WHY ITALY? PERCHE NO! ( Part I, March& April 2015)

It is late December and the first snow has created a landscape of white out my window. The winter has been kind so far, but we still have January and February in front of us to trudge through.

Memories of Italy fill my head and heart as I hear from friends and go back through photos from our spring months spent in that beautiful place, Italy.

So, if you don't mind I am going to share some of the riches of our time in Panicale, Florence , Rome and places that fall between....oh yes, and  friends too.

Our "home" when we are in Italy is Panicale (Umbria), a medieval hill town that looks over Lake Trasimeno.

Looking down from Panicale to the white road 'strata bianca' that cuts its way  through crops of wheat, across the plain. This is what early spring looks like, a welcome carpet of green.

Up and out early, here we are ready for a day out, but first cappuccino Bar Gallo....always!
"Ciao Daniela"!  "Buon giorno Aldo!"

Bar Gallo 

DESTINATION: DERUTA

Deruta Workshop

Handmade. James watching  as a craftsman in this workshop carries on a tradition in ceramics

I love driving down this road under the pines back to Panicale.

Aldo makes a killer Aperol Spritz!

OFF TO FLORENCE TO MEET FRIENDS

Ponte Vecchio on a clear and still spring evening.

Alberti's stunning facade on Santa Maria Novella, which contains numerous masterpieces,one of which is Masaccio's groundbreaking Crucifixion.

Ghirlandaio's masterful fresco with this  procession of women.

a detail from the Spanish Chapel

time for refreshment!

Le Volpi e l'Uva

A favorite enoteca in the Oltrarno and  we  always know ( at least hope)  if we hang out here long 

enough the doors of Santa Felicita will open and a wonderful Pontormo painting will be there for us to see.  But while we wait.....

 SHARING ITALY with FRIENDS

Here are the friends James and I are meeting.....Mark, Andi and Giuletta!

Knowing we would not have time for dinner in a ristorante  before a concert we were all attending that evening, someone suggested room service. Perfect and luxurious. Ah , so it was burgers.

The evenings entertainment was very American....James Taylor in Florence !

Getting a taxi home afterwards was a bit of an ordeal, but with Mark's phone and James' Italian , we all made it back to our hotels!

Meantime, back in Panicale....

a foggy morning walk

and the artichokes are in season!

That is late March and April in Umbria and Tuscany.

Are you seeing any common elements running through these memories. It is becoming clear it has something to do with, art, people, food, wine and a beautiful landscape.

May  2015 will be next, we  will see if that trend continues!

A PORTSMOUTH PEAR BY WAY OF ITALY

On a beautiful summer day we drove to Portsmouth to draw. This bountiful pear tree was growing in the wild at the end of a bridge. It was an unexpected find!

The pear tree as a whole was stunning and one of us will likely return to it in the near future.

For now, James brought a single pear from the tree back to the studio.

A study of the single pear by James Aponovich

"This is an oil painting on linen (8"x6"). It is simply set against a neutral gray background. It is painted as I observed it." James Aponovich

The inspiration for a painting comes from many sources .

This fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) is an image that James draws from in his painting. He notes the way the arch and horizontal plane of the wall below hold and balance the figures and Ghirlandaio's use of the landscape behind the wall.

"What interests me about this painting is the way that Ghirlandaio used a neutral background, the wall, to contain his figures the same way that I used the neutral gray to contain the pear. The surprising element is the glimpse of tree and sky." J.A.

Inspiration in Rome

In Rome James did a quick sketch of this pot in a cut out of the garden wall. He was interested in the cut away square space, the object filling the space, and the more distance facade seen in the background.

"In Italy, you find many interesting and ancient walls with niches cut into them that may have a may have a small plain statue of a madonna or just some plastic flowers to fashion a shine. What intrigued me about this opening in the wall was the view through to the outside, not unlike the Ghirlandaio fresco." J.A.

A painting in progress

On the easel is a new painting that James is currently working on of that pear .

The single pear is used here framed by an arch . The raspberries create a rhythm at the base of the pear. There is a landscape in the distance creating depth and sense of air in the painting.

"Here the Portsmouth pear is idealized and placed in a shrine-like opening with a imagined Italian landscape in the distance. One must always keep their eyes opened to find the unexpected. We constantly seek paintings not only in museums but more importantly where they were meant to be seen, chapels, churches, etc.

We call this acquiring visual vocabulary." J. A.

We always travel with sketchbooks and pencils. We find the information we record works its way into our paintings. The idea is to observe, record, imagine and then transform onto paper or canvas.

By the way, we took an afternoon break and had a lovely picnic lunch .

All content on this blog is the exclusive copyright of

James Aponovich & Elizabeth Johansson

Artwork cannot be reproduced without written permission of the artist.

FROM THE GARDEN TO EASEL BY WAY OF FLORENCE

The Last Supper, a fresco by Ghirlandaio is in the Ognissanti in Florence. Sitting in front of this painting I was taken by the composition using the wall as a backdrop to the seated figures, and the rhythm created by the trees behind the wall.

Each year during the blooming weeks, flowers are brought into the studio and quickly painted onto blank canvases. The painted flowers are more or less painted as if they are in vases....

not the most appropriate way to compose I admit. So, during the off season ( winter ) I try to figure in the rest of the composition, often I rely on the Italian (Tuscan & Umbrian) landscape to balance the vigor of the flowers. However, this device can be over used. It is very difficult to abandon beautiful valleys punctuated with cypress trees and red tile roofs, but I feel that repetition is becoming stale. I needed to get out of Italy (visually) so it seemed the best place to go was back to Italy. It was there that I think I found the clue.

It was in Florence when we were searching out paintings by the Renaissance master Domenico Ghirlandaio, that we came upon his fresco The Last Supper, in the refectory of the Ognissanti (Piazza Ognissanti). Here Ghirlandaio uses a wall behind the seated group and we see just the upper portions of trees against a sky visible above the wall. Why not try it? Paintings are very intricate puzzles and it is difficult to make ll the pieces fit.

By the way, when you are in Florence in need of a break,walk across the bridge Ponte Alla Carraia (not far from the Ognissanti), toward Piazza Nazario Sauro. Just after you cross the bridge, on your right is a good gelateria. Once you have sampled the gelato, make your way to Santo Spirito. For a great gelato, Bar Vivolo, after a visit to Santa Croce.