The Grandeur and Grime of Italia

The Grandeur and Grime of Italia

Part of my favorite experience while being in Italy in the summer is the heightened visual awareness about common sights found in the new environment.   This is my sixth summer in a row  leaving the American grid and landing in a seemingly non-linear space of Firenze.  Everyday I am acutely aware of the exceptional grandeur and the grime in the span of even a few blocks. This year is no exception. After shooting thousands of images over the last years, I have honed in on what I’m drawn to, but what I find and where it appears is still a daily surprise.  A simple walk  offers a seemingly never-ending trail of visual delights.

I absolutely adore the location of my apartment this year. I’m in a grand old building with lots of original decor and charm with a view of the Palazzo Ricardi Medici directly across the street and the famed Lorenzo Market only a stones throw away. Its really interesting to be in a relatively quiet sanctuary inside the apartment one minute and then immersed in the major hustle bustle of the market the next.

Here’s an architectural detail of the palace from my living room window.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Medici_Riccardi

This is the view from a room I’ve declared the studio for the next month.

My digital collection of aged walls is steadily growing. Some of these images will become at least a starting place for abstract paintings. It is truly a case of one man’s trash being another man’s treasure I suppose! Here are some favorite patinaed surfaces from my new neighborhood.

Saturday everyone from Santa Reparata International School of Art went on a field trip to Siena. This is always a marathon of  sun and walking all day long up and down the hills through amazingly intact   Medieval streets. From what saw, there was no where near as much grafitti in Siena as compared to Firenze, but I did find an exceptional wall pictured at the end here! Here are a few images of Siena.