.aspx

The Sketchbook...

Have you seen the wonderful Leonardo exhibition in Atlanta at the High Museum? Go to http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=3,1,1,15,1 or go directly to the home page at the High http://www.high.org/ The exhibit is there until the 21st ofr February. Quite lovely, inspiring.... when one walks in, each person receives a magnifying glass and invited to approach the artwork at very close range....how unusual! So here is a page from one of my toned-paper, 14x11 sketchbooks. The work is in brown Sharpie ink, touched with green-grey watercolor pencil, and white charcoal pencil. Why ink? It is a little like those folks who do the NY Times crossword puzzles in ink... makes you think fast, stay on your toes, and build confidence. The next couple of images will be pages from my sketchbooks that are matted and for sale.

Jerry's Art of the Carolinas...

So glad to have been a part of the Jerry's event at the North Raleigh Hilton this past weekend. The students were great!  My classes were really interesting  - for both of us!...a lecture on The Color of Light, creating color charts for The Color of People, building better portraits through clearer understanding of the individual features in Parts and Pieces, and the busiest class, Great Faces! Special thanks to all the manufacturers who sponsored my classes. Go look at http://www.ampersandart.com/  http://www.savoirfaire.com/ and http://www.sennelier.fr/ and http://www.strathmoreartist.com/ and http://www.richesonart.com/   I love working with your materials...your materials make my art the best it can be...   And those students had such talent and enthusiasm, all ages, all backgrounds - their energy just gave me more energy.  I love, love, love demonstrating portrait sketches. It is always so much fun...really magical... to see an image develop from nothing on a blank canvas. Come back and see me...every one of you!

Looking back at the oil sketch...

Here is a oil portrait sketch I did of a lovely fellow who modeled for one of my workshops a few years ago. I think this is still one of my favorites.  Have you ever noticed how the more spontaneous the work - all while talking, explaning color, value, placement, lighting -  is the real ticket!  All that chatter you are pouring out to the students helps somehow to keep part of your brain occupied so that you don't overwork the painting.  You just do it! And this character study is all in the eye and the corner of the mouth..not to mention the rakish tilt of the hat! I guarantee that you would recognize him in a crowd.

The two hour oil sketch...

Today I would like to share this 24 x 20 oil sketch with you today.  Dana was one of my interns two years ago. She came to me to learn more about figure drawing as she was preparing to go on to the Savannah School of Art for fashion design. We have a great internships program here at Artspace http://www.artspacenc.org/  that works in conjunction with our scool system and the local colleges.  We train them in the business of art, all aspects of creating art, stocking the studio, difference in materials, difference in techniques, the basic daily life of the studio....and in return the students help us with daily work of all types and occasionally assist us with our workshops or classes, deliveries, etc.  This sketch was done in about two hours...note the unfinished hands... but it really caught her in a great spot under the sky light.  Please call for pricing.

I'd like John Singer Sargent's opinion...

When I painted this sample oil portrait, I needed a solid, showy artwork for a faculty show in another state.  In my mind, the real key to this appealing painting is in its simplicity, elegance, and debonaire quality of the gentleman.  Happily, when people see this 40 x 30 oil in my studio, they often say how it reminds them of John Singer Sargent. Well, flattering as that may be (and whether they are educated enough in art to truly make such a comparison may be in question), I wonder what his opinion would be on this comparison? We too often hear something referred to as Sargent-esque.Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an opportunity to talk with a master painter just for a quick critique?  Let me know what you think. What makes a painting timeless and appealing...and maybe - Sargent - esque?

A good lesson...

Try to keep your paintings, sketches, sketchbooks in some version of order. As you keep in touch with past clients, you may find that they wish to purchase historic materials.  Because I do so many compositional sketches for a portrait assignment, there are always more options for paintings than I will end up doing for the client. The parents of this little girl contacted me to purchase several pieces from that earlier project - graphite compositional sketches or watercolor color plans/studies. This is a detail from the final painting - a large double pastel of this little girl and her older sister. I should tell you a secret now...this was painted 17 years ago! It is still one of my favorites. How nice to hear back from those clients...

Working studio...

Welcome to my working studio.  Of the two rooms, this is the back room where the skylight gives me as much good light as I can hope for in an historic building.  My working wall is full of heightened chacoal sketches that I am using to work out sizes and compositions for paintings.  These three are 24 x 30 and 30 x 36. You can see tables with boxes that have just arrived, a couple of oil paintings in progress, and a large ink drawing on newsprint testing out the size requested by a client for their double portrait...the usual jumble of things that move in and out of the space as I work.

Rocky Stream...

Happy Halloween. I thought I might have some Halloweeners visiting the studio today. But instead,  the 76 degree weather must have taken them out doors to enjoy this lovely fall day. It reminded me of a day last month, before the leaves began to change, when we found this lovely rocky stream not far from our house on the north side of town. This is a 5 x 7 watercolor on Aquaboard that I did that day. A really pleasant day...I want to go back and explore some more. $150/$5/NCSTx

Quick sketches...

The best thing I can recommend over and over again is to do lots of sketching.  Some of my students have told me the last few days that they enjoyed seeing these little quick sketches that I do all the time.  I was also reminded of the time I accompanied my daughter to Vienna when she was singing with a group that was performing there.  I sketched everything! The buildings, the interiors, the singers, the hotel... I had my sketchbook with me all the time. Good or bad, fast or slow, I was indelibly etching these images on my brain in a way that a momentary snapshot never would.  Now get out the pencils and get to work!  This quick sketch is graphite and watercolor... $50/$5shp/NCSTx

Vienna Boys Choir...

...and so in the middle of the recuperation and cabin fever what should come to Raleigh but the Vienna Boys Choir.  What a treat... All along the audience had the delight of hearing these angelic voices. What we were surprised with was the behind the music notebook antics that caused the giggling to ensue.  Our friends and my husband and I had the good fortune to have been given these lovely seats 8th row center orchestra, so we were privy to all the on stage shenanigans.  They were after all a bunch of little boys... and how they managed to travel with 25  7-12year olders I'll never know.  The littlest and the biggest were teamed on the front row...whatever it was that set them off - it affected the front 10 rows or so as well.  This was a little memory sketch in graphite and watercolor I dashed off when I returned home...  $50 /$5shp/ NCSTx

The cafe series...in the piazza

Continuing the cafe series, I want to impress on my students that the graphite/watercolor sketch is the fastest possible way to collect ideas.  Seated, and sometimes standing, just about anywhere for a very short time can give you movement, placement, rough shapes and the basic idea and feel of the place. Use dozens of these to create the painting later int he studio if you are not comfortable with the "street show" you become as an on site plein aire painter. This is 5 x7. $50/$5sh/NCSTx

The cafe series...the red dress

This is a quick 7 x 5 watercolor sketch of a lovely, tall woman in red... on a cell phone.  I thought the burgundy of the dress matched the cabernet she was enjoying. Back when I was doing a series of cell phone paintings, this was among the quick sketches. I love that we have these wonderful outdoor cafes even here in Carolina now. It has taken years, but I am so happy that Raleigh has added our wonderful cafes and this lovely way to enjoy food, friends, and the beauty of the day.  $50/$5sh/NCstx

The cafe series...near the villa

I think that this was a very interesting juxtaposition of the cafe near an amazing palazzo behind the wall. The building of the cafe is off to the left out of the frame of my 5 x 7 inch watercolor sketch.  But in this series of cafes in Italy, I was surprised at how many of these I collected over time in many different media. These little ones are easy to do in your lap or on the table after expresso and biscotti. Families, sunshine, great food, a little vino make up a great great day...
$150.00/ $5shipping/ NCSTx

The cafe series...

A wonderful artist Johanna Spinks is off to France to do a five week residency. Love the idea. She will have a marvelous time.http://portraitpaintingbyjohannaspinks.blogspot.com/ to see her things. She will certainly have time to enjoy the scenery in the villages as well as the famous towns and their museums. In the meantime, I thought I might bring out my cafe series from Italy for you to see. This is a 7x5 oil called "Waiting." Just a little something fun.  There will be some more later this week.

A portrait warmup....

This young lady was the perfect subject for a quick warm up. You know that painters, like dancers, singers, pianists, etc., really tend to to warmups before beginning a long day's work. Many of us do tiny 5x7 paintings as a warmup or preliminary. But sometimes it feels good just to do as I did today and grab a 20 x 16 canvas that had a nice thick palette knife layer of texture onto which the painting could fly out of the brush... And this one really did. Let me know what you think...

N. C. State Fair...

One of my fondest memories, biggest challenges, and favorite people in a non-typical work environment is the 25 years I spent as the Superintendent of the Art Department of the North Carolina State Fair. I was on contract with the state to produce a state-wide art exhibition every fall in Raleigh at the State Fair. When I arrived, we took in about 300 snap shots and art pieces in a WWI warehouse building on the fairgrounds near the RR tracks. We gave out a small amount of prize monies in $10, $20, $30 increments. What a joy it was to become a part of this crazy family of administrators, full time workers, and part time helpers who came together once a year to put on this great family oriented party! Logistically, it was a nightmare. We used to take in, catalog, tag, wrap, store, judge, hang, label, ribbon, and open the show all in 6 days. We were up for 10 days and reversed the process in 1 day at close. Whew! Over time the department grew to take in nearly 2,600 pieces of art and award $23,000 in cash, college scholarships, and products. By that time, we were the featured show in the nicest building on the fairgrounds...the Governor Bob Scott Building where the big Jim Graham Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture would move his office for the length of the fair. He sat over us with a wall of glass windows looking down on us like God. It was a great challenge and great fun...and a LOT of work. But at the end we had wonderful judges coming from all over the US and wonderful museums in DC and up and down the east coast. And the artwork was better and better with each passing year...it was quite the show to be in. I have not been a part of the fair for a number of years now. But this year, I was asked back to Judge a category that was added... it is for a deserving portrait or figurative piece. The ribbon and award are called, "Luana Luconi Winner Faces of Carolina." what a nice, full circle feel that has... Thanks guys! http://www.ncstatefair.org/2009/

Sketch to final oil portrait...

The sketch I shared with you earlier was completed at as oil portrait. This posthumous portrait is nearly complete and may have a change or two requested by the family concerning the necklace. If we decide to make a change, I will share the final version with you.