Oct. 03, 2019 | Posted in Reports, Painting and Drawing , Student Reporter | Tags:Kristin Fiorvanti, Painting and DrawingReporter: Kristin Fiorvanti | Course: Painting and Drawing

Painting and Drawing vol.13 (One-Year Course – Kristin)

Practice, Practice, Practice
This week was a repeat of the last –oils, still-lives, and landscapes. With a big exhibition coming up, I’m at place with the repetition, and perhaps it’s needed for me to grow in these specific subjects.

Last weekend, while hunting for frames, I bought a book at a local antique shop. It was full of diverse impressionist styles of art from contemporary Italian artists. After showing it to professor Rinaldi, she suggested that we try a still life with color. Pictured here is my setup. At first, I was left alone to attempt it on my own. I painted in a green background because there wasn’t originally the dark blue board behind it.

After attempting to paint over this (quite obnoxious) green color, my instructor suggested that we place the board there to help me choose a better color for the background. It inspired me to ask more questions about color theory, for example, how to choose and replicate certain colors. Rinaldi clarified the importance of warm/cool complementary colors in a composition –especially one similar to Monet or contemporary impressionistic art.

After my test this week on the Renaissance in Florence, I was excited to learn that, in perfect timing, I will start a Basic Lesson on Color Theory next week. Especially since I started painting landscapes (such as this one) in oils, I’ve become very curious about it. Pictured about is the beginnings of an oil painting of the exhibition.

With Alessandro’s tips, I was able to complete this piece in an accumulative 3 hours. It’s quite impressive timing for myself. Next, I think we will be moving on to watercolor painting.

I’ve remained very busy at home, with artwork, framing, brainstorming and crafting. At the same time, trying brush up on my Italian in order to communicate better with locals. The artwork pictured above is hanging in my kitchen; I’ve worked on it at a slow pace for the past month. It’s the biggest piece I’ve ever completed, and after adding the finishing touches to it, I think it’s also the closest thing to pop-art I’ve ever done. While I don’t feel its style, I’m still impressed at its size (120cm x 100cm).

Occasionally, I still enjoy the comfort of drawing small. This is a portrait in my journal of Marco Pascali, a shoe-making student in the academy. He previously studied shoe design in his home town of Cesena, and now he is surprising the only student from Italy currently studying at Accademia Riaci.