Today I woke up and found out… It was snowing! The last time we saw some snow in Rome it was in 1985 so it is a great event.
I couldn’t resist and have a walk in the park and around the town to shoot some pics of all the whiteness.
You can also meet my neighbour’s dog, Charlie, who wasn’t really sure of that white thing that invaded his space…
The park was desert and I felt like an ice princess in a surreal, enchanted world. I love snow.
Who knows, maybe I can talk my husband into moving to Sweden…

Beside this, I’m struggling with my botanical drawings, and I invoke this quote by Toulouse-Lautrec to feel better:

“I am certainly not regenerating French art, but am struggling hard to accomplish something on an unlucky piece of paper which has done me no harm at all, and on which, believe me, I am doing nothing that is good… I hope things will improve eventually; as it is, I am pretty wretched.”

Being Toulouse-Lautrec one of my favorite artists, this quote never fails to comfort me… The masters, too, can feel useless and on the wrong way!

To support my thoughts on struggling creativity, I looked for some of the wonderful works of this artist.
Keep your finger crossed for me about the duck entrails too!

From left/Da sinistra: Au Salon de la rue des Moulins, 1894 | Au Cirque: danseuse à la corde raide, 1899

From left/Da sinistra: Au Cirque: cheval et singe dressés, 1899 | Au Cirque: écuyère à cru, 1899 | Au Cirque: ours savant, 1899

From left/Da sinistra: Femme qui tire son bas, 1894 | Gueule de bois: la buveuse, vers 1887/1888

The theme of the week was the colour Teal.
I painted “Japanese Sky” using cobalt green and turquoise blue shades, white tissue paper and gold touches.

Check Charan Sachar’s blog “Creative with Clay” and his Etsy shop!

I’m delighted by how the canvas texture come out in this picture!

He took more than 120 pictures of my artworks, alone or in artfully constructed mini-sets.
I helped with the art direction, but you know, I’m quite useless when it comes to my own artworks!
So it is really all Alessandro’s work.

Enjoy the pics, I’ll add more of them later!

Left, "Roosters" by Ito Jakuchu - Right, "A Shower Below the Summit" by Katsushika Hokusai | A sinistra, "Galletti" di Ito Jakuchu - A destra, "Pioggia sotto la cima" di Katsushika Hokusai

I’m doing some research in Japanese art to follow the intuition that came out in my latest paintings.

I always loved Japanese art – and Asian art – because is so different from European art and that amazes me.
It is like discovering a whole new world, a completely different way to see and represent the world around you.
I can only imagine what happened when impressionist painters first learnt about Eastern art!

All these images are now available to everyone in books and on the net.

I own some books about japanese art and patterns, and I started from those.

My books on Japanese art | I miei libri sull'arte giapponese

I love doing research, as I previously stated, it makes me feel like my brain cells are excited and active!

I had to work these last days, but I look forward to some painting time this weekend! Japan style, of course.

Below, some results of the research.

"Lion Dogs" by Kano Eitoku | "Lion Dogs" di Kano Eitoku

Three prints from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" by Hiroshige | Tre stampe dalla serie "Cento famose vedute di Edo" di Hiroshige

"Evening Snow at Asuka-yam" by Hiroshige Utagawa | "Neve di sera ad Asuka-yam" by Hiroshige Utagawa

"Fuji from Goten-yama" by Katsushika Hokusai | "Il Fuji da Goten-yama" di Katsushika Hokusai

"A Bird's Eye View of Japan" by Sakuma Soen | "Una veduta del Giappone a volo d'uccello" di Sakuma Soen

From left,“Facing the Mirror” by Ito Shinsui, “Dyers' Street, Kanda” by Ando Hiroshige, detail from “Walking Along the Riverbank at Night” by Kitagawa Utamaro | Da sinistra,“Di fronte allo specchio” di Ito Shinsui, “Strada dei tintori, Kanda” by Ando Hiroshige, dettaglio da “Passeggiando sulla riva di notte” di Kitagawa Utamaro

My paintings | Le mie opere

It took me the whole weekend to relax after the exhibition that took place on Wednesday and Thursday.
You know how anxious I am about my works!

Everything went well, and the event was well organized and pleasant.

I didn’t listen to all the speechs about engineering problems, to tell the truth, I’d rather enjoyed a cup of coffee or a glass of wine with the friends that came to see the exhibition.

I can’t really thank enough who came to see my works, your support means a lot for me.
I met friends I haven’t seen in ages and that was great, I missed you so much.
My students from IED courses came too, thanks a lot!

I met Alessandra Amstici, the daughter of an old friend of my dad, Tullia Cubani.
They are both wonderful artists and made a special artwork for the exhibition, called “The Ogre”, taking inspiration from the terrifying monsters that live deep in the earth and creates earthquakes.
We spend a really nice time with Alessandra, and I’m so happy I had the chance to meet her.
If you want to have a look at their work, please visit their website at www.amstici-showroom.it

"The Ogre" by Alessandra Amstici e Tullia Cubani | "L'orco" di Alessandra Amstici e Tullia Cubani

Alessandro and his assistant Lucio recorded the whole event so I guess I will be able to post a little video on it soon.
I will spare you all the engineering parts, I promise!

Both evenings we enjoyed a glass of wine and some delicious finger food on the terrace, while my sister Elena and her collegue Umberto played and sang.
They have been amazing, my sister’s voice always take my breath away, and it had the same effect on all the people attending the concert!
On Thursday one of the programmers that work for Softing, Marco Francescangeli, joined them playing the sax and he was terribly good too!
Luckily, we have the record of the jam session they did.

The exhibition turned out well, with my artworks put on some special supports my friend Patrizio Alviti made for me, and the long paper roll by Alessandra and Tullia exposed on a black table.
We had a little room reserved for the exhibition.

People were asked to vote for their favourite piece of art, and the choosen artwork was prized by Softing with a donation to the “Associazione Risveglio” (”risveglio” meaning “awakening”).
The association was founded by a dear friend, Francesco Napolitano, to help people with acquired brain injuries and their families.
To have more informations about the association, please visit their website at www.associazionerisveglio.org

My painting “Japanese Landscape” came first, and I had the pleasure to donate the prize to the association.
“The Ogre” had only one vote less than my artwork, so I can say we really shared this success!

It was interesting though, that this painting had more votes that the others I exhibited.
This artwork is the one that came out more easily, and I like it a lot.
I would like to explore more of this kind of suggestions.

I titled it “Japanese Landscape” because it remembered me of the kind of atmosphere you can find in such paintings, even if I wasn’t really thinking of that while painting it.

Japanese Landscape (whole and detail) | Paesaggio giapponese (intero e dettaglio)

Alessandro took some wonderful pics of details of the artworks, and I posted them on the “Paintings” section of the site, along with the new six paintings.

About the title of this post, I have to explain I spent the whole Friday ironing clothes!
I have been so dedicated to work and art last week, Ale and I both ended with no clean or pressed clothes to wear.
So I put away my artist’s hat for a day and I’ve been perfect housewife instead, perfectly pressing our clothes and cleaning the flat a bit, while watching tv!
A really good way to refresh my mind after the tension of being a real artist for two days… And artists need not only canvases and clean brushes, but clean and pressed clothes too!

The invitation to the exhibition / L'invito alla mostra

Friday! A busy and hectic week is almost ended and I’m still overwhelmed by my to-do lists.
From going to the bank to send the last invitations to the exhibition, I feel like a spinning top trying to stay up as long as possible.

The event is almost here and I hope I did everything and didn’t foget something really important.

Like… Painting the artworks! I was sure there was something missing.
I painted three of them, one more is on the go and I have some plans for the fifth one. The sixth – I planned to have six made for the event – is still a mistery.

I printed the invitations for both the event and the exhibition and they are going to be sent by snail mail today.
It is amazing how much time it can take to put together addresses, print labels, put cards in envelopes and so on!
And I still have to buy the stamps and stick them on each envelope! Anybody willing to help?

It took for me a lot of effort to put together this little exhibition, and I really hope people will come and enjoy a pleasant time drinking a glass of wine and looking at the artworks.
Of course I didn’t have to do all the organization alone: Softing organized most of the event.
However, taking the leap into painting again has proved quite hard for me.

I forgot how much I love painting and drawing, after years of neglecting this part of myself.
Since my oil painting days at school, I didn’t do much with my hands.
My creativity was soon transferred on computer work, and put at use in graphic design projects.
I felt that something important was missing, but I didn’t realize exactly what since I found myself happily covered in charcoal during the drawing course I took in London.
I love messing around! Simple as that.

I really don’t know where all this painting and drawing and sketching will lead me. I don’t care much.
In the meantime, I enjoy the process!

First work in progress / Primi lavori in corso

More canvases to paint / Ancora tele da dipingere

I didn’t realize ten days passed since my last entry… Ten days! How a lazy blogger I am! Shame on me!

Going back to work full-mode has been harder than I thought.

I’m working on my upcoming little exhibition, both painting and preparing the graphics for the event, trying to accomplish multiple tasks all at once.

I feel a bit like I’m living many different lives: wife, homemaker, owner of two dogs, artist, graphic designer, enterpreneur, teacher, not last daughter, sister and friend.

Those roles keep stealing time to each other and it is easy to get confused!

Should I do the laundry, or paint a bit, or go for a walk with the dogs, or call that friend I was supposed to meet, or prepare the files for the typographer… Or maybe just collapse on the sofa in front of the tv with my husband – knitting that half-finished blanket?

Hard choices. I guess all of you understand what I’m talking about.

I’ve always had many interests, but sometimes it seems just too much to handle for just one person!

(I’m gathering information about a German course. And I would like to learn how to play that guitar that lies in a corner in the living room… And what about a swimming course?)

Which tricks do you use to keep all your life together? I’m curious!

I’m reading this really interesting book about “Scanners”… A name the author created to define people with too many interests.

It is “Refuse to Choose”, by Barbara Sher (www.barbarasher.com if you are interested in finding out more) and it has some interesting insights and tips about how to do everything you love… without going crazy in the meantime.

I’m still reading it. I’ll let you know!

I post a couple of pictures I took in my studio – just to let you know I’m working on the paintings… Really!

I’m not going to post any picture of the finished paintings before the exhibition… You have to come to see them! Or to wait a bit.

The six canvases I started turned out quite different from what I planned, that is a further proof that planning is not for me.

It is much more fun to just see what happens, and let the surfaces and colours have it their way. It is like watching a movie without knowing how it will end!
I bought three more canvases – another wonderful trip to Poggi! – and I think I will start to work on them tomorrow, or maybe on Tuesday.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, again, with trips to the airport, work and teaching.

And walking the dogs! I can’t forget the poor dogs… Sara is frightened by the rain and follows us around the flat with desperation in her eyes.
Unfortunately for her, I love the rain!

I added an “Exhibitions” section to the site- where you will find infos about the exhibition of the 23rd and 24th of September – and a little banner on the right side of the page.
I’m really nervous… I’d better go to do some painting!