On our last morning in Bologna yesterday, I rushed over to get a final look at the wonderful Basilica de Sant Steffano and had just a few minutes to do a quick scribble with conté crayons into my A4 brown paper sketchbook.
Home At Last
Home at last and glad to get back to Sparta Puss ….. and our memory foam mattress topper, what a good buy that’s turned out to be. I ended up doing quite a few sketches in Italy, which I will put up tomorrow, here’s one of a rather Byzantine Christ on a church ceiling in Florence. I think it was a baptistry but I’m not sure. I’ll have to go through the itinerary to work out where each sketch was done, I should put it next to the sketch, really, but often forget to. I should also remember to wear my glasses when I’m drawing too, but it’s such a faff when you’re on the go. So the perspective here is a bit skewiff because I was squinting.
Teeny Tiny Cherub
Husb and I have moved on to Bologna from Florence, being culture vultures and taking in loads of fabulous places with our guide, Andrew Spira. I stopped to draw this teeny tiny head of a cherub, but had to rush on to discover more exhibits before I could finish it. Still, that’s what a sketchbook is for.
Another Cadaver
Here’s another drawing from the museum of natural science in Florence, from the exhibition of exquisitely made wax cadavers. They are quite gruesome to draw, partly because they have been given very lifelike glass eyes. This example shows the main veins and arteries.
Deathlike
I’m having a break in Florence for a few days and although I brought my sketchbook with me, I wasn’t planning on doing much drawing unless something really inspired me. It turned out to be a cadaver. Sometimes I worry about me.
We went with our excellent guide, Andrew, to the La Specola Museum of Natural History where they have an extraordinary collection of anatomical models made in wax. They are amazing and, I was going to say lifelike, but I guess they’re deathlike. Drawn with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen into my A6 Tate Gallery sketchbook.
Don’t Bother With The Tipsy Tower
If you visit Pisa in Italy, my advice is don’t bother with the tipsy tower, too full of tourists, but go instead to the fascinating Museum of Calculation Devices, which displays the history of early calculators and computers. It is awesome.
But avoid the toilets. Easily the worst public toilet I have visited in Europe. Otherwise, so much better than tipsy towers.
Taking a break.
Taking a break. Pisa today. There is a wonky tower there.
Firenze
Just taking a break for a few days, soaking up the art and sunshine of Florence.
It’s All A Bit Zen.
The carving begins! The final drawing has been transferred in reverse onto the MDF block in compressed charcoal. Then I redrew everything with a brush and walnut ink. And now I’m cutting. After all the rush and stress of the past few weeks, it feels a bit Zen to quietly carve into the wood, carefully scribing the lines and curves with nothing but the sound of my breathing to accompany me. It’s very meditative.
This is a large woodcut commissioned by Sky Arts television channel for ART50. You can read more about what I’m doing here.
Getting On With It
I’m on the last leg now with “Here Be Dragons”, my commission for Sky Arts, getting my final design transferred into a large sheet of MDF. I’m back in my studio at home, with Helen Finney’s portrait of me looking down as I work.
I transferred it using detail paper, that had a tracing of the design in compressed charcoal. Once that was on the MDF, I went over each line with a good quality squirrel hair brush and home-made walnut ink. Tomorrow, the cutting begins!
