Fruit cake and bicycle

What does a fruit cake containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar got to do with my former bicycle?

They're both Stol(l)en.

Like they say "You never own bicycles in Florence. You rent them from bike thieves."

Here's the scoop:
I was on my way to meet my schoolmates for a end of the school year gathering. I stopped by Coop (a supermarket) to pick up some groceries, and thinking I was going to be in there for only 5 minutes, I placed my bike on the rack without locking it.

When I came out... Gone. Like a disappearing act. To my disbelief, I thought that I had parked it somewhere else. No. It was gone! 

Good bye, Mr Bicycle. I'm sure the person who took it needed it badly. : )

Let the Summer begin!!!

The sun is finally out and it's warming up really well for the next three months. Time to put away the bargues for now. I'll be here in Italy visiting museums, exploring the nearby vicinity, attending workshops, and of course... sketch.  It's been awhile since I last spent an entire morning/afternoon drawing the streets of Florence.  Definitely looking forward to it.  And you can check in for more sketches too here and at my Facebook art page.  

Happy Summer with cookies!!!

Doing the final touches of the live model piece.

Here at the Angel Academy we strive to best by pushing our limits to the extreme... :)

If only I had 3 more hands. 

These are some of the trees I killed this term. 

Nearing the End

It's been nearly 10 weeks and boy did time whizz by so fast! A couple of days more and we break for summer. Some of us will be travelling back home, whereas the rest of us will be spending time either hanging out here in Florence or travelling around the region. Since I just got here only 2 and a half months back, I'll be staying here for the summer, and will finally get to sketch quite a lot more! :)

Here's a snapshot of some of the skills I picked up this first quarter at Angel Academy.

Learning how to construct the human anatomy using the comparative technique.

Let's throw in a sitting pose and a chair to make things a little more complex. 

 A focus on shadow shapes.

The introduction of Big Form Modelling.

... and taking an image to as best a render as possible.

It's amazing what I've picked up in 10 weeks! And this is a reminder to me that given any situation, I'd rather be taught then be self-taught. Actually, I don't believe in this term, "self-taught".  Be it in music, business, sports, etc, if one seeks knowledge from either Youtube, Google, or even by casually asking a friend for tips and advice, isn't the internet already one's teacher? And if one claims to be self-taught, chances are that person i not diving deep enough into the subject. Food for thought.

Looking forward to the coming summer!!!

All About Bargue - Part 3

This is a near to finish Parthenon Horse bargue that I have been working on for the past 6 weeks.  This one took a long time. It was amazing how my journey on the Camino last year taught me how to "slow down", but this particular bargue brings it to a whole new level! They say the 2nd bargues are the most painful. And once you move past this, even the next may be tougher, it will be bearable just because you did the 2nd bargue.

Things I learnt doing this barge:

- Big Form Modelling (Creating the illusion of 3D on a 2D sheet of paper... funny how I thought I'd never be dabbling in magic again. ;p )

- I began to see clusters of shapes instead of individual points. 

- Pacing myself and not allowing the speed of others to affect me... we're all different, doing different things... another Camino reminder.

- I developed a heightened awareness of precision. 

On to the next (and more complex) bargue!! :)

Another kind of Art

Some of my friends wonder what I have been eating here in Florence. This post will answer just that. I enjoy cooking. I feel it's therapeutic, and it keeps me away from my work, which is necessary from time to time. I also feel it helps me understand and makes me more confident in my art too especially in the area of balancing.  Be it colour, line width, shadow shapes... the food I cook inspires the art, and the art I do inspires the food. My housemates also cook, so we do a lot of sharing and learning. What a deal!!  Here are some of my creations:

So I finally got to make pulpo - a popular dish from north western Spain in Galicia.

This is what the final dish looks like with potatoes.

I'm also learning how to prepare food Tuscan style.  Here I use Salvia leaves to add to the flavouring of my Ravioli.  

And of course, I still prepare the spicy stuff from South East Asia.

All About Bargue 2

I'm nearing the end of my 2nd bargue. I've worked out a simple method to know when I'm done. It's as easy as when I think I'm done, add 2 more weeks. Because I thought I was going to be done last week, I should finish it this week of early next. Strange, but it's true.

The buzz word these few weeks has been "SUBTLE". The bargues are painful to do, but they really sharpen the eyes good! I'm noticing gradually improvements in my other classes/ projects too. All because of the Bargues... and maybe homework.

Back to the drawing board!

Here's plotting out all the major points at the initial stage using a string to measure. This one took forever!

This is neat.  Schoolmate Sue is working on her level 3 Bargue. Incidentally, we are both doing horses.

After all the darks were put in, I started on the big form modeling. As the name implies, I only focus on the volumes of the big shapes. 

This is me working on the bargue on a rainy Saturday afternoon. 

Écorché 2

All good things must come to and end (besides tendons). My two week long écorché class with Jason Arkles is done. My take home is a general overview of the entire muscle and bone structure for the human body and which parts are important for an artist or sculptor. If you are ever in Florence and need to understand the human anatomy or take a bunch of classes on sculpting, be sure to pop by Jason's studio. http://www.jasonarkles.com  He's awesome! 

Inside Jason's studio

It's really not what you think. A demonstration on flexors and extensors.

The last class of the year. All of us wear glasses and grow a beard. 

Thanks, Kadin, for the photo!

My finished écorché.  There's Anni to the back right.