This year I am working on small gouache on paper. I guess you can consider gouache as an opaque water color, to put it simply. I do manipulate the medium a little bit by dragging a tool across the image. It gives me a soft quality I like.
I have completed about twenty, and these will be the basis of a book we plan to have available through the gallery. Below, there are examples of some of these paintings. They are small images, measuring about 3X3 inches each.
The paintings are intimate gestures of our stay in Umbria this year. These small pieces will develop into larger canvases back home, in the studio. It's all about inspiration on many different levels and layers.
Painting near Missiano.
A simple set up to paint with gouache.
My palette.
Here are the examples of some of the pieces. I hope you like them.
Janelle and I have had the luxury of driving around in a new (rented) Fiat Cinque Cento, the car everyone back home loves to see driving around town.. the only drawback for me is the trunk storage size. But, we manage to get all our supplies in there. We enjoy throwing in a picnic and heading out to the countryside for a painting opportunity to show up.
My rolling studio.
Later at the house, there is plenty of room to stretch out on the big dining table. I can work on notebooks, watercolors and a series of small scale gouaches I am really happy with. More on those later.
Below I am painting in my beautiful outdoor studio I refer to as "The Turret". It is simply a vista/rest spot just outside of the walls of Panicale. There are trees for shade and benches to place materials on, and it offers magnificent views. All an artist can ask for.
Painting at the Turret.
The scattered tools of my outdoor studio.
Here is a makeshift solution I came up with at the house we are staying in. I need a place to set the paintings aside while they dry, so the smell of the paint isn't an issue for Janelle in the house. This works well and I'm really happy with it. You can see it's just a storage unit on the side of the house.
But inside, it holds treasures! And I like the charm of the "stuff" of the garden all around.
The rolled up green thing is synthetic "grass"...something I can lay down to protect the patio or floor of the house while I am painting.
There is a shelf that is perfect for my home made drying rack which holds the works on paper. Also, I am storing assorted paint brushes and supplies I've bought here in Italy.
Another shot of my "Studio".
Small, but mighty. And mighty useful.
Paintings on paper set up to dry.
While we have asked everyone we've met about renting a small garage, or outbuilding for a proper studio next year. But this year my little makeshift studio was a good friend. Next year, who knows?
Working on paper offers it's own challenges and rewards. It was something I had decided to do long before we left. It was a way to travel lighter, while also being able to paint more and larger pieces. Last years paintings were all 8 inch by 8 inch, oil on panel.
Painting outdoors is difficult enough, and then you compound your troubles with painting in a foreign country, especially with oil paints. All the hassles of airport security, etc, and buying supplies here; oil paint, turpentine, medium...which is how I have chosen to do it.
I wasn't used to painting on paper with oil, but you learn as you go. The secret is to just let the paint do the talking, and every artist paints the best they can, up to that point.
These are some of my offerings, and I look forward to studying them at home. These are just a springboard to larger canvases,like a sketch, but they are fully resolved. I value the spontaneity of the painting moment. For me that is the richness that I appreciate the most... the un-self consciousness of the painting experience. "Free", to just let the paint do the talking.
I'm looking forward to seeing these framed, and hanging in the gallery. There are a lot more to show, and I'll be posting more photos as time goes by...
From The Panicale Walls
Road To Casalini
Across The Lago To Cortona
Afternoon At Lago Trasimeno
Sweet Umbria
Umbrian Spring
Shadows Near Casalini
Abstract In The Olive Grove
Mongiovino View
Strada Capuccini
Chiesa Vecchia
Ready For The Photo Shoot...
Panicale Skyline 2012
Catching A Moment
View From Isola Maggiore Toward Castiglione Del Lago
Seems I keep being asked, while here in Umbria, about our gallery back home in California... here is our website, which gives an idea as to some of the larger, abstracted landscapes I do, when I return home to my studio.. www.johnnyapodaca.com
The "Process" of painting en plein air is, of course, a transplanted French style of painting, i.e Impressionism, from the late 19th century. It was then transplanted into the California painting tradition in the early 20th century.
To me, this is the poetic experience of an artist with the privilege of meeting face to face the challenge of interpreting and expressing an archetypal landscape with the aim of creating an ideal and idealized composite landscape: a world in which nature is transformed into elegant splendor, if that is possible.
This is the question and the challenge for me.
This "Process" is what I am demonstrating in this blog post, and all these posts, as I am painting enplein air, while here in Umbria. As the Italians say... "tradizionale", a grand and great tradition which I am lucky enough to say I am a part of.
Now.
At this time, I have to interject... I am also in the act of destroying this tradition, deconstructing this tradition, recreating this tradition. That is what I will do when I return to my home and my studio in California. My job is to distill, and hopefully transcend these painting experiences into something... new... at least that was my training, and that is what I will endeavor to do.
The setting up.
You gotta have fun, too.
Process, process, process... Love it, or leave it.
Working with the gessoed paper.
Ready.
Work in progress.
Beginning painting.
Finished.
Below are some examples of painting plein air in Umbria. Enjoy. Ciao!
Janelle and I have always loved Siena, and wanted to try and get back there, so we took a mini trip into Tuscany for a couple of days. The drive through the countryside, the scenic route, felt like being home again. It's one of the most beautiful roads in the world.
Once in Siena, we made it to the free parking area, snaking up to the historic center..it was good to be back. After checking in, we headed to the Duomo. I always wanted to climb up to the top of the unfinished section, and finally we did.
We spent a good amount of time inside the Duomo, too. The weather was a little wet, and there was so much to see.
Some higher inspiration
Inside the amazing Duomo in Siena
Frescoes by Pinturicchio, and a Roman copy of the Three Graces, from the Greek original.
Also in the Duomo..
Just on the edge of the historic center of Siena, is the San Dominico church. It's powerful and strong, a bedrock of a building. I guess it's supposed to be a symbol of it's faith. It's always impressed me with it's stature. It's not a beautiful building, but it's beauty is in it's powerful presence.
San Dominico church-Beauty and strength.
I took this from the terrace of the place we stayed at.
Artist at the Wishing Well.
The second day, the weather was nice enough to set up in "Il Campo", one of the most beautiful piazzas in all of Italy. We enjoy sitting here in the evenings, watching the swallows darting around, as the light changes to dusk. It was the first time I set up to paint here.
Janelle took some shots-that's me, sitting at the base of a pillar.
Just another small, gentle painting.
I was trying to get a feel of the expansive space, on just a small panel painting. It's capturing a moment, the time of day(late morning), and the shadows-it's just a sketch, but I was trying to make it heart felt.
There is so much history, centuries of history, in that place. Just trying to remain humble, enjoying and paying homage to the moment. And the place.
Is it possible to hear history?
The piazza becomes a studio. Tranquility for just a few moments.
"Il Campo" 12 April, 2012
The short video below gives a small sense of the sounds, activity and energy of the daily dance of this piazza.
All going on while I sit, absorb and distill some 40 years of painting into a moment. It's just me, my style.
