What's cooking?

Summer's in here in Florence and I'm taking a couple of workshops at the academy. Diving into the deep, deep end again. Fortunately for me, I have fantastic classmates and monitors so willing to help on top of Maestro John Angel's guidance.  Mediums are a brand new thing for me.  I've only used water-based oils before. Words like Dammar, Liquin, cobalt dryer and mineral spirits have just been added to my vocab. Learning to pronounce some of these mediums are a whole other story!!

For me, jumping straight into paints is doing me a lot of good. I see the full picture of what I will be doing in the next year or so and by the process of backtracking, I am seeing clearly what I need to be doing for the next full year starting this Fall '13.

New poisons... erm... chemicals I've been introduced to. It will be awhile before I find a system to get my tools in order. 

New gear: Large format panels, aprons, making campitura. I'm preparing a copy of Dali's in this 16th, 17th, 18th century method of painting class. 

This is a warm up 1st painting piece by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

It's a section of Charles William Vane-Stewart, Marquess of Londonderry.

Roaming Rome

I took a regional train to Rome from Montepescali. Arrived on a Sunday noon and checked in the hostel. I started walking and sketching and ended up at St Peter's Square. Here, I observed tourists and pilgrims enjoying the warm Sunday afternoon shine, while I flipped over to a spread in my sketchbook to do a panorama.

It's been about 15 years since I last set foot on this ground.  It's good to be back here, this time armed with my sketchbook, watercolours, ink and pencils.

This is one of the places I've always wanted to sketch.

The result of the panorama.

Inside St Peter's Basilica is the tomb of Papa Giovanni Paolo II next to the Pieta (above). Apparently, he was moved up from the tomb for the popes in the basement as he was causing a jam below. :) He is going to be canonized this October. 

Travelling Toscano 2: Castiglione della Pescaia

This is part 2 of my weekend getaway in the province of Grosetto, in the region of Tuscany.

I was invited by a friend to stay over the weekend and explore the village of Montepescali and the beach at Castiglione della Pescaia.  This post focuses on the beach. :)  Because my friends were locals, they knew exactly where to park. Many private beaches litter the coastline of Italy. Only a handful are untouched. 

Cold waters, warm sand.  I decided to spend my time walking down the coast, passing by private sections after private sections until I arrived at a rock formation which didn't allow me to walk further. 

I'll work on one of these when I visit another beach.

Sketch of the the castle at Castiglione della Pescaia.

I really love this shot by one of the suntanning ladies.

Travelling Toscano: Montepescali

I just got back from a week out of Florence. The first place I went to is Montepascali, a region in Tuscany.  Just so that you are not confused, I'll focus on the first half of my journey to Montepescali about 150km southwest of Florence. 

About 222m above sea level, this town built in the middle ages has a scenic panorama of the coastal strip! I was invited by a friend to stay over the weekend and explore this little town with a population of about 22o. 

For me, it was a pleasant getaway from the city-life + school. There are probably hundreds of such towns here in Italy, so looking forward to visiting them. :)

What a sight from the piazza just below the Church of Ss. Stefano and Lorenzo!

Church of Ss. Stefano and Lorenzo

Picturesque views from all the way up here!

Decorations for a wedding celebration were being put up at S. Nicolo.

It's like Magic!

The final 2-week live model Anatomy Study for term one

One of the most interesting BIG CONCEPTS I learnt at school last term is about creating illusions! I never thought I would ever hear that word again - Illusion.  It's amazing that I get to do it now with my Art turning graphite on a 2D plane into a 3-dimensional object.  I can also imagine myself performing a show each time I finish every piece of art work.  Looking forward to pushing this form of Art as far as I can go.

Here's some background to why I get so excited about the word illusion... simply because I love magic! Specifically the art of entertaining people using deceptive means... (hahaha!) Books on magic, movies about magic, street performances, stage show with a live-audience... All you need is pure slight of hand and a little dash of misdirection... I love the idea of being able to take someone and suspend them in disbelief, taking them out of their daily hum drum. And especially to kids as they are still at an age where they believe that anything can happen. We all need this sense of awe and wonderment every now and then.

Given a choice, I would watch a magic show rather than a game of football or a popular sit-com. Clearly it's an art where only few would appreciate. Here's an old video I produced once upon a time when I was a young lad given some off time during work to create this after office hours at the parking lot just to amuse some of my colleagues.  On another note, NOW YOU SEE ME, is now playing at the Odeon in original sound. Perfect timing! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoQcmLQ84lA&feature=c4-overview&list=UUB3zMksZsEghpgjiWTmOYiw
(It's not an option for me to embed the video here, so you have to go there directly with this link.)

Got ID?

I've just passed the 10 week mark here in Italy and it's been great so far. In between classes, there were a lot of administrative work to be done living here in Italy.  Everything for getting my permit to stay to getting my fiscal code... But I think I have pretty much everything, until the next renewal. I'm almost Italian!!!

The Permesso di Soggiono is the most important to obtain for long term stay. I'll share an overview of this complicated procedure for those who need to know the full process and have clue how to go about it.

1. You will need:
- An application form
- Passport
- Visa on passport
- Letter of acceptance from school or place of work
- Italian Revenue Stamp €14.62 (Marca da Bollo - specifically for the Permesso di Soggiorgno) which can be purchased from the local Tabbachi and some bars.
More here:
http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/10716/

2. Go to the Sportello at VIA PIETRAPIANA 53 to pay up (next door at the Italiane Poste with all your documents. It cost about €100.  You will receive a kit, receipt and more instructions.

3. An appointment with a specific timing will be made about one month later at the Questura (Police Station) at Via della Fortezza 17.  Here you will need:
- Bring the Receipt and Kit you got from 2
- 3 passport-size photographs
- All your fingers for scanning

4. About 2 weeks to 4 weeks later, you will return to this same Questura to pick up your Permesso di Soggiorno. Be prepared to wait in line. Bring every single document you have just in case.

5. Finally, you will be invited to watch a 5 hour video presentation on living in Italy (1hr x 5 clips) which will cover everything from point 1 - 4 and lots more. :)

(Clock-wise from bottom left: Permesso di Soggiorno, Codice Fiscale and my Identity Card.

Yes, I can vote now! :) 

So why am I not smiling? I didn't bring 3 photographs and had to scout for a "nearby"instant photo shop. At the point when the lady took the photo, she told me not to smile.  If you were bored reading all of this, imagine what I had to go through. :p

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. : )