September Notes - 2024
I spent a week in Tuscany this month and was able to visit some of Piero della Francesca’s frescoes in Arezzo. As this is an election year, and an unusual one at that, I also had time to contemplate the relationship between art and power, the suppression and encouragement of talent, and the importance of a good hat.
PIERO in Basilica of Saint Francis in Arezzo
BLOGS RELATED TO THE RENAISSANCE
FROM THE LIBRARY : ART IN THE MAKING: ITALIAN PAINTING BEFORE 1400
When I look at a painting, I am most interested in how it was painted: what materials were used, what ground, what paint, and what pigments. Art in the Making: Italian Painting Before 1400 takes you through all the steps, from how the panels were made to the gilding of the halos.
This book covers panel painting and not the frescoes. I was surprised to learn that the panels were made mostly from poplar wood, which is a fast growing tree, with large cells and is now considered only good for match sticks. Agriculture and over-grazing caused wide spread deforestation. Hard woods were imported from the north, but artists relied on this local inferior wood.
Once you gain an intimate understanding of how these paintings were made, you can step into the shoes of the artist at work.
ON THE CALENDAR: UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
OCTOBER 12, 2024- LANDSCAPES FOR LANDSAKE Maple Ridge, Coila, NY
NOVEMBER 1, 2024 - THE LIGHTNESS OF BEING Ellio Fine Art, Houston, TX
ART SPOTLIGHT: CENTERING 2018
Centering, 48” x 48”, oil and charcoal on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018
I developed “trigger thumbs” in both hands, which meant that neither of my thumbs could bend. Without a functioning opposable thumb I could not hold a brush or write my name. I tried to treat the situation first with massage, then acupuncture, hand splints, physical therapy, diet, and then finally after six months, surgery on my right hand, and a month or so later, surgery on my left. I found ways around the awkwardness to continue to paint both with and without brushes. The injury was not the reason I changed the way I paint, as that had started two years before, but it did convince me that this door had opened for a reason. See the full story here.
I've been having conversations with Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 - 1337, born in Florence, Italy) since I was twelve years old and my class studied the Renaissance. The conversation became obsessive when in 1987 I created a cycle of paintings recreating the paintings of the Arena Chapel on seven shaped canvases, the largest of which is 18 by 24 feet.