Anna Rose Bain's Art Blog

Lists of Blessings, New Paintings and More

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:22:00 +0000

I would love to write on here more... but lately I've been spending most of my time painting, which is what I'm supposed to be doing! However, a brief update is long overdue.

First of all, I should mention that for the past week or so, I've been greatly encouraged and inspired by a little book my mother sent me for my birthday, called One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. The book talks about how to experience joy, and a full life, regardless of your circumstances. The key is in finding gratitude for all of God's gifts, both big and small, in your everyday life. So the author took up a dare, to record a list of one thousand "God-gifts". Her writing style is beautiful; as my mom said, she "paints with words." And, as a result of reading this book, I've begun to deliberately slow down my mad rush -- taking time to enjoy the little things, and to give thanks. I've also started a list of my own... today's additions:

- Perfume of full-bloom hyacinths by the hundreds

- Smiling pansies along the pathway

- Wearing flip flops, ridding warm body of sweatshirt and soaking in the sun... in February. :-)

After a day like today, who could be ungrateful, after all?? It was a high of 78. I spent the morning plein air painting at the Dallas Arboretum, enjoying in the way that only an artist can the full beds of hyacinths and pansies in all of their glory. Here is a picture of just a tiny fraction of what I was surrounded by... I'll show the painting soon. It still needs a couple little adjustments (I had to stop sooner than expected, thanks to some little mites that decided to form a parade up my pant leg).

Other painting projects... well, these all seem so unrelated to one another, but that has been my working method as of late.

I recently completed (er--tentatively completed) a new self portrait. I began this painting last week when Steve and I got dressed up for a Valentine's Day photo shoot, and I decided, "Hey, why shouldn't an artist dress up for her own portrait?" I managed not to get any paint on my clothes. The painting is titled, "Self Portrait with Red Lipstick." I never wear lipstick - in fact, I hate it. But I will admit that it does look good. :-)

"Self Portrait with Red Lipstick" - 20"x16" - oil on linen

I need to get a better photo of it -- AND I still might make some small changes -- but this will do for now.

One more painting I did just for fun... I've been meaning to set up this scenario for a while and finally made it happen. My dog, Bella, was curious about a new studio pal, a plaster bust that my painting student dubbed "Houdini" (after the sculptor, Houdin). Here is the painting, "Getting Acquainted." Bella sat for much of the painting, thanks to a tempting treat sitting on top of Houdini's head.

"Getting Acquainted" - 11"x14" - oil on linen panel

I will have much more new work coming out in the next few weeks, in preparation for a group exhibition at Weiler House Fine Art Gallery. The show opening is on March 24 from 5-9. More details to come!

Thought I'd share this... FREE Online Art Competition, "You Be the Judge"

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:49:00 +0000

Portrait artist Brian Neher has put together a great online art competition called "You Be the Judge." I've posted the YouTube video below about how to enter; you should also visit Brian's blog for more information and detailed instructions: http://www.brianneher.com/blog/news/1.aspx.

The Art of the Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:14:00 +0000

"At the ballet, you really feel like you're in the presence of something outside the rest of your life. Higher than the rest of your life." - Robert Caro

"It is essential to do the same subject over again, ten times, a hundred times. Nothing in art must seen to be chance, not even movement." - Edgar Degas

Here are some detail shots of my latest large-scale figurative piece, "The Prima Ballerina," 36x36, oil on linen. I hope to have my model, Emma back, for many more paintings - she is absolutely elegant!

If you ever want to learn how to paint white, do a high-key painting like this! It will blow your mind! :-)

Recap: Putney Painters Week at the Scottsdale Artists School

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:43:00 +0000

This past week, I had the amazing privilege of attending Nancy's Guzik's three-day workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. The workshop was part of "Putney Painters Week"-- an event hosted by the Scottsdale Artists School and the Legacy Gallery -- and was one of several workshops and demos by some of the best artists in the country, including Kathy Anderson, Rosemary Ladd, Daniel Keys, Casey Baugh, and Stephanie Birdsall.

I came with an open mind and a feeling of immense gratitude to be surrounded by such inspiring and gifted artists. And for the entire week, I was pretty much unable to wipe the silly smile off my face. For me, this was heaven. I don't think I've ever had such fellowship with like-minded people, many of whom were my own age!

Nancy's workshop consisted of drawing on the first day, and then painting for the next two. She spent an entire morning doing a painting demo for us to show how she deals patiently with the subject, mostly by being patient with herself and not allowing fear to take over. She has mastered the art of channeling her fear (yes, even she gets afraid!) and turning it into a controlled excitement that can be used to better the painting. Here are some pictures from her demo:

Below: this is about as far as she got after the morning session. It is a great likeness and painted with complete sensitivity as well as confidence.

Since all of our models this week were children, I learned a great deal about the difference between a child's features and an adult's, as well as how to capture the child's age. It was also fun to see how Nancy kept the children happy and entertained between sittings. They would color or draw, or make up stories to think about while they sat still (not an easy thing for a young kid!). All of the kids we worked with were stunning models and great at sitting still!

By day 2, I was biting at the bit to start painting, so you can imagine my excitement when our model turned out to be this beautiful 13-year-old with a sweet little dog that sat by her side the entire time! The dog's name was Angel... I think I'll title my painting, "Two Angels."

Below: mine at its start. It was actually a pretty good likeness. I worked slower than I usually do though, trying my best to follow Nancy's advice and direction.

This is as far as I got. I'll be sure to finish it in my studio, though. (Never mind those yellow marks - that happened in transit on the plane ride home...an easy fix)

Below: here's our model from the last day of the workshop. This time we worked for 6 hours, and as a glutton for punishment, I decided to attempt head and hands once more. While I may not be 100% happy with what I did, I believe I learned a lot and look forward to utilizing this new information at home in my studio! And, as my friend Kim Carlton told me once, "If you're happy with a painting you did in a workshop, then you didn't learn anything!"

I decided to stick around for two more days after the workshop ended to enjoy some of the other events with Putney Painters Week, including the "Dueling Brushes" demo by Kathy Anderson and Stephanie Birdsall (see below), and the opening reception for the Putney Painters exhibition and sale.

I had a wonderful time meeting many of the great artists in this show, and getting to know some of them a little better. Nancy, of course, is a ray of sunshine.

Friday: Casey Baugh gave a fabulous painting demo. I learned a lot from him about designing a good composition and taking your time with posing the model to create an image with lasting impact. He is also amazing at painting edges! Wow.

The finished demo.

Below: lunch with some fabulous young artists. From left to right (not including yours truly): Tyler Murphy, Daniel Keys, Ryan Mellody, Michelle Dunaway, Qiang-Huang, and Taaron Parsons. I am so blessed to have met these people. We have so much in common; it's just great to know that we're all in the same boat - trying to make it as artists and create great art, to the very best of our ability.

For more pictures from this week, see my Facebook album. Next week I'll be in Judy Carducci's workshop, so there will be even more to learn and write about! We'll see if my brain can handle it... ;-)

Painting in the Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:54:00 +0000

Steve and I have been in our home state of Wisconsin for the last couple of days, enjoying the Christmas season with family and friends. We checked up on the local weather before leaving Texas, and there hadn't been any snow on the forecast. In fact, it really looked like it would be a "brown Christmas". I REALLY hoped for at least a little bit of snow... and it turns out, my wish came true sooner than I thought it would! When I woke up on Thursday morning and looked out the window, there it was: a fresh, beautiful dusting of white fluffy stuff covering the trees and fields of my in-laws' surrounding country land. I got outside as soon as I could! Now, I've never painted out in the snow. There was one early-morning painting session in Switzerland that had me a little bit uncomfortable (I think it was about 45 degrees outside), but this time it was 32 and cloudy. I bundled up as best as a Wisconsinite-turned-Texan sissy knows how, and headed outside. I chose a small lone red pine for my setting, with the snowy trail nearby coming towards the viewer in the composition. The clouds made everything a dull chroma, but I tried to pull out as much color as I could see. Also, I followed the recommendations from more experienced plain air painters, who said to use Permalba white or some other white that is a bit more runny, as the paint gets stiffer when it's out in the cold.

My dog, Bella, enjoyed running around in circles and eating snow during my entire painting session (what a joy for her to be back in the country!). I lasted for about an hour before losing feeling in my fingers and toes (even though I wore gloves the whole time). It was still quite exhilarating and I had a lot of fun with it. I hope that next time, though, I'll have some sunshine to bring out more of winter's beautiful palette. So, praying for another snow storm! I'm just getting started!

Painting and Drawing from Life, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:46:00 +0000

Once again, it's been WAY too long in between posts! I'm not really sure what happened; November just flew by. I find that I am becoming more and more protective of my studio time -- it really is precious. And, with Christmas less than two weeks away, I am scrambling to get as many hours of painting time in before my husband and I make the drive to Wisconsin to spend the holidays with family. I don't think I'll be able to go nine days straight without painting, so I'll bring my pochade box along just in case the overload of food and fellowship gets to be too much for this hermit. :-)

Now, as promised, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the aesthetic side of working from life.

Excitement and focus of the artist
Some go sky-diving for the adrenaline rush; others ride roller coasters, race cars, snowboard or water ski. Personally, I get the most wonderful rush when painting from life! Whether I am outside in the open air -- or in my studio working from a live model -- there is a pronounced difference in my overall mood when I'm engaging with the real, living, breathing thing rather than working from photos or props. And let's face it, places like this (below) are enough to excite anyone, whether they're painting or not!

What does this have to do with aesthetics? Well, the more excited you are about your subject, the more focus and energy you'll be willing to invest in it, and therefore, you'll start to produce some of your best work. Having been to the Portrait Society of America's annual conference several times now, I can tell you, after having my portfolio critiqued, that the most experienced and successful artists know in an instant whether or not something was painted from life or from photos. Not only do they know for technical reasons (the photographer used flash, the whites are washed out, or the subject has a big toothy grin, etc.), but they can tell because there is something stale and stiff about the image. Working from life brings all of the artist's enthusiasm to the forefront and makes for a more lively, energized painting. This leads me into my next point...

Speed and decision-making
When we first start out practicing from life, there is usually some fear and trepidation over the time crunch. Perhaps you are painting en plein air and the lighting will pass in just a moment, or your model can only sit for a couple of hours before she's gone forever, moving to Spain or something (yes, this did happen to me!). That time crunch can be used to your advantage! I do not promote "panic-painting;" rather, I would encourage you to take that wasted time looking at the clock and use it to zero in on the most important elements of your painting. Before you even lay down a mark, you should know (a) what your focal point is, (b) where your lightest lights and darkest darks are, and (c) what your hardest and softest edges will be. Those decisions can be made in an instant if you are willing to think carefully about your intentions from the very beginning. We should have a specific goal for each and every painting we start, rather than mindlessly slashing away at our canvases and then getting angry when we run out of time, with little to show for it! Some of my best life studies were done in less than three hours, such as this one of Salvador (below). My goal was to do an accurate portrait by starting with the core shadow line and working out from there (this was during a Judith Carducci workshop last January). Because I kept my goals simple and my expectations realistic, it ended up working quite well.

"Salvador II" - 10x8 - oil on canvas board

During the decision-making process, the artist also has more control over how they use their brushwork to make a statement. Photos naturally lend themselves to being slavishly copied, but when working from life, you are much more likely to squint down. Squinting is key, as it helps you to simplify the scene before you and break it down to its most basic shapes, values, and edges.

Essence, Energy, and Empathy
Finally, there is something crucial that can only be captured fully when working from life: the essence of a person, place or thing. Some artists are so experienced that they can create posthumous portraits from photos and still capture that person's essence (Michael Shane Neal is a great example), but only because they have put in many hours of practice before a live model. I find that many of my life studies say more about the model's personality than paintings done from photos. I am also acutely aware of the model's physical and emotional presence while I'm working, making me empathize with them even more. I ask the question, "How can I make this portrait special? What is the model's story, as told by artist Anna Rose Bain?" As artists, it is our privilege to convey a person or place based on our own unique experience. Let's really make that experience shine by working from life to the best of our aesthetic and technical abilities!

Life Painting + Photography + Photoshop...The Technical Side of it All

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:58:00 +0000

For the past year and a half, in my spare time (which I have very little of!) I have been slowly chipping away at a project that I am passionate about because I think it will help a lot of people. I am working on a "Photoshop Handbook for Traditional Artists". This project will cover a lot of the basics of photo-editing, whether it be for reference photos or photos of artwork. But I am also going to discuss why I use both photo references AND life studies in my work. It is a fine line to walk, as I believe in working from life as MUCH as possible, but... have chosen to write a book on how to edit reference photos! My hope is that with a good understanding of both, we can become more excellent and well-rounded artists, without compromising our standards.

That being said, I am going to touch on some of what will be covered in the book, and share in detail my own personal reasons for choosing to work from life. I will also compare these points to how photographic reference can either help or compromise the integrity of an artwork.

Today I will discuss the technical reasons for working from life, and in my next blog post, I'll touch on the aesthetics.

Technical reasons for painting from life:

Anatomy
Anatomy can be learned from textbooks and copied from photos, but an artist can't really grasp the 3-dimensionality of the human form until he or she has had the opportunity to work from a live (ideally nude) model, and not just during art school, but rather, on a continual basis. The advantage to practicing from life is that you can walk 360 degrees around the model to see where and how the form connects, overlaps, and turns toward or away from the light. Being able to observe the model's movements and see from all sides is invaluable for gaining further skill and understanding.

Values
Most of us know from experience that photography causes details to be lost, both in the light areas and the darks. The reason for this is that most cameras can only meter one extreme or the other, causing the lights to be over-exposed and/or the darks to be underexposed. When working from life, the artist has the advantage of being able to see into both the lights and the darks for their actual values. There are often way more details in the lights and shadows than a snapshot can capture. Of course, it is up to us to make the aesthetic choice of whether or not to include or leave out those details (classical technique discourages too much detail or thick paint in the shadows), but at least with life painting, we have that choice!

Colors
As much as we can enhance our photos later, photography often causes certain colors to be lost, especially bright reds or burgundies, or subtle colors in the sky. Below is an example of a painting I did on location, next to the photo I took of the spot. I may have slightly exaggerated the colors and the curve of the trail for the sake of aesthetics, but still, there was definitely more color to be found by painting from life than what the photo would indicate!

Perspective
As objects come forward in space, they appear larger... as they go back in space, they appear smaller. Photography usually exaggerates this fact, to a fault (unless you are standing a ways back from the subject and using a zoom lens). I paint portraits and figures from life whenever I can, because too often, if I am relying solely on photos, a hand or a foot will appear too large.

Below is one of my photo references for the painting, "Music of the Spheres." If you look at it carefully, you can see that the model's left hand appears substantially larger than her right. I had to make sure I corrected this in my painting, as errors like these are always much more obvious in paintings than they are in the photos!

Now, here are some technical reasons for supplementing my life studies with photography and Photoshop:

Props or settings that the studio or location doesn't offer.
Cropping / Composition
I can't always afford to buy new props for every painting. But I have a limitless imagination (and a sketchbook on hand to jot down ideas!), so usually, my lack of props can't stop me from coming up with a great idea. My best example of this is again "Music of the Spheres." You are seeing something I have never shared before: a "before" shot (photo references of my studio set-up with the model) and an "after" shot (the finished painting as I envisioned it). I wanted a spherical composition and a peaceful yet mysterious kind of setting. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to work out my composition before starting the painting. I made the globe much larger and moved it around to where I wanted it, I changed the curtains to make them all satin, added the oriental rug, window and night sky, and moved the lanterns around to better serve the spherical composition. I also changed the model's hand to look more elegant holding the violin, which required using a different photo reference than the original. Oh, and I added flowers to her hair. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but the point is, with a clear vision and proper knowledge of the tools, one can make their vision come to life!

Dramatic color or value changes
There are times when I want to change a shirt color or make the painting more dramatic by pushing the values. Photos and tools in Photoshop can help me experiment with these things before committing to the change in the painting.

Capturing a pose that cannot be held for a long time
Of course, this is invaluable when painting moving figures, such as dancers or athletes, and very young children who can't sit still. Or, if you enjoy conveying candid moments, photo references are perfect for those as well. With commissioned portraits, the client does not usually have time to sit for extended periods, OR the portrait is supposed to be a surprise gift. In this case, we artists are often forced to work from the client's photos. Having a good understanding of what to look for in reference photos and a solid background in working from life can help make a commissioned painting turn out without looking flat or obviously copied from a photo.

More to come on aesthetics... one of my favorite topics for discussion!

Figurative Painting, Ballet, and... Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:06:00 +0000

Thanks to a client who is interested in ballet, I have several new paintings of classical ballerinas in the works! This is especially exciting for me, since I have been wanting to expand my figurative portfolio and study the human form more carefully. Recently, I was humbled when another artist pointed out that one of my pieces had some anatomical errors. I realized that the human figure is truly the most challenging, yet exciting, thing to paint, and that I need to study it diligently in order to avoid such errors in future paintings. If I am going to do it justice, I must know how each body part moves, connects, and relates to the rest of the whole.

I began some "research" a couple of weeks ago when my sister and I went to see a ballet, and I realized I hadn't been to one since college. Back then, I don't think I had the appreciation for the human body that I have now. It is incredible how many ways the body can twist and turn and move in space, and it is also incredible to see what kinds of things the body is actually capable of! I was blown away by the grace and beauty these dancers were able to convey while doing moves that required a great deal of physical strength, agility, flexibility, and endurance.

Then, by a wonderful twist of fate, my weekly painting group lined up the perfect model to pose in a formal tutu and pointe shoes! She held a tough standing pose for us, and I was able to begin two paintings from it, both of which have great promise. The first is a full-length, 3/4-view composition, and the second is from the back and closer-up, detailing the model's beautiful shoulders and arms. The first painting is still in the works, but I just finished the second one, which you see below:

"Ballerina with Venetian Mask" - 18x12 - oil on linen

I should probably mention something about the mask... she wasn't originally holding anything when I began this painting from life. When I took the painting home after the session, I was pretty happy with it, but I felt like it needed something more. So I dug through a bunch of my photos from Europe, and happened to find this:

As you can see, I circled the mask I ended up using in the painting. It took a couple of tries in Photoshop to find one that would be perfect as far as lighting and positioning of the "face." Which reminds me... I am still working on an instructional book on Photoshop for visual artists. I can teach you this technique. Photoshop really comes in handy for situations just like this! I got the best of both worlds: a quality experience with a live model (gaining more accurate values, colors, anatomy and excitement about the pose), AND a chance to add some aesthetic changes, thanks to my enormous catalog of photo references and some help from Photoshop.

In my next post, I will blog about painting from life, and why it's so important for preventing the kinds of mistakes I made in my [aforementioned] piece. :-)

A Trip out to California

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:58:00 +0000

Last week, Steve and I went on a five-day trip to Napa, Yosemite, and San Francisco (and everything in between!). Our original excuse to go was that I had a painting accepted into the OPA Western Regional Exhibition in Calistoga (Napa Valley), so we were going to the opening reception. But that ended up being a very small part of the trip. Having never been to California before, I was in complete awe of the diversity in the landscape and climate. I knew the landscape would be beautiful, but it was more than that... it was a breathtaking display of God's creation which offered unlimited opportunities for painting!

We did it right as soon as we arrived by renting a red Camero convertible and driving down Hwy 1 from San Francisco to Monterey and Carmel. That afternoon, I had the wonderful opportunity to set up to paint at Point Lobos State Park. It was so overwhelmingly beautiful, and I realized I still have much more to learn and explore in my journey as an artist. The waves crashing up against the rocks looked different with every single pulse, and it seemed a nearly impossible task to try and capture the movement of the water. But I tried, and had a great time doing it! Life couldn't get any better than this! When I experience moments like these, where my love for nature and art become united, I feel like I can let all the cares of the world crash against the rocks like the waves, while I stand on the rocks up above, free from it all. I can simply enjoy those moments where the ocean breeze hits my face and the only sounds that reach my ears are those of the waves and the birds overhead. Wow.

Where was Steve during this time? He out and about, climbing on the rocks and taking pictures of me while I painted. He got some really great shots!

Above: the finished painting: "Late Afternoon, Point Lobos" - 12"x9". I decided not to touch it up at all when I got home, because I really enjoyed the freshness and immediacy of this one.

Below: here we are in Yosemite. It was a cloudy (and later RAINY) day, but we enjoyed the beauty nonetheless. And I painted by the waterfalls until I got rained out.

Then there was Napa Valley, where we stayed for four of the five days. We toured several of the wineries and had some wine tastings (that's just what you DO in Napa!), but I also did some painting. And, I discovered a gem of a gallery in downtown Napa, called Quent Cordair Fine Art. They feature only "Romantic Realism," so a lot of figurative painting and sculpture. Steve and I lingered there for quite some time.

This was the only painting I had time to attempt in the vineyards (below) -- "Four Rows, Napa Valley" - 12"x9". You can see that the colors are different in the photo. The light was changing very quickly in the valley as in neared sunset, so by the time I stopped, everything had turned orange and pink from the setting sun.

Our adventures took us to San Francisco, where we saw the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz shrouded by fog. We explored Fisherman's Wharf, took a look at the city from Coit Tower, and strolled through Chinatown (my favorite!). It was a wonderful trip and a good source for fresh inspiration. Where will my art take me next, I wonder?

The Challenges of Self Portraits (from a mirror, or course!)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:30:00 +0000

American Artist magazine is currently running a cover competition featuring self portraits, so that gave me some incentive to try my hand at, once again, the ever-intimidating self portrait done completely from a mirror.

Some things I learned from the experience this time around:

You have to cope with the model moving all the time. You'd think that since I look at myself in the mirror everyday, I'd have my features memorized. But this time it felt like I had to learn them all over again, in this specific lighting, under these specific circumstances. The lighting changes everything!
I asked myself the question: "Do I want to idealize myself or paint me the way I look, in this moment?" True to my classical-realist tendencies, I answered with both. The idealization was unintentional, as it is most of the time when I do a portrait. I have a real empathy for my subjects, especially this one! I also included some of the not so perfect things that make me the way I do... like the dark circles under the eyes, the big chin, and the fact that my mouth is always open when I'm concentrating on a painting!
You can still squint at yourself as a subject, unless you're working on the eyes. :-)
You can only look at one eye at a time! So, I had quite the challenge making sure my eyes in the painting weren't focused in two different directions!
Each self portrait should be different in some way from the last. I wanted this one to include at least one hand (mission accomplished, in natural window light, with the addition of my easel and canvas inside the composition.

Self Portrait by the Window - 15" x 14" - oil on linen

I also realized (and this was completely unplanned) that in my self-portrait and the portrait I'm working on of my husband, we are wearing the same color shirts. Weird. I'll post pictures of that one soon.

Meanwhile, here is a picture from this morning's 2 1/2-hour painting excursion at the Dallas Arboretum. It was absolutely gorgeous out today, and I hope that while the beautiful fall weather lasts, I can make this a weekly thing. There are thousands of pumpkins out there right now, as well as azaleas, roses, and chysanthemums. It's just beautiful!

I may tweak this a little more in my studio, but here is my rendition of the Poetry Garden.

"The Poetry Garden" - plein air painting, in progress

New Plein Air Sketches

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:03:00 +0000

I have been doing more plein air painting, now that the weather is finally cooling down. Here are a few little studies, the first three of which are from the nature preserve that is within walking distance of my house. Because the rocky stream curves and bends so often, there are countless potential paintings waiting to be created just in this one small area.

I went out with my painting students on a couple different occasions and created these sketches.

8" x 6" study - 1.25 hrs

7" x 9" study - 1.25 hrs

12" x 9"study - 3 hours

This last one was painted at Lake Lavon in Wylie, Texas. It was about 95 degrees, with mid-day lighting, so all in all, VERY uninspiring. However, I decided to give it a shot. At least I had fun!

The Finishing Touch: When a Painting Finds a Home

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:09:00 +0000

As promised in an earlier newsletter, I thought I'd share a couple pictures of paintings in their owners' homes. This is what truly finishes a work of art... when it finds a home, the picture is complete! Commissioned portraits, especially, are often designed with a specific wall or space in mind. It's very gratifying to see the finished painting in its frame, hanging in the space that it was meant for.

If you own one of my paintings and would like to share a snapshot of it in the room where it's hanging, please send me a picture! I would absolutely love to see the art in its home and share it here on my blog! Please send pictures to: annarosebain@gmail.com, and thanks in advance! :-)

The first picture features a 30" x 24" painting called, "The Young Explorer." The owner (the mother of the 18-month-old little girl) decided to hang it in her music room, and I think it looks fabulous there!

The second image is from another client's dining room, which she painted and re-decorated just for the portrait of her son. I think the finished painting makes a wonderful statement and is a beautiful centerpiece to the room.

It is the perfect time of year to commission a portrait. If you are interested, please visit my website at http://www.artworkbyannarose.com/commission.html, or email me at annarosebain@gmail.com.

New Painting: "A Venetian Spectator"

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:38:00 +0000

Today I finally finished one of my paintings from this summer's trip to Italy. I enjoyed working on this one from start to finish, and found myself continually imagining up stories about this old woman's life, and what she might have to say if I were to sit down and have a conversation with her. Her expression could read any number of ways, from sour and grumpy (i.e., "Those damned tourists!") to thoughtful and lonely or simply enjoying the fresh air. Either way, I purposefully juxtaposed the old woman with a very cheerful scene at her window: brightly blooming flower pots, topped off with a rainbow-colored pinwheel. Of course, flowers, green shutters and pinwheels are familiar sights in Venice and other Italian cities, but I felt that this image had something special about it that was worth capturing in a painting.

"A Venetian Spectator" - 30"x24" - oil on linen

Originally, the old woman was looking out from a very boring window. I decided to take her and put her in the scene that I created in the painting. Here is one of the original shots (a slightly different pose in this one but it gives you an idea of the original setting):

I looked all over for the perfect reference photos (Steve had taken at least a thousand pictures of windows!). Here are a few of the images I considered, but none of them ended up working out.

I did at last find an image of a window that I could use. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to piece my reference materials together, making sure that the lighting matched. I was able to place the pinwheel and flowers exactly where I wanted them. I am very happy with how this painting turned out and look forward to sharing more of my works in progress soon. :-)

A Studio Filled with Potential!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:46:00 +0000

Taking a look around my studio today, I counted twelve works in progress, or paintings that I've started within the past two months or so, and have yet to finish. Three of them were started just this week, and two of those were started yesterday! I'm not going to share pictures of every single unfinished painting; some have more potential than others. Some will be finished very soon because I'm excited about them; others may never see completion but will instead get sanded off and painted over.

As a 20-something, my life is in a stage of constant change. During this decade, there are so many things that happen: we graduate college, get married, buy a house, have kids, change jobs once or more, and essentially leave all of our childhood familiarities for the new and different. If I look back at the past three years since leaving my home state and moving to Texas, it's quite remarkable to see how much my artwork has progressed. Just look at some of my past blog posts -- you'll see the difference, too!

What's my point in telling you this? Well, each painting is an opportunity to learn something new, to experiment or try something different. The goal is to take my artwork to the next level and make each painting better than the last. As long as I keep this goal in the back of my mind, I can't fail. Some paintings might turn out better than others, but at least I'll have painted with intention. We think that painting is supposed to be relaxing... but that is the difference between a hobbyist and a true painter! When I "check out" during a painting, that's when I start to fail. Instead, my mind has to be utterly focused on the task at hand, without distraction. How many of us spend our time picking away at our work, or as some describe it, "licking the canvas?" How many of us actually try (and I say try because with the exception of a very few, this is impossible to perfect...) to make every single brush stroke count? As painters, we should be absolutely exhausted at the end of the day!

Well, that's what happened to me yesterday. I began two new paintings, employing some of the methods I learned at my latest workshop with Clayton Beck. I decided to go with the flow on these, and allow my style to change somewhat if it serves the painting better.

The first is a huge canvas (54" x 36") of a full-length girl, seated on a wooden chest in front of a bookshelf. The shelf is filled with old classics, art books, and various objects, including a stem of orchids, a brass pitcher, and a bust of Michelangelo's "David." The girl is holding a note and appears deep in thought. The painting is still untitled. I'm leaving her expression and pose up to interpretation, but am still working on story line of my own. Anyway... it took me literally all afternoon to block this in. I only used white, terra rosa, and ultramarine blue for the block-in, and limited my values, especially on the figure. In the next painting session, I hope to begin developing the values more, while incorporating accurate color temperature. The light source is very warm, which is somewhat different from the usual daylight bulbs that I work with. I believe the warm lighting appropriately creates a more intimate atmosphere for this setting.

Here she is: the first image is the scene as it's set up in my studio. The second is my painting on the easel from the actual vantage point that I decided on (I'm doing this thing from life). I had to sketch the image on with charcoal before starting any of the painting. It was just too large to try eye-balling! Click the image to see larger:

I began a second painting yesterday, some time in the evening after my husband got off of work. I have been badgering him for months now about modeling for me. We've been married for three years and he's never modeled for a portrait! Finally, last night, he was willing to sit for at least the start of one. My idea with this portrait was to bring out his wonderful quality of being a good problem-solver... and that will actually be the title of the painting: "The Problem Solver." He'll be holding a rubik's cube and looking out directly at the viewer. That's just his personality: direct, bold, strong. And since it would take me forever to solve a rubik's cube, I have to brag on my husband just a little - he can solve it in about two minutes!

Since the model lives with me (ha!), I am doing this portrait completely from life. I was only able work on it for about 40 minutes, but here is what I accomplished during that time (the dimensions are 24" x 24"):

More progress pictures to come. I'm very excited about all my projects, even if a dozen seems like an overwhelming number! I love what I do, and feel privileged every day to come into my studio and paint. I hope those of you reading this are also inspired to do what you love, and do it to the best of your ability. :-)

Preparing a Linen Canvas: How To

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:48:00 +0000

I've been getting a lot of e-mails lately asking me how I prepare a linen canvas, and also why I prefer it over cotton canvas. So, from now on I hope to simply refer these requests to this blog post. Hopefully this helps! If you are glueing linen to panel, that is a different thing. For our purposes today, I am referring to stretching, sizing, and priming a linen canvas on stretcher bars, not panel.

My reasons for using linen: linen is very different from canvas, not only in its texture and weave, but also in the way it is prepared and how it feels to paint on. Linen is much smoother, especially if prepared properly with a size such as rabbit skin glue or PVA glue, and an oil-based gesso rather than acrylic. The oil primer really makes for a smooth working surface, whereas acrylic gesso tends to "eat up" your oil paint during the first several working layers, causing the paint to lose its luster. This can be very frustrating. Although linen is generally much more expensive than canvas, I don't think I could ever go back to canvas. Once you've tried it, you'll realize too that there's no going back!

PREPARING A LINEN CANVAS FOR OIL PAINTING – STEP BY STEP

by Anna Rose Bain

SUPPLIES

Linen: Many artists purchase pre-primed linen, but I always buy mine “raw.” I find that being able to stretch and size my linen is much easier and produces better results if I do it all from scratch. I’ve tried many different kinds, but my favorite linen to work with is Daniel Smith’s Finest Belgian Linen. Linen can be expensive, so make sure you look for an online coupon code before you buy!
Stretcher bars: You can get stretcher bars of any length through just about any art supply store or website. I often buy them from Hobby Lobby, but my favorite stretcher bars for heavier-duty, larger canvases, are from Utrecht. For any canvas bigger than 24x36, I recommend using a cross brace, attached with T-bars.
Double boiler
Plastic drop cloth or garbage bags
Sizing: Some artists use PVA glue, but it doesn’t size the canvas as tightly as the good old traditional standard, rabbit skin glue. I know, it sounds cruel – it IS actually made from rabbit collagen… but this method has been tried and true for centuries. Not only is it is the best coating to protect a canvas from the linseed oils in paint (which would naturally destroy canvas fibers over time), but it also makes the canvas so tight that you can pluck it like a drum. You can purchase rabbit skin glue from Daniel Smith or Utrecht. It comes in powder form.
Scissors
Marker or charcoal pencil
Stapler: I have a couple that I purchased from Hobby Lobby in the canvas/painting department. They are called “EasyTackers” and call for No. 3 or Arrow JT-21 staples.
Rubber mallet
Measuring Square
Medium-grit sandpaper
Gesso brushes (one for the rabbit skin glue, and one for priming). They should have soft bristles and be fairly large, at least 3 inches wide. For sizing, you may also use a sponge instead.
Oil primer: you can purchase this from Utrecht
Bucket
Putty knife
Oderless mineral spirits or turpentine
Paper towels
Plastic spoon or stirring rod for mixing

DIRECTIONS:

STRETCHING:

1) Assemble your stretcher bars, using the square to make sure they are straight.

2) Line up the stretcher bars with your linen on the floor; using a straight edge and a marker or charcoal pencil, draw a line around the stretcher bars on the linen, measuring about 1.5”-2” all the way around your stretcher bars, depending on how thick they are.

3) Cut the linen to size.

4) With the canvas still face down on the floor, staple the linen to your stretcher bars, starting with one staple in the middle of each side. Make these tight, but leave just a little slack in the middle. This is different than stretching a cotton canvas, where you stretch it as tight as you can. Continue to staple outwards towards the corners, pulling the linen relatively tight before each staple, and working all the way around rather than one side at a time.

5) Once you’ve reached the corners, fold them around neatly (if you ask me real nice I’ll make a YouTube video on the technique for folding corners!) and staple them secure.

6) When the linen has been stapled on completely, wipe off any specks or hairs on the front of the canvas before moving on.

SIZING:

1) Lay your canvas out on a plastic drop cloth, on a flat surface

2) Using a double boiler on the stove, prepare rabbit skin glue according to directions. Some directions require you to soak the RSG overnight, others don’t. I’ve tried both and found that as long as the mixture has had enough time to dissolve, whether overnight or on the stovetop, it still produces great results. Keep the burner on low, never allowing the mixture to boil. It should be heating for at least 45 minutes before it’s ready to use.

3) When rabbit skin glue is completely dissolved and nice and warm (but not HOT), take the pan off of the boiler and prepare to brush the mixture onto your prepared canvas.

4) Using a 3-inch gesso brush, apply the glue generously to your canvas, starting in the very middle and working your way out. Make sure to brush onto the sides as well. You will instantly see the canvas begin to tighten. I’ve also recently taken to using a sponge instead of a brush (you’ll want to wear rubber gloves if you do it this way!).

5) Allow canvas to dry several hours or overnight. If the canvas starts to warp because it’s been stretched too tightly, hold down opposite corners with weighted objects.

6) When dry, lightly sand canvas.

7) Apply a second coat of glue. Leftover rabbit skin glue can be re-heated, but make sure you use it up within no more than a couple of days, as it can go bad after a while.

PRIMING:

1) Lightly sand your canvas again before priming. Keep it on the plastic drop cloth.

2) Put about 4 parts oil ground and 1 part odorless mineral spirits in your mixing bucket, and stir with a mixing stick or plastic utensil (something disposable). It should be a smooth consistency but not runny.

3) Using your putty knife, apply the primer in thin, smooth strokes across the top of your canvas, working from top to bottom in one direction (as opposed to from the middle outwards, like the glue).

4) Smooth your knife strokes with your gesso brush, also moving in one direction. Make sure you prime the sides of your canvas as well.

5) Allow first coat to dry. When dry to the touch, lightly sand your canvas, wipe the surface with a slightly damp rag, and then apply a second coat of primer, this time brushing it perpendicularly to the direction you applied it before.

6) Allow this second coat to dry. If desired, a third coat may be added, but usually two coats are fine. The final coat of primer will need 10 days to dry before you start painting on it.

7) Before painting, make sure your canvas has been sanded to remove roughness and impurities.

8) Happy painting!

Clayton J. Beck, III Workshop at the Woodlands Art League

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:48:00 +0000

My head is still spinning from the overload of information I received at last week's three-day portrait and figure workshop with Clayton J. Beck, III at the Woodlands Art League. I felt extremely privileged to be there and grateful for the instruction, as it was a totally new way of thinking and painting for me.

Clayton Beck is, as my friend Michael would say, a "Schmidling," meaning that he studied under Richard Schmid once upon a time during the "golden age" of Schmid's teaching at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago. Beck now teaches there, and through his classes and workshops, he carries on the methods used by the 19th-century American artist John Singer Sargent as well as several of Sargent's contemporaries such as Anders Zorn and Joaquin Sorolla. Richard Schmid is arguably the greatest living painter, and so, to study with him or any of his former students is a HUGE privilege.

One of the many demos of Clayton's that were on display during the workshop. So inspiring!

The workshop consisted of two evening sessions with a figure model, and three full days of portrait work. Clayton's emphasis for the duration of the workshop was on values, so much so that he didn't bother to correct drawing mistakes or deal much with color (even though he's known for his ability to paint gorgeous colors!). I took a LOT of notes, but instead of writing them all down here, I'll simply share a few of the more important highlights:

Instead of getting wrapped up in line work to start, look at your subject in a deep squint. If you can capture the stuff you initially see in your deep squint, then you'll be all right.
Don't think about what things are, but rather, what they look like.
Never start a canvas without knowing what direction you're going in.
Have a realistic understanding of your own abilities and how you will react to the scene in front of you, within the time frame you are given.
Sometimes it's better not to have a concept. Let the model relax into the pose - yelling from eight different people to "move your arm," etc., creates tension for the model. Instead of making the model stay stiffly in the position you dictate, paint parts of the figure by opportunity. If a hand is out of place, work on something else.
Consistently compare areas of your painting to each other. Everything MUST relate. The harmony is in the light source, in the same way that a piece of music is written all in the same key.
Envision your painting from start to finish. You have control over how your painting will turn out - it is not an accident!
Think of everything you see as a value, an edge, or an angle, rather than a hand, hair, a mouth, etc.
There's no such thing as half-tone or middle value. There's only light and shadow. Look for the darkest part of the light and the lightest part of the shadow. This is where you begin your painting. Your whole world as an artist should be a division of light and shadow.
Work only as quickly as you can with accuracy.
Plan ahead; as you lay down color, know how the next brush stroke will relate to it.
Don't get distracted. Stick to your original idea, and finish it out.

I really enjoyed Clayton's teaching style (um... he's rather like a drill sargeant!), and I hope I get to study with him again. Here are some pictures from the last part of the workshop.

Day 3 (I was working too hard on days 1 and 2 to take many pictures, ha!): Clayton painted along side us. Here is his amazing portrait of the model so far... you can see that he established his lightest light (on our left) and darkest dark (on our right).

The model's 2-year-old son kept sitting on her lap, but he held pretty still while entertaining himself with her phone.

Clayton added an impromptu sketch of the little boy in about 20 minutes!

Here is the finished painting.

Here are my efforts from day 2 of the workshop, with our model, Pete. I was focused primarily on finding "the darkest part of the light and the lightest part of the shadow." Later I started adding in color temperature.

Day 3: My attempt at painting the model with more time spent on developing my values more gradually. The result is really a solid-looking head. I can't wait to take this method even further!

While I have a pretty solid background in classical drawing and technique (solid enough to sell my work and make a living at it, thank you very much!), I'm always excited about learning something new and adding to my painting repertoire. I've been thinking about this workshop ever since I got back from it last Friday night, and I have a feeling I'll be digesting the information for months - perhaps years! The thing that really struck me is that I had never understood how Sargent (...or Richard Schimd) painted. I always felt that their methods were completely out of reach and beyond me - that I'd never learn how to do it. I never even bothered copying a Sargent painting because I didn't know the method. Now that I've caught a glimpse of it, I'm more excited than ever to try my hand at "painting like Sargent" here at home! So now that I'm back, I've been downloading high-res images of works by Sargent, Zorn, and Sorolla from the Art Renewal Center. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the ARC, it's a fabulous resource for artists!

Well, onward... I have a lot of work to do! :-)

Skin Tones and New Colors

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Whether showing my work in my studio, in a gallery, at an art festival, or--if I'm really lucky--in a national publication or competition--my portrait and figure work has consistently received more attention than my landscapes or still lives. While I'm really okay with that, it still makes me think about the quality of my work and wonder where I could improve. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm relatively new to landscape painting; the freshness of it and the required quick reaction time when on location are things one can perfect only with hours of practice. Still life, like landscape, is a genre that's been done time and again and there's nothing new under the sun. For both landscape and still life, only the very best will stand out. Portraits and figures, however, are a different kind of challenge. My conclusion as to why viewers, jurors, and collectors alike prefer my portrait work to everything else is this: (1) figurative work is just plain difficult, and (2) they can all tell where an artist's true passion lies. My absolute favorite thing to paint is skin tone. There's nothing more mysterious, luminous, or colorful.

About a year and a half ago, I was challenged by another artist to take a good look at my work and see whether or not I was really getting somewhere with my painting in the area of color. One can't really be a painter, of course, without an obsession with color... however, this person essentially told me that while my local colors seemed spot-on, there was something lacking in the area of chromatic "nuance and vibration". What did he mean by that? Well, I started looking at other artists' work and seeing things I had never noticed before -- beautiful greens, purples, reflected lights, and much more, mingled in hair and skin tones -- all a direct result of careful observation of the quality and temperature of the light. These little gems of color did not detract from the paintings or make them look unrealistic; on the contrary, images with such color nuances seemed more realistic. I'm thinking particularly of modern masters such as Dan Gerhartz and Scott Burdick, but even some of the Academic painters of the 19th century have a bold understanding of color while maintaining a tightly realistic style.

Detail of painting by Daniel Gerhartz

Portrait of Gabrielle Cot, by William Bouguereau.

To see a high-resolution version of this image, visit the Art Renewal Center here.

What is "local color"? According to ArtLex.com, local color is "the true color of an object or a surface as seen in typical daylight, rather than its color as seen through atmosphere or interpreted by the taste or imagination of the artist. Thus the characteristic local color of a lemon is yellow." The problem with painting everything according to its local color is that color is completely dependent on light. So the color of a thing will change based on its relationship to everything around it, including the light source, the temperature of the light (warm vs. cool), and the local colors of surrounding objects.

All this to say: I'm on an ongoing mission to explore the nature and nuances of color (as if mastering brushwork, values, and drawing weren't difficult enough!). To give you an example, here is one of my current works in progress, "Taylor's Dance" (60" x 36" - oil on linen):

I am studying the relationship of the red cloth and the model's skin, as well as the nature of the very cool light source. The areas that are in the light should be cool, but the shadow areas are warm. When there is a warm light source, the shadow areas should be cool. Additionally, there are subtleties in the skin tones that emanate blues, greens, purples and pinks depending on the anatomy (veins, arteries, muscles, etc.).

See the greens, blues and purples in the feet? There is so much beautiful color in skin! Now, I have a number of favorite "recipes" for skin tones. My go-to green is Viridian; I've also come to enjoy using Cobalt Violet because it's very subtle. Brilliant Pink is perfect for lips and cheeks, and the delicate warm tones found in fingers and toes. Lately I've also been adding some supplimental colors to my palette, including a spread of "Radiant" hues from Gamblin. I find that they are a wonderful addition for cool skin tones. I'm curious to hear from other artists what you enjoy using for skin tones. Thoughts?

There's always the problem of less-than-exciting skin tones when working from reference photos. Should the artist make up colors that aren't there? Well, no... but having a solid understanding of skin tones under different lighting conditions is key. The more you practice by working from life, the more you'll be able to "fill in the blanks" when working from photos.

News from My Studio - An Unveiling; New Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:19:00 +0000

What a busy summer it has been! While away in Europe, my portrait of USAF Colonel Charles Fisher was unveiled; he was kind enough to send me a couple of pictures from the event, so here they are:

Above: the portrait is unveiled

Below: the change of command

Wish I could have been there, but Cl. Fisher was very kind and told me that the portrait received excellent feedback!

After finishing several other summer commissions, and standing up in one of my best friend's weddings, I had some time after wedding to take full advantage of some leftover flowers and do a fun, girly painting called "Summertime Stilettos." Now, for those of you who know me, I'm not very tall, but I'm married to a man who is 6' 4". The shoes I proudly sported at my friend's wedding were not very practical, but very fun, and helpful for someone vertically challenged like myself... I liked the shoes so much that I made them part of the painting. My purple bridesmaid dress made up the background. I love the color harmonies in this one, and was especially excited about the myriad of colors to be found in the flowers, particularly the light pink roses. The natural window light really brought out some gorgeous warms and cools.

"Summertime Stilettos" - 16" x 12" - oil on linen

Below: detail of roses

Finally, as time allows but once in a while, there are literally dozens of projects just waiting for me to start (or complete) from my trip to Europe (I brought back enough material to keep me busy for at least another year!). One such project was a larger studio painting I wanted to do based on my plein air study of a gorgeous mountain sunset, which I painted on our hotel balcony in Beatenburg, Switzerland. Here is the 1/2-hour long study, followed by the studio painting:

And just for kicks, I'll show you both of them next to each other. It's funny how, in the plein air sketch, I "condensed" the mountain scene before me to fit the little 8x8 canvas. With such a grandiose scene, it's difficult to simplify. One just wants to take it all in, yet enjoy the moment. The sun had set before I knew it...

More new projects on the way. In the mean time, I hope to continue some discussion on the idea of "good art vs. bad art." Stay tuned. :-)

A Portrait Painter's Analysis of the Plein Air Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Well, obviously since it's been over a month since my last post, things have been busy here at Artwork by Anna Rose! It's a good kind of busy, though - all of my projects are fun and exciting, and I'm doing a lot of teaching this month, which is wonderful. However, even when the business of life is good, it's easy to get worn down. For this reason, I am realizing more and more that it's important for us artists to have fun, zero-stress projects to work on every once in a while. I learned from my trip to Europe that the few times I had to paint en plein air were really moments to cherish, because they were incredibly relaxing. True, there are always logistical and aesthetic problems to solve while working outdoors (e.g. those pesky bugs, or that tree that doesn't quite fit in the composition...), but that's the kind of "stress" I enjoy. Plein air painting has suddenly become for me an escape from life's stress and the mundane, with each hour or two I spend at it like a mini artistic retreat. I have only taken to it this past year, but now I understand why so many artists love it, and why so many portrait artists suppliment their commission work with landscape painting. The adrenaline rush I get when painting a portrait from life has now extended to painting landscapes from life, and I am absolutely enamored with this new branch of exploration in my artistic journey.

As a portrait artist, I find that landscape painting is relaxing, first of all, because there is no need for a 100% accurate likeness. While capturing a likeness has never been too much of a struggle for me, it still requires a great deal of concentrated observation, and demands complete focus. With plein air, even if the scene is well-known (like a famous bridge or mountain), there are many more liberties that can be taken. This kind of painting is teaching me how to simplify, leave things out, or perhaps bring things in from the surrounding landscape in ways that photography simply can't.

Secondly, I find painting outdoors to be relaxing because I've always been a lover of nature. I get cabin fever pretty easily, especially in this Texas heat, so a little field trip to the great outdoors is just the solution. I can spend time outside while still being productive!

I should mention that proper equipment is a must! I've posted several pictures here and there of my plein air set-up, but for my artist friends, I'll describe it in a little more detail. I use a Guerilla Painter Travel Box, in size 9x12. This box is fabulous, as it is lightweight, it can hold all my paints as well as several wet 9x12 panels, and it mounts to a regular camera tripod. It fits inside of a large backpack, along with all my other supplies (paper towels, brushes, camera, etc.). You have to purchase accessories separately, but I highly recommend at least getting the Mighy Mite brush washer, the paper towel holder, and the multi mount collapsible umbrella. I also purchased wet panel carriers in various sizes from Raymar Art, and would recommend Raymar panels over any other brand.

Here is my partial set-up, down by a river near where I live. I wished I had brought my umbrella, on this particular occasion, but at least I remembered to wear a hat!

Here is the first painting I completed while trying out my pochade box. The painting sold at my local gallery after just a week or two.

Stripes of the Storm - 9x12 - oil on Raymar panel - private collection

Below: using my pochade box on my trip to Europe. This was in Florence, overlooking the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. You can see the paper towel holder in use. My palette was a Jack Richeson "Grey Matters" pad of grey wax paper in 9"x12", which fit perfectly inside the pochade box. The wine glass is optional...

And below: a little gem from this past weekend. I think I'm getting better at plein air. It sure is exciting!

"Morning Calm in Texas Summer" - 8x8 - oil on Raymar panel

For me, plein air painting isn't about whether or not I'm destined to be an excellent landscape painter - if that happens, then I consider that a bonus. What it really comes down to is this: with this experience, I've become better at seeing. Suddenly, I'm beginning to learn how to leave my brain out of the equation, and react instinctively to what's in front of me. This added knowledge will transcend to all other aspects of my work -- portraits, commission work, figurative painting... So, dear artist friends, I recommend you do the same - get out of the safety of your studio and head outside for some fresh air, easel and brushes in hand...

Siena, Rome and Everything in Between

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:19:00 +0000

Steve and I have been back in Dallas as of late Saturday night, but I am just now getting over the jet-lag and attempting to catch up on things. I have one last post to share about our wonderful trip before I move on to other things. Thank you everyone for your comments and support - I took so many of you on this trip with me in my heart. :-)

On June 6 (Monday), we left Florence in our rental car and made the short but scenic drive south to Siena. This beautiful hilltown seems preserved in time. In fact, it hasn't changed much since the Renaissance, when it was controlled by the Strozzi family, which was constantly at war with its neighboring city of Florence under the Medicis. The emblem of Siena can be found in sculptures, reliefs, and images all over the city, and depicts the she-wolf suckling infant brothers Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.

Steve and I stayed outside the city, hoping for some beautiful drives around Tuscany and the Chianti region over the next few days. Our first day in Siena was gorgeous and we had a lot of fun exploring the city and walking down every single street (it's not hard to do, as long as you can handle hills!).

The famous Duomo, completed in the 13th century. One of the most distinctive things about this cathedral is its white and greenish-black marble stripes.

A gorgeous view of the city and city walls.

Steve and I with a view of the streets and tower of the Piazza del Campo behind us.

Tuscany and the Chianti wine country were absolutely breathtaking, but after our first day there, I was disheartened somewhat by the cloudy and unpredictable weather, so I didn't really get a chance to paint. You know that what that means... I'll just have to come back. :-)

Here was a happy sight, as we left Siena and were on our way to Rome: acres and acres of sunflowers!

In order to return our rental car, we had to drive it into the heart of Rome to the central train station. For future reference, we will plan on finding a way to AVOID driving in Rome! After that experience, Dallas traffic looks like a cakewalk. I was so proud of my husband as he navigated the crazy streets without denting the car or running over one of the many mopeds and cyclists that zipped in and out of traffic on their way to the front of the pack. Whew!

Once we had returned our car, we took a cab to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Abruzzi, which was right across the square from the Pantheon. As soon as we arrived, I flung open the shudders and the view took my breath away. From our room on the third story, I could look down upon all the foot traffic and honking taxis alike as they passed through the square or loitered near the fountain. And of course, the magnificent building itself stood before me in all of its ancient glory, its dome, cornices and triangular pediment casting blue shadows in the early evening sun. Without unpacking, I whipped out my paint box and got to work.

I ended up working on this painting for two evenings in a row, but will probably have to finish it in my studio if I want the architecture to look more true to life. Still, it was exhilerating to have such a famous building at my disposal.

The rest of our time in Rome consisted of an excellent guided tour of the Vatican, Vatican Museums, and Sistene Chapel (which I had seen once before and nearly cried when I saw it!), long walks around ancient Rome (the Coliseum and Forum, among other historical sites), and hunting down Michelangelo sculptures, Bernini sculptures and fountains, and Caravaggio paintings scattered throughout the city. We walked nearly eleven miles on Friday alone! With so much to see, it seemed impossible to do Rome in just two and a half days, but Steve and I felt pretty good about what we accomplished. Here are some pictures to show for it:

Our view of the Vatican on our way there, the morning of our tour.

A tapestry of the resurrected Christ that displays an optical illusion similar to that of the Mona Lisa, where the eyes follow you as you move around the piece. In this piece it's meaningful because Christ is watching over us always - in our past, present, and future.

Details from Raphael's "School of Athens" fresco. Pictured above is Euclid.

Raphael did this enormous commission while still a young man. He included a self-portrait in the fresco; he is the second to the right, making eye contact with the viewer.

Our tour guide asked the group, "Have any of you been to Milan?" I nodded my head. He then asked, "Have you been to the Pinoteca Ambrosiana?" I nodded again (I had just been there!). He then said, "So you know about the drawing that's there that is of great importance to this painting..." he then asked me to relate to the rest of the group about the full-sized cartoon, or preparatory sketch, that I had seen of Raphael's "School of Athens." I happily complied and would have prattled on about it had he not cut me off for the sake of time. But from then on till the end of the tour, he called me his "assistant" or the "art historian," which pretty much made my day. Moments like this, ever so rare, help me feel like all of my nerdy studies in art history have not been in vain!

A larger shot of "The School of Athens (above)." I mentioned the cartoon for this drawing in a previous blog post, but failed to post a picture. As you can see, the central figure in the foreground (the man leaning on a short pedestal), is not in the drawing (below). Raphael added him later, and painted him as Heroclitus in the form of Michelangelo, a contemporary Renaissance artist whom he had recently come to admire.

There was much to see on our tour of the Vatican and Vatican museums, and sadly I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, but that was definitely the highlight. Second to that was being able to view Michelangelo's "Pieta," one of his earlier works and the only work he ever signed.

Here we are in front of the Spanish steps, an enormous set of stairs built in the 1700s to link a church to a piazza in a way that would be both functional and pleasing, while dealing with the enormous geographical slope that separated the two. The steps have become an icon in Rome, as well as one of the top tourist attractions. We happened to miss the "peak" season, when the azalias all around are in full-bloom.

Coffee at a local caffe.

A view of the Roman Forum.

Our last day in Rome. Not only did we walk nearly eleven miles, but I also got a two-hour painting session in, while sitting under the blazing sun. I think this little study of the Coliseum is one of my strongest though.

Here's the view from my perch.

And with the finished painting.

More ruins. I'm fascinated by them, and I know many artists before me have found inspiration among the ruins of Rome. I guess it reminds us of our own finiteness and the fact that no culture, country, or empire -- no matter how great -- will last forever.

One of the Bernini sculptures we hunted down. Bernini's Baroque style, alive with movement and energy, was highly sought after in Rome. This sculpture, "Ecstasy of St. Theresa," is located at the Church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria. The statue is famous for its vivid and sensual representation of St. Theresa's account of being visited by a seraph: "I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it..."

We also saw this sculpture of Moses, by Michelangelo. Housed in the Church of San Pietro in Vicoli, the sculpture was the only one fully completed for the commission of the tomb of Pope Julius II, and depicts Moses with "horns," due to the Latin Vulgate translation of the passage in Exodus. The passage describes Moses as having come down from the mountain, after receiving the Ten Commandments, with his face "horned from the conversation with the Lord." The Greek translation says this (and I believe this is the more conventional translation!): "Moses knew not that the appearance of the skin of his face was glorified."

There is so much more I could share, but I must get going. In the mean time, here is a picture we took at our dinner table, on our last night in Rome before heading home. I hope to post many more pictures on Facebook, and eventually have better pictures of all the paintings I completed on this trip. All in all, I did 16 oil paintings, averaging 1/2-hour to 2-hours apiece. I learned so much, and had a wonderful time. I hope that every artist gets an experience (or MANY) like this to explore their media, see the world, and fall more in love with what they do.

The City of Priceless Treasures - Florence, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Steve and I left Venice on Friday morning and drove to Florence, stopping at a beach on the Adriatic Sea along to way. We didn't stay long, as it was windy and threatening to rain, but it was fun to say we've now seen the Adriatic! Neither of us had been there before.

Florence... now, this city is near and dear to my heart. I lived here for a summer five years ago, when I studied with Maureen Hyde at the Florence Academy of Art... and it was hard to be there by myself. However, I saw and did as much as I possibly could, going to class every morning and spending every afternoon and evening at the museums, churches, or historical sights. Now, to relive it with my husband is really a dream come true for me. I felt a bit like a tour guide as I showed him around this beautiful city. I can tell you where many of the most precious treasures of the Renaissance are to be found, from the most popular among tourists (like Michelangelo's David, housed in the Galleria dell' Accademia), to the lesser known but equally priceless (like the fresco of The Procession of the Magi, by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi). There is so much to see here - in the birthplace and mecca of the Renaissance! For example, we visited the church of Santa Croce. This beautiful church contains the tombs of an all-star Florentine lineup, including Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Dante. Florence is extremely proud of its historical heritiage, and boasts monuments to its heros all over the city.

As we learned on Saturday morning in our guided tour of the Accademia, the statue of David (1501-1504) alone represents a great deal for the city of Florence: political strength ("small but mighty"... although Michelangelo's David is hardly small at 17 feet tall!), the rebirth of Roman civilization and a new spirit of optimism after the Dark Ages, and in many ways, the beginning of modern art. Let me explain: Michelangelo didn't care about the historical accuracy of his David. His David had to look like this and only this. He is about 25 (not a teenager, as the biblical text describes), there is no head of Goliath at his feet, he is completely nude, and uncircumcised at that. After seeing the magnificent David, as well as the unfinished sculptures of slaves (which were supposed to be among the many sculptures to adorn the massive tomb of Pope Julius II), I am pretty much convinced that Michelangelo was the greatest artist who ever lived. He refused the help of assistants, but had a body of work that no artist will ever match or surpass. Even more remarkable is the fact that instead of carving his marble statues all the way around, as most sculptors would work, Michelangelo worked from front to back (very risky when working with an expensive block of Carrara marble!). This method backs up his own claim that instead of simply carving a statue, he was freeing the form. As he said of one work, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Here are a few pictures from Florence. Friday night was lovely and magical for Steve and I; we climbed the steps to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a beautiful lookout on the other side of the Arno that gives you an incredible view of Renaissance Florence, complete with the Biblioteca, the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), the Palazzo Vecchio ("Old Palace" - one of the older Medici homes), the Uffizi, and of course, the famous Duomo (cathedral) and Campanile (bell tower). Steve and I enjoyed some Chianti Classico, which is the only wine you should drink while in Florence, and I painted the beautiful scene before me.

My painting drew quite a spectacle among tourists, but so did the incredible sunset. It was glorious.

The light changes quickly out there. I didn't have time to paint the lovely orange flowers in the foreground, but I enjoyed every minute of my painting.

Chianti - the truest of Tuscan red wines. :-)

The beautiful Duomo and Campanile. Notice the colorful green and pink marble, charactaristic of Renaissance Tuscany.

My art supply store was closed. :-( Steve and I still managed to swing by this morning (Monday) before we left Florence. They have everything a girl could want! Okay, maybe not shoes...

A visit to the Boboli gardens produced this little plein air sketch. It was very relaxing, as I simply sat down on a park bench and enjoyed painting in the nice weather... which later turned to rain. Thankfully, we were visiting the Uffizi when it started pouring.

I am so glad that Steve and I reserved a tour for the Vasari Corridor. This corridor is seldom open to the public, but contains thousands of priceless works of art, including the largest collection of artist's self-portraits. Pictures were not allowed, but we did sneak this one of me (below), completely elated to be there!

The Vasari Corridor, designed by artist and author Georgio Vasari, was built for the Medici family in 1565 on the occasion of the royal wedding of Francis I to Joan of Austria. The purpose of the corridor was to separate the royal family from the common people as they passed from their old palace (the Palazzo Vecchio) to the new (the Pitti Palace, to which the Boboli Gardens are connected). The corridor crosses over the Ponte Vecchio. I found it interesting to hear that the reason the bridge only contains the shops of goldsmiths and jewelers is because the Medici didn't want to smell anything bad (like fish or meat) when they crossed over. Today, the bridge is still home to small shops of fine jewelry. Also, it wasn't until the 19th century that the corridor came to be used as a place for hanging paintings. The Medici did possess an enormous art collection, and thanks to the last Medici in the family line, Anna Maria Louisa (d. 1742), the works of art stayed in Florence and remain to this day.

I was astounded by the treasures there and grateful to see them with my own eyes, even though the tour went quickly. Among some of the highlights were self-portraits by Anthony Van Dyck, Joshua Reynolds, Jaques Louis David, John Everett Millais, Cecilia Beaux, Philip Alexius De Laszlo de Lombos, Henri Fantin Latour, and Anders Zorn (my favorite of the lineup!).

Anders Zorn - Self-Portrait - 1889

Currently, Steve and I are in Siena and will be here for two nights. We will finish our Italian tour with Rome and be back on June 11. I can't believe how fast it's going! More to come...

"Ah... Venice!"

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:16:00 +0000

Steve and I watched several movies in anticipation of our European trip before we left, including "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (see my quote in this post's title!) and "The Tourist." We also watched a bunch of travel documentaries, but it's always more fun to see how Hollywood romanticizes different places.

Anyway, we are here in Venice, and will be leaving early tomorrow morning, but I feel like I've seen and done everything I would have wanted to in this romantic and colorful city. The last couple of days, Steve and I simply got lost in the city... we had a map, and used it to get back to our hotel, but otherwise, it was fun to simply wander the streets, especially when it was picture-perfect with the turn of every corner!

Unfortunately, the light wasn't the greatest during our stay, and so I only managed to squeeze one painting in. With the humidity, the crowds of tourists, and somewhat cliche gondoliers whistling cheerfully as they toted tourists down the canals, I felt that I would have little or nothing new to offer in my own artistic interpretations. However, I still feel that Venice is extremely beautiful and worth visiting, and I'm hoping that as I begin to absorb all these new experiences, I'll be able to share them through my paintings, both now and later on when I return home. Here are a few pictures from our stay:

The day of our arrival: crystal blue skies and calm canals.

An amazing frame shop. I really enjoyed seeing all the specialty stores, especially the beautiful paper mache Venetian masks (I picked up a couple!).

Another lovely scene, colorful in spite of the gray skies.

Steve took these pictures of me on a bridge that was less-travelled, so I was able to paint in peace.

Dusk on the Grand Canal.

The expensive but worthwhile gondola ride. Where else can you do this? It WAS as romantic as everyone says it is. :-)

Switzerland: An Artist's Paradise!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:57:00 +0000

Now that we are in Venice, I've managed to get some faster Wi-Fi, and here are the pictures I promised from Switzerland. While I had a little difficulty finding painting subjects in Milan, Switzerland had me chomping at the bit to paint from the moment I arrived. It was completely wonderful and overwhelming to be surrounded by this majestic beauty, to breathe such clean fresh air, and to feel so small beneath the towering mountain peaks. Steve and I loved every minute in this glorious country... this haven for artistic creativity.

While the views everywhere are fantastic, our hotel also had an amazing view. You can see the Jungfrau itself, a peak of 13,642 feet, from our room's balcony.

A sampling of the views from our hotel room balcony (above and below) - one at later in the afternoon, and one at 6:00 in the morning.

Here I am at one of the many restaurants we ate at with a birds-eye view of the mountains beyond. We started feeling pretty spoiled!

On Saturday, we visited Lucerne and Brienz, and just about everything in between. Lucerne is a romantic city, especially near Tower Bridge, the oldest surviving wooden bridge in Europe. The overall atmosphere is made even more nostalgic by the talented street musicians, and elegant white swans floating down the river.

Hard at work in Lucerne. The boat took off before I could finish my painting. Will have to put in a few more details later. :-)

Steve and I spent some time hunting down beautiful buildings and mountain peaks on our Alpine drives, sometimes driving up so high that we thought we might tip off the hillsides. This little gem of a chapel is something I would like to paint.

On our way back to the hotel from Lucerne, we stopped for dinner in Brienz. There is a walkway all along the north shore of the lake there, so Steve and I enjoyed a leasurely stroll.

Sunday morning, up bright and early and freezing my little fingers off to get in this pastel landscape. I wanted to capture the soft light, and unfortunately, it required getting up at 6:00 a.m. I did three paintings that day! (See below)

Another shot of my morning painting.

Sunday morning: Steve and I spent most of the day in the Lauterbrunnen valley (see the shot below). Above: our first stop was to visit Trummelbach Falls, incredible waterfalls that come down through the mountain. Lauterbrunnen is part of the larger Jungfrau Region and is one of the most spectacular places in Switzerland! The waterfalls cascade down cliffsides and into tumultuous rivers. The water, which is fed from mountain glaciers, is extremely pure. Steve and I had a taste when we refilled our water bottles directly from the river!

Lauterbrunnen Valley, view from our cable car headed to Murren.

Getting started on my second painting of the day. I set up on a hiking trail above the car-free town of Murren. Had we chosen to go up further, we could have ended up at Mount Schilthorn, where there is a revolving restaurant and an incredible view of the Jungfrau.

This was my favorite painting of the trip so far; with so much inspiration, it can be a bit overwhelming. This time I just had fun with it, and the sketch turned out great! For my artist friends: I have been working with a Guerrilla 9x12 pochade box, which mounts on a camera tripod and fits nicely in a large backpack. My panels are Raymar panels in either 8x8 or 9x12.

Steve and I stop for one more picture before heading back for the day.

Relaxing with a bottle of the house wine on our hotel balcony. That's when the sun started setting and the scene before me was this: ...

How could any artist resist painting this amazing beauty?! I set up one more time, and ended up doing a quick sketch of 1/2 an hour. The light changed rapidly, but it every minute of the painting was exhilerating.

Here is a partial line-up of my paintings from this trip. So far I've done a total of ten paintings. Below are two more from yesterday, which was our last day in Switzerland.

A lone tree in front of the mountains, in Grindelwald.

Later that afternoon: the clouds were beautiful; Steve and I drove around Lake Thun, and I ended up finding this great spot on the north side.

No trip to Switzerland would be complete without a picture of a cow wearing its cowbell. I'm thinking about getting one for my dog so I don't lose her on the mountainside... ha.

Well, this morning we left early and drove straight to Venice. We spent the afternoon exploring, and were very thankful for our street map in finding our way back to our hotel. No paintings today, but perhaps tomorrow. Until then, buona sera!

Museums and Mountains: From Milan to Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:10:00 +0000

I've gone from sweating as soon as I step outside to having to wear four layers! But, for Steve and I, it is a welcome change.

I am now at the Hotel Beausite in Beatenburg, Switzerland, just 10-20 minutes up the mountain from Interlaken. But before I share about Switzerland so far, I should mention a few things from my last couple of days in Milan.

I decided to make Tuesday a museum day, since my back has been "out" for the last couple of days and it's difficult to carry my supplies around. While my Milan guidebook tends to paint a positive picture of the city, it has failed to mention how dirty the streets are or how every inch of wall and bridge has been defiled by graffiti. It's very sad, and unfortunately, has left me somewhat uninspired. Still, I've found a few quiet nooks to paint in here and there. But, as I said, Tuesday was museum day. I had the privilege of going to the Palazzo Reale, a museum that hosts various temporary exhibitions and is located right next to the Duomo. They were currently hosting an Impressionist exhibit of the Sterling and Francine Clark collection from Massachusetts. I couldn't believe how many famous pieces were in this collection, including Renoir's Box at the Theater (1880) -- among quite a few other Renoirs -- Giovanni Boldini's Crossing the Street (1873-75), Monet's The Cliffs at Étretat (1885), and Bouguereau's Seated Nude (1884). You can view the works that I saw here. I spent a good two and half hours staring at the art and hoping to somehow take it all in.

After my museum visit and a little bit of shopping (I mean, let's be honest... how can one NOT shop in Milan??), I had a late lunch at the Duomo Cafe, located directly across from the front facade of the Duomo. The view was spectacular, and there was a cool breeze on our faces as those of us sitting outside lingered even after our lunches and espressos were gone. I enjoyed people-watching, and watching the shadows move down the side of the beautiful cathedral as the afternoon went by.

That evening, Steve and I had a romantic dinner at a restaurant near the Brera. There were roses on the tables, and rose petals strewn across the cobblestones at our feet.

Wednesday was our last day in Milan. My excursions began with a visit to the Ambrosiana Library and Museum, home of the Codex Atlanticus, the original drawings and notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Not only was the library where they are housed a breathtaking site, but the rest of the museum had some real gems. Most notable was the "cartoon," or preparatory drawing, of "The School of Athens" by Raphael. The cartoon is one of the only surviving preparatory sketches from the Renaissance, and is massive in scale, just like the fresco, which is in the Vatican. I did a sketch of the drawing, and took note of the solid composition, the fluidity of form, and the motion of each figure. Raphael made several of the star characters look like his peers, including Plato (in the form of Leonardo Da Vinci) and Heroclitus (in the form of Michelangelo).

On Wednesday afternoon, I visited yet another museum, the Brera. There they had a wonderful exhibition featuring Milan's favorite 19th-century painter, Francesco Hayez. His most famous painting, "The Kiss" (1859), was a perfect representation of the Romanticism of the time and even more so, the Italian unification ("Risorgimento") that was underway.

The Kiss, by Francesco Hayez (1859), oil on canvas, 43" x 35"

Later that evening, I went with Steve and one of his coworkers to the Naviglio Grande. The two guys sat in a restaurant and enjoyed Happy Hour drinks, while I set up to paint nearby. I was worried about becoming a spectacle, but as people passed by, they were curious and kind, but kept their distance. A couple stopped and asked questions. The experience loosened me up and I actually really enjoyed it. The light changed very quickly, so I may have to finish my oil sketch from photos. Here are some shots from the evening's painting session:

So that was a good way to end our time in Milan. I hope to post many more pictures from this trip to Facebook when I return...

Yesterday's travels were strenuous; I had the painstaking task of getting myself and all of my luggage from Milan to Switzerland, without the help of Steve (who still had two more days of work!). I honestly wasn't trying to look like I was struggling with my luggage, but I really was! Thankfully, there were lots of kind people along the way who helped me out. :-) When I finally arrived in Switzerland, the views from my hotel more than made up for the trouble. Our hosts, Rita and Kasper, welcomed me graciously to the Hotel Beausite. I was able to enjoy a long walk around Beatenburg, the little hill town above Interlaken where Steve and I will be staying for the next few days. It was beautiful; however, rain came in, so I rushed back, and enjoyed an amazing Swiss dinner at the hotel.

Today is Friday, and I haven't gone out all day, unless breakfast downstairs counts. It has been very cold and rainy, with a fog so thick I can't see beyond the patio outside my hotel room. Thankfully, Steve has arrived her safe, and I consider today to have been a good day. I got a lot of rest, painted an 8"x8" self-portrait, which I entitled, "Self-Portrait on a Rainy Day," and caught up on some much-needed e-mails and general news, thanks to the free Wi-Fi here at the hotel.

I hope to post many more pictures soon, especially of my plein-air paintings and the views here in Switzerland. Until then, guten nacht, dear friends.

Miles logged in Milan = Unknown

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Rose Bain) — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:59:00 +0000

Even though I remember well the hours of walking through Florence, I knew I would have to tough it out once again for these first few days exploring Milan. Three days in, my feet are covered in blisters and bug bites that swell up to the size of quarters, and yet, there is so much to do and see that I keep on going out every day to take it all in.

The Church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie (to the right is the refectory with "The Last Supper"

Yesterday Steve and I visited perhaps the most famous of Milan's attractions, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper." We booked our tickets several weeks ago, knowing that was the only way we had a chance of seeing it. The painting is well-known and has been recreated over and over again, even though it has deteriorated a great deal, due to Leonardo's dry tempera painting technique (unlike true fresco, where the paint chemically bonds with the wet plaster beneath it). Still, when we stepped into the room where it is housed (the rectory of the church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie), it still made me catch my breath. It is bigger than I imagined, and the atmospheric background behind the head of Christ still seems to glow. The 1-point linear perspective is immaculate, and directs the viewer's eye directly to the figure of Christ. We were only given 15 minutes to view this masterpiece before being ushered out quickly, but I used every last minute to stand in awe of the "Last Supper." No photography was allowed, but the memory of it, and how I felt when I saw it, will stay with me forever.

Other sights from today and yesterday included a walk along the Naviglio Grande (Milan's Grand Canal), a visit to the Science and Technology Museum (which houses replicas of Leonardo Da Vinci's many inventions), and even a soccer game! We bought matching jersies and went with Steve's two co-workers to an Inter-Milan game at the city stadium. This soccer game wasn't originally on my to-do list, but I'm glad we went. :-)

The enormous stadium, with a view of the city behind it.

Sporting our Inter-Milan jersies. :-)

This was definitely the wild side of the stadium. They were waving enormous flags and firing flares. Thankfully, Inter-Milan won, so we didn't have to experience an Italian riot. :-)

The Naviglio Grande

Happy Hour in Milan lasts from 7-9. You buy one drink for 8 euros or so, and get this huge spread of food for free! We filled up tonight on happy hour food and ended up skipping dinner!