Frescoin' in Florence

I studied abroad this summer in Florence, Italy at SACI, Studio Art Centers International. During the first half of my time there, I took a fresco class with Mario and Luigi, two incredibly kind and knowledgeable Italian artists interested in reviving the fresco tradition. They also couldn't have resembled the Super Mario Brothers more; They both had enormous mustaches, spoke heavily accented English, and to top it all off, Luigi was Mario's assistant.

I really enjoyed making frescoes, but found a difficult medium for a number of reasons. The first was that once the plaster is laid, there is only about three hours before the plaster is dry, at which point no more pigment can be added. The second was that colors dry a slightly different color than when they are applied. Since the pigments build on themselves, it is also almost impossible to cover up any mistakes, especially if that requires covering a dark color with a lighter one. We created cartoons for our work, meticulously drawing the composition of each piece and preparing it to be easily transferred before laying the plaster. I tried to focus more of my attention to line and composition because I knew that the colors were tricky and often dried to be much more bland than what I am used to. Although I probably wont return to the medium for a while, I really liked the pieces I made.

Oneiroi (2008), fresco
I based this one on a beautiful tombstone that I saw in the Camposanto, a Pisan graveyard bombed during WWII (see below):


Baucis and Philemon (2008)

Botticellian Lady (2008)
This was my first fresco. We were supposed to pick a famous fresco or painting detail and use that as a template in order to practice the fresco technique. I love Botticelli's Primavera, so of course I opted for the detail from that! Detail of My Detail of Botticelli's Primavera