Day 57

--For our third and final fresco, the assignment is to combine two images of our choice. I chose to combine a vintage french poster for cigarette paper by Alphonse Mucha with a drawing i made of the mad hatter. Below is my painting with tempera paints. Pray for me next Tuesday when I start the first giornata. Oh ambition..

Also, fun and super exciting note: Mom gets in tomorrow! and we will be venturing off to Siena and San G! So excited =)

work in progress

finished product

Day 54

--Today, Karlie, Amanda, Nikki, and Izze, I made our way towards the Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti) to go to the Boboli Gardens on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. The Pitti Palace was the home of the Medici family.

The Boboli Gardens are immensely huge gardens behind their palace. I only made it through about a third of the gardens, but to give you a gist of what it is like: there are small shrubs that are shin or knee high that are perfectly trimmed and create wonderful maze patterns, many statues that are scattered throughout the garden, a pond, and at the top, there is a terrace where you can overlook the Tuscan country-side. 

After wandering through and admiring the gardens, Nikki and I sat on the ground near the terrace to paint. I painted the wonderful view in front of me on a classy piece of cardboard.

Would you like to hear some good news? I am now an Italian celebrity, as Nikki and I had a handful or so of people take pictures of us painting in the gardens. Most were probably tourists, and it was a little awkward, but definitely a compliment. At one point, I had an American guy say, "Wow, that is really good!" I looked up and said, "thank you!"

His response: "Oh! English! You speak English!" haha After asking a few questions, he told me he thought I was Italian. Yesss. Successfully mistaken for a real Italian.

Painting in the gardens. What a golden afternoon =)

myself, Nikki, & Amanda

stunned by the gardens

photo taken by Izze

painting in the garden

photo taken by Nikki

painting from il giardino

Day 51 again

--Upon the stolen piece of cardboard today, I had myself a nice "canvas" and painting session tonight. The painting is roughly based off a photograph that I took of Michelley. Hopefully there will be more to come!

Day 51

--Drawing club today! and let me tell you: the turnout this week was faaar better than last. And the sun was out! Our little group of five went to Santa Croce on this Wednesday afternoon. I was also successful in snagging some cardboard to paint on later. I am in far too much of an artistic mood to read finance. Damn. Painting again tonight? Possibly =)

Santa Croce

drawing from the day

Day 43

--With three giornate (sections of plaster painted in three separate sessions), I have completed my second fresco! For class, we were to choose a painting, and then to crop the painting down to a very tiny area to create into a fresco. The painting I chose was Botticelli’s Primavera (sidenote: Botticelli is the amazing artist who also painted The Birth of Venus). I chose the face of Chloris, who is on the right of the painting. Before we were allowed to fresco, we had to paint our piece on thick paper with tempera paints. Then, we worked on the fresco over the duration of three separate sessions. Below are the artworks!

Primavera by Sandro Botticelli

my tempera painting

my fresco painting (with flash)

my fresco painting (with natural light, and all the textures & imperfections)

Day 50

--Once again, I got distracted in finance class. 

Sidenote on the blog: I will be posting about Greg's visit and Carnevale in the near future. For when Greg was here, I need his photographs because I must show you (as they are amazing). In regards to Carnevale, I will be stealing Nikki's photographs. And, on a sad note: my entire roll of film from Carnevale is stuck and locked in my camera. The film is also not wound all the way, so if and when i get it open, it could potentially expose many photos. I will keep you posted on this dilemma.

sketch from finance

For my fresco class today, we had a private tour in Palazzo Vecchio, which was where the Medici family used to live (or that is what I think; I'm terribly sorry if I am skewing history, but that makes it more fun doesn't it?)

     ehem! The Palazzo Vecchio was the secret garden where all the fairies and munchkins resided in 1432 before they were casted for the movies Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz. It was also rumored that gnomes lived underground beneath the garden. The ruler of the garden, Palazzo Vecchio, was Stanislov, the most vibrant gno...back to the tour!

In our private tour,  we were able to go into the building through a secret door that Cosmo Medici would enter the building in. The door was short enough that i had to duck my head, if that gives you an image. We went up spiral staircases that are narrower than the ones in the Duomo, and the ones in the Duomo are narrow, my friends. My favorite part was this amazing room that was Francesco Medici's studio room, and there were many beautiful paintings covering the walls and on the ceiling. All of these paintings were connected to each other in subject matter and symbolism (such as the seasons, heat, cold, wet, dry, etc.). I wish I could have sat in there for hours and really having time to appreciate each painting. 

And guess what? There were secret doors and cabinets behind every large painting at the base level of the room! (and we got to go through two of them!) On our tour, we admired and saw many frescos. All this art and neat secrets inspired me, and it made me realize how much I miss painting. Hence the paint being brought out tonight and hence the two pieces below.

painted on the back of a brown paper bag

Day 49 still

After witnessing the beauty, madness, and masquerade of Carnevale in Venezia, in finance class, my mind seems to wander away from bonds and common stocks..

Day 37

--For drawing club today, which has been dwindling quite a bit as people are traveling more during the weekend causing them to have more hectic school days, we went to the public library. At the library, you can go to the fourth floor and have a perfect view that is a close approximation to the top of the duomo. It was quite beautiful up there, and here is the sketch from the day.

Day 36

my little Roman man

Day 35

what an enlightenment period

Day 34 again

inspired lately

Day 49

--Ciao, World! 
Okay, not quite, but I am almost back to being in the real world.

I have been busy with 

-school

-working ahead in school before a certain someone got here

-having the wonderful Gregory come and visit for 9 days (which included a weekend in Rome)

&&

-immediately running off to Venice for Carnevale for the rest of the weekend. 

I got back late last night, had to inform family members I was alive and got home safe, and with a shower, I was off to bed! So, I would update you all today, but I have two midterms tomorrow..which I haven’t had much time to study for yet as you may have guessed. Also, on top of that, I have English for Pasta tonight. (English for Pasta is a small program that I will blog about later.)

So! The main purpose of this post is to tell you I am alive and well, and surprisingly not freaking out about my midterms a huge amount!

Later this week there will be many posts! Maybe Wednesday & Thursday. Stayed tuned for further madness.
I love & miss you all


Sincerely, 
Lisa
the girl who is falling back towards the face of the planet

Day 34

--Drawing club on a Sunday afternoon.

The artists, Nikki, Karlie, Amanda, Sarah, and myself went to the Accademia. We wandered around the museum, and then found a spot in the museum to sketch. Most of us chose to sit in view of Michelangelo’s David. The David is incredible, as one could (or maybe couldn’t) imagine. He is also extremely large, which I forgot just how tall he was until I saw him at the end of that hallway in the Accademia museum. Even though there are many imitation statues of the David, none of them quite compare to the real deal. Random fact: the David was originally sculpted by Michelangelo to be put on top of the Duomo in Florence. What a relief that it is able to be seen at a more reasonable eye-level and only a 7 minute walk away!

Per usual, here are my sketches from the day. 

Il David: Study I

a not-so-conventional David

inspired by Elise/Roko

Day 0 to Day 9 (b&w)

--Remember how I said this is going to be a little out of order and somewhat nonsensical (as (500) days of Summer was)? Well, this is precisely what I was referring to. I have been shooting black and white film on a 35 mm camera. And after I finish a roll, I have to get it developed. You know how life is a little more laid back and slower in Italy? It is clearly evident in their film developing process. it takes 7-8 days to develop a roll of black and white film. One-hour film places? Fuhgettaboutit! (that's for you, Dad!)

Also, I have to scan the photos at school, and uploading them all onto the internet takes a while too. Hence, day 0 to day 9 black and whites! Good news though: I have a roll of 36 photographs that i dropped off yesterday, so it could be a while before they get up on the internet. My apologies. 

For now, here is the roll from the airport to Rome to the beginning of my life in Florence =)

day 0

Philadelphia

day 0

airport birds

Philadelphia

day 0

Philadelphia

day 3

Roma, Italy

day 3

Roma, Italy

day 4

Roma, Italy

day 4

nightly wishes

Roma, Italy

day 4

Roma, Italy

day 5

Roma, Italy

day 5

Roma, Italy

day 5

Il Colosseo

Roma, Italy

day 5

Roma, Italy

day 5

Roma, Italy

day 6

Campo di Fiori

Roma, Italy

day 6

fur blessed

by the pope

Roma, Italy

day 6

tre

Roma, Italy

day 6

Roma, Italy

day 6

Roma, Italy

day 6

Roma, Italy

day 6

 leaving Roma, Italy

day 8

view out the window

Firenze, Italy

day 8

my room

Firenze, Italy

day 9

Firenze, Italy

day 9

journal & cafe

Firenze, Italy