Love and charcoal
The first action of self-love that I did about two years ago, when I deliberately decided to start making art, was buying some charcoal to study and understand how to draw a face.
That was the very precise moment when I realised that I wanted to dedicate some of my time for a passion that had to be just mine. Not for my office, not for my husband, not for my children.
But just for Elisa.
Why charcoal? Because it’s the most forgiving medium, and if you make a mistake you can go back and try again simply rubbing it off from the paper.
Two years later, I still relate the learning of new skills to the use of charcoal and dry media. So I’ve decided to challenge myself in new skills and I will spend 100 days drawing figures in charcoal, trying to get looseness in the anatomy, without giving too much evidence to details.
And since I am a perfectionist, a bit of forgiveness is what I really need to balance my continuous tendency to self-judgement.
Gesture, movement, expressivity. These are my goals, and here some of the works of the first week.
Just black dust on a newspaper pad.
I also keep working on my series of huge paintings dedicated to meaningful female characters in literature. After Anna Karerina, Eve and Catherine Earnshaw Linton in Wuthering Heights, I have a crowded list of extraordinary women that I would love to paint and celebrate on canvas.
I will let my instinct guide me, and I will follow the order that better suits me, exclusively based on my intuition.
Will I be bold in colours and brushstrokes?
Or I’ll go tight?
Every moment is a choice, an opportunity.
Every movement of wrist, hand, arm and shoulder is a manifestation of the freedom that fills my mind, and I manifest my unconditional love for the woman I am.
The imperfect woman. The only one I will ever have!
Cinderella or…?
We all have heroes. And heroins.
They can belong to TV shows, to politics, to sports.
Mine are definitely in books. I have tons of books. And when I say tons…… I’m serious about it. I’m an addicted, I buy books, and I rescue books from those who don’t want them anymore. Actually, I increased my personal library until it has reached over 1,000 titles.
To be honest, I haven’t read them all. But I still look for new ones. Moreover, I seldom read the same book twice.
Books are faithful friends and they patiently wait for their moment to arrive. The instant when, after checking and checking the available titles on the bookshelf at the corner, you get to hold one of them in your hands, look carefully at the image on the first page, read the short summary of the story on the back and you finally say ‘Yes, it’s your turn’.
I’m currently working on a new series of paintings on large canvas. It’s quite a challenge, since all my previous pieces are, in average, medium-sized. This series is related to heroins in literature, and it will cover charming characters who are the protagonists of classical novels.
I can’t reveal details (God knows it’s quite an effort to keep the silence on this topic because I would like to involve you in all the steps), except that I will show bold colours in these portraits and figures, changing palette in each of them, and in this way purposing different atmospheres, suggestions, dreamlike places for all the viewers.
The first paintings of this in progress series will premiere in the Bloomz art show on 29th and 30 January. Just a week!
Have you already taken your free ticket for the event?
Follow this LINK, I hope I’ll see you there!
Ticket to ride
Oh, the Hogwards Express!
When I am with my kids, we often dress up and dream about going to the school of magic and live great adventures, like Harry Potter and his friends.
What would you say if I can open for you the doors of a magical environment?
A place where all is joy, colour and expectations.
In these dark times we definitely deserve such a possibility of entertainment. And even if I am not a witch, I already have a magic wand.
Guess what? My paintbrushes, of course!
So let me invite you to the show of my artist collective, the Bloomz group, which will be completely free and held online, on Zoom.
As a group, we are a varied, eclectic mix of artists from across the globe who will be ready to show you their latest collections of original work, talk to you about their passion for their art and discuss the processes they use. Artists often hear that people can find High Street galleries uninviting and intimidating places.
So we wanted to break down the barriers and talk direct to anybody interested in art. Hopefully visitors will find an artist, among us, about who they would like to find out more, and thus will be able to follow them—either through social media or by joining the artist’s mailing list.
There will be three Art Show sessions—one at 19:00hrs 29th January plus one at 10:00hrs and one at 19:00hrs (UK time) on 30th January—and each show will last 3 hours.
We suggest you allow 2 hours for your visit. The artists are detailed on the website so that you can get to know them a little before you arrive at the event.
The first show in September 2020 received rave reviews and once the allotted tickets have been taken there will be a waiting list in case of cancellations.
If you want to experience what is becoming the most talked about global Art Show phenomenom, then secure your tickets now – Register for you ticket NOW.
Entrance is FREE but you do need to register for your tickets.
Get your free pass here, or if you want to know more about the Bloomz, follow this link.
New year, new mood!
Fireworks, wishes, cheers and bubbles in the intimate atmosphere of our houses have led us to the new year. And now?
I browse the pages of my new daily planner (I’m committing to be organised, this year) and in those blank spaces I see a bunch of possibilities.
My children have a new board game where each player simulates a job career, a family (pets included) and a house; the goal of the game is facing all the changes in life (marriage, purchasing a house, making debts, growing children and pets).
I see that my young boys really get passionate in this role playing and I understand the reason too. We all love dreaming, we love identifying ourselves in other people’s lives to enjoy new adventures and looking at the world from different perspectives. Who knows if with better results.
I say, today, that the privilege of feeling, being and living as an artist intrinsically allows me to reinvent myself day after day.
I can swim in the waves of Kanagawa’s works, I smell orchids in the Polynesian island with Gauguin. I suffer as Vincent looking at the golden wheat fields and seeing the unbridgeable gap between the inside and the outside world.
I laugh, dream and listen to the beautiful stories of people who ask me commissions. I hear about other countries, other families, and every time I am astonished by the human souls, that create and destroy, change destinies and history with a yes or a no.
Let’s spin the wheel and get prepared, because I’ll cover you with stories, inspirations, colour and gorgeous exciting stuff!
And please, mark red 29th and 30th January on your calendar for the exclusive second Bloomz Art Show on Zoom (details coming shortly).
Magic Moments
Hello dear friends and art lovers!
I am happy to announce that I will be participating in the “Magic Moments” auction, organised by the Soul Energy Art Group in Facebook.
It begins on Saturday December 5th. There will be gorgeous work by many artists displayed each day. My new work will be up for auction from 10 AM EST.
If you would like to join the event, CLICK HERE and join the Facebook group where the auction will take place.
I hope to see you there!
Elisa
Less is more
Since I began to paint consistently, on an almost daily basis, I decided to study the Old Masters from a technical point of view, and besides the grisaille technique (see this previous article) I was attracted by the use of a particular palette which seemed to be extremely useful to mix fleshtones and create harmonious portraits.
A Swedish painter, Anders Zorn, introduced an essential but innovative limited palette that is nowadays known as Zorn palette.
It consists of just 4 colors being yellow ochre, ivory black, vermilion and titanium white. Cadmium red light is commonly used in place of vermilion by modern day artists.
Whilst this may seem like an extremely limited range of colors, Zorn demonstrated through his paintings just what is possible with such a limited palette.
Here is a self-portrait of Zorn with his palette.
I embraced the challenge to try this limited palette and explore all the possible combinations of colours.
I find definitely boring doing color swatches but in this case it was essential, since it was the only way to understand how these 4 colours create an unbelievable large number of tones, and especially skin tones. I prefer muted tints and shades, and I usually avoid too saturated colours. The Zorn palette offers a wide gamut of ‘pinks’, warm, cold, greyish, brownish.
My experiments are being really useful to improve my knowledge of color theory, and I am finishing a small series of portraits, entirely painted through the Zorn palette, which will be available on the auction that will be held in the ‘Soul & Energy Art Group‘ on Facebook.
Join the group in order to subscribe to the ‘Magic Moments’ auction,and let beautiful art inspire your December and lead you to a joyful, colourful Christmas time!
Next week I’ll give a preview of all the pieces giving all the details of size, support and the range of prices.
All I want for Christmas is….a drawing!!
Are you unpacking all your Christmas decorations?
Are you already looking for a special, unexpected and original present for your sister, mother, or best friend?
Do you think that perfumes, bottles of wine and foulards are the most boring presents ever (as I do, LOL)?
You would love to imprint on paper you best smile during your last trip in Italy, or the first kiss with your husband, because keeping our beloved ones in front of our eyes gives us strenght and joy.
You may want a portrait of your children to be hanged in your office, in order to have a tender visual connection with them even when you are working.
You are looking for a unique and affordable idea to celebrate your essence of amazing human being.
I do not wear a red dress like Santa Claus, but I am definitely a creative soul and in this special time of the year I want to offer to my subscribers, fans and collectors the opportunity of having one of my art pieces at a special price.
From Monday 30 November to Sunday 20 December you will be able to commission me a drawing in pencils or buy one of my available drawings for 99 euros! First come, first served!
Each day I will post on my social media accounts a pencil sketch on paper, whose dimensions are in average 15 cms by 20 cms.
The drawings can be yours at the special price of 99 euros (notice that shipping costs are extra and will be determined on the basis of your address).
As an alternative, if you prefer to have your own subject portrayed, just message me or contact me via my website (here) to schedule a commission consultation with a resulting sketch at the same price!
I’m so excited about Christmas time!
Embrace the joy of Christmas with me!
Stardust and magic
Are you enchanted by the deepest blue, starry skies at night?
Do you imagine to travel through space and time?
Do you like identifying the stars and you find yourself captured by the moonlight?
I believe we are made of stardust, as we are a part of the universe and a step of the creation.
Stars to sail the stormy seas safely.
Falling stars to make a wish.
I don’t read horoscopes, and I don’t want to know my future, but I love Greek mythology and I’ve always loved Astronomy. I wonder what is beyond the dark of the night, and when I think that the light of a star that I see in a moment was emitted maybe one year ago, or even more, I feel speechless.
We are so fragile.
We stand in our little, busy daily life in front of an apparently moveless universe. But it expands, it grows and new stars are born,whilst old stars fade away and suck up the matter.
Is there silence, in the space? Do stars have a scent?
I want to celebrate the triumph of Creation. I want to represent the eternal light that all creates. I want to give a tribute to our desire of searching, knowing, exploring, overcoming fears, overcoming darkness.
All these themes populate a series of small mixed media paintings (size A4) I am actually working on, that speak about constellations and show the strong symbolism related to them.
This will be a limited series of works, dedicated to the Zodiac constellations, and no prints will be made.
The release of the ‘Constellation’ serie will be in the month of December.
Be sure to check my personal page on Facebook and my website to know more about the release of the paintings and to see some work in progress pictures I will be posting along the journey through galaxies!
Parole, parole, parole…
You will forgive me if I start our weekly appointment with a quote from an old, famous Italian song, which you may like to listen to clicking here (highly recommended, Mina is a famous and sophisticated Italian performer).
‘Parole’ is translated as ‘words’.
I believe in the immense power of words.
They are able to uplift you to heaven, or to create despair and abandonment.
They unveil reality.
I love creating a story around each of my paintings, and I usually post both when a piece is on sale.
In a few words I guide the viewer to look through my eyes at the meaning of the portrait. Words and colours fuse and permeate a soulful insight of reality.
Of course, it is a mere suggestion. We are always called to look beyond.
Beyond the first glance.
Beyond the first meaning.
Yesterday I was interviewed by the amazing Steve Brooks of Wackylamps on his Instagram page (click here). In this interview I dedicate some time to outline my WHY as a professional artist.
Why do I paint?
Why am I driven to art?
Everything I do is to embrace the love and the intense emotions I have inside.
I believe we are all craving a deep knowing of our spiritual selves.
I just happen to narrate the intangible thoughts in my dreamlike, emotional paintings.
Let’s define normality
With a delay of one week due to bad weather conditions and my physical sickness, at the last weekend I was able to visit an exhibition of paintings by people hospitalized in the mental hospital of my town, which is now closed, from 1960 to 1980. An art collective was created within the medical stucture to emphasize the therapeutic function of art.
My mother started to work in 1978 as a doctor in that mental hospital, during the night. She always tells me that she was so inexperienced and awed by people that she used to lock herself in the studio, even there was no real danger in the contact with patients.
Better to let the pictures speak, but I leave for you some provocative questions, with the hope that we can all have a discussion on my Facebook page, in this specific post.
What is normality? What is abnormality?
Is our deliberate judgement or assumption that marks the line of separation between sane and insane, or do we need a medical certification?
If I say that trees speak to me, and I hear their voices, will you think that I am a fool and I require medical treatment or will you simply think that I’ve watched too many New Age videos?
Every single person who lived in that mental hospital had a story, that somehow the Story, the one with the capital letter, has neglected and canceled.
They had hopes. Maybe they loved Christmas, they loved looking at the snow flakes falling.
Did they dance under the rain?
I feel relief when I think that painting might have brought to them some awareness of the feelings they wanted to represent, as art is always, and I underline always, intentional, since the dawn of times.
A selection of the artwork follows, but you can find all the pictures uploaded in this Facebook post. I’ll also go live to give you a global overview of the experience!!!!
