Rosanna Hardin Hall Is Just Back from Italy!
Rosanna Hardin Hall Is Just Back from Italy! - See Her New Watercolors This Friday
Join me to celebrate my return from my favorite gardens in Rome, Florence, and Venice at the First Friday open house on October 5 at Villa dell'Artista.
Please join me at my gallery, Villa dell'Artista, on Friday, October 5, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., as I share tales - and some samples of watercolors - from my visit in September and early October to lovely Italian gardens in three of my favorite places: Rome, Florence, and Venice.
Below is a description of what I plan to do on my sojourn to Italy, written prior to my departure. I'd love to share these stories - and more - at my October open house!
Before I leave for Italy, I spend a day studying the works of Giorgione, as I plan to take a train from Venice to Castelfranco, where he was born. I will visit two painting sites: one in a house with frescoes of geometric instruments to study the heavens, painting equipment, and ancient philosophers. The other is an innovative altarpiece called the Pala. It is what they call the Sacred Conversation with the Virgin and Child on a high altar in daylight with a strong landscape behind.
In Venice, I will see his Tempesta, my favorite painting. I have selected pigments in watercolors that he used, although he painted in an emulsion of walnut oil and egg tempera. He painted on a white ground, and then did some preliminary drawings on the canvas before beginning to paint in color. The Venetians were not able to do frescos such as you see in Florence because of the damp Venetian air which disintegrated the paint on plaster. So they developed painting on canvas with the newly introduced fast-drying nut oil such as walnut and linseed.
While in Castelfranco, I will take my paints and try to do some quick watercolor studies of the town, especially of the still-existing medieval wall which may be reflected in the distant landscape of Tempesta.
I am sorry that I don't have more time in Venice - only two days. I will have dinner with my old friend Tudy Samartini who wrote about the secret gardens of Venice and gained entree for me to paint in some of these gardens in the past.
During the rest of my trip, I will be in Rome for several days during which I plan to revisit Villa d'Este in Tivoli and nearby Villa Adrianna, the ruins of the ancient Roman Emperor Hadrian.
Then I will visit Florence where I hope to paint in Medici Renaissance gardens. I also hope to look in on the Florence Academy of Art where I studied in 1994. The school emphasizes good draftsmanship taught by the French Academy in Rome during the 19th century.
So, I will revisit all of the materials and techniques of the Italian Renaissance practiced by some of the greatest Western painters - those in Venice emphasized wonderful color and introduced landscape as the main subject of a painting, during a period of ferment when classical learning was reintroduced into the intellectual and religious life of Italy. By 1500, when Giorgione entered the arena, the high renaissance was beginning when the greatest Renaissance painters lived: Bellini, Titian, and Giorgione in Venice; Leonardo da Vinci in Florence, who had a great impact on the Venetians; and Michelangelo and Raphael, to mention a few. Since I am a landscape painter, I am naturally attracted to the Venetians - and to the lingering beauty of Venice. I love to return there to stroll through narrow winding streets, hop aboard a vaparetto on the Grand Canal and glide past the magnificent jewel-like casas along the way.
So, arrivederci. See you Friday, October 5, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Villa dell'Artista where I hope to show you some of my own paintings inspired by Giorgione.
SAVE THE DATES!
November 2
On November 2, return for my IDADA First Friday tour and see the full array of watercolors from my Italian tour of the gardens of Rome, Florence, and Venice.
December 1 - February 9
Also, beginning in December, there will be an exhibition of my work at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 North Meridian Street. The gallery is accessible every day. Call 253-6461 for hours.
December 7
December 7 is the date of the holiday First Friday. Join us for a festive gathering. We will be announcing our guest artist soon.
HOLIDAY GIFTS
Available now are a multitude of unframed watercolors from Italy, Hawaii, and elsewhere, very reasonably priced for holiday gifts - or for your own collection. Also available are drawings and other sketches, also at very affordable prices. Of course, in my villa are also many smaller, framed oil paintings from locales around the world, as well as scenes from Woodruff Place, and larger works as well. View these framed works on my website.
Join me to celebrate my return from my favorite gardens in Rome, Florence, and Venice at the First Friday open house on October 5 at Villa dell'Artista.
Please join me at my gallery, Villa dell'Artista, on Friday, October 5, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., as I share tales - and some samples of watercolors - from my visit in September and early October to lovely Italian gardens in three of my favorite places: Rome, Florence, and Venice.
Below is a description of what I plan to do on my sojourn to Italy, written prior to my departure. I'd love to share these stories - and more - at my October open house!
 |
| Giardini a Venezia II, 30" x 40." |
Before I leave for Italy, I spend a day studying the works of Giorgione, as I plan to take a train from Venice to Castelfranco, where he was born. I will visit two painting sites: one in a house with frescoes of geometric instruments to study the heavens, painting equipment, and ancient philosophers. The other is an innovative altarpiece called the Pala. It is what they call the Sacred Conversation with the Virgin and Child on a high altar in daylight with a strong landscape behind.
In Venice, I will see his Tempesta, my favorite painting. I have selected pigments in watercolors that he used, although he painted in an emulsion of walnut oil and egg tempera. He painted on a white ground, and then did some preliminary drawings on the canvas before beginning to paint in color. The Venetians were not able to do frescos such as you see in Florence because of the damp Venetian air which disintegrated the paint on plaster. So they developed painting on canvas with the newly introduced fast-drying nut oil such as walnut and linseed.
 |
| Convento I, 10" x 16." |
While in Castelfranco, I will take my paints and try to do some quick watercolor studies of the town, especially of the still-existing medieval wall which may be reflected in the distant landscape of Tempesta.
I am sorry that I don't have more time in Venice - only two days. I will have dinner with my old friend Tudy Samartini who wrote about the secret gardens of Venice and gained entree for me to paint in some of these gardens in the past.
During the rest of my trip, I will be in Rome for several days during which I plan to revisit Villa d'Este in Tivoli and nearby Villa Adrianna, the ruins of the ancient Roman Emperor Hadrian.
Then I will visit Florence where I hope to paint in Medici Renaissance gardens. I also hope to look in on the Florence Academy of Art where I studied in 1994. The school emphasizes good draftsmanship taught by the French Academy in Rome during the 19th century.
So, I will revisit all of the materials and techniques of the Italian Renaissance practiced by some of the greatest Western painters - those in Venice emphasized wonderful color and introduced landscape as the main subject of a painting, during a period of ferment when classical learning was reintroduced into the intellectual and religious life of Italy. By 1500, when Giorgione entered the arena, the high renaissance was beginning when the greatest Renaissance painters lived: Bellini, Titian, and Giorgione in Venice; Leonardo da Vinci in Florence, who had a great impact on the Venetians; and Michelangelo and Raphael, to mention a few. Since I am a landscape painter, I am naturally attracted to the Venetians - and to the lingering beauty of Venice. I love to return there to stroll through narrow winding streets, hop aboard a vaparetto on the Grand Canal and glide past the magnificent jewel-like casas along the way.
So, arrivederci. See you Friday, October 5, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Villa dell'Artista where I hope to show you some of my own paintings inspired by Giorgione.
 |
| Avenues of Cypress I, 8" x 10." |
SAVE THE DATES!
November 2
On November 2, return for my IDADA First Friday tour and see the full array of watercolors from my Italian tour of the gardens of Rome, Florence, and Venice.
December 1 - February 9
Also, beginning in December, there will be an exhibition of my work at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 North Meridian Street. The gallery is accessible every day. Call 253-6461 for hours.
December 7
December 7 is the date of the holiday First Friday. Join us for a festive gathering. We will be announcing our guest artist soon.
HOLIDAY GIFTS
Available now are a multitude of unframed watercolors from Italy, Hawaii, and elsewhere, very reasonably priced for holiday gifts - or for your own collection. Also available are drawings and other sketches, also at very affordable prices. Of course, in my villa are also many smaller, framed oil paintings from locales around the world, as well as scenes from Woodruff Place, and larger works as well. View these framed works on my website.
posted by Rosanna Hardin Hall @ 6:43 AM
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