Art Blast!: The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

December's class "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" is a project I have been long awaiting to do. I love Japanese landscape art from the 18th and 19th Century and this exemplifies this period beautifully.

I will instruct the students on the proper use of values in painting. We will learn about tints and shades and their application to achieve aerial prospective. I will talk about Japanese woodblock art of the 19th Century and its influence on the French Impressionist and how it revolutionized landscape art. I also will share from my private collection a beautiful example of Japanese Woodblock art done by a prominent artist of the time, Takahashi Shotei. The students will watch a short documentary on Japanese woodblock technique and I will also read a lovely children's book, "Hokusai, The Man Who Painted a Mountain" by Deborah Kogan Ray.

December 3rd - 9am to 12pm

December 17th - 1pm to 4pm

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About Me

Like many professional artists, I have been drawn to art in many forms from a very early age. I was fortunate to have grown up in an environment that was rich with artistic works from many genres, an experience that imbued me with an appreciation for a wide range of styles and movements. I was born and raised in Italy where my parents filled our Lake Como villa with fantastic classical and contemporary works by important artists ranging from Charles Le Brun, the Court painter to French King Louis XIV, to Lucio Fontana, perhaps the most important of the Italian modernists who developed the Concetto Spaziale in art and sculpture.

In 1986 I graduated from the prestigious Istituto per L’Arte e il Restauro in Florence, one of the worlds premier art restoration and conservation schools, where I majored in Conservation of Paintings and Art History. For the next decade, I was president of Restoration and Conservation Studio in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I worked with important collectors and Museums to restore and conserve an incredibly diverse collection of masterpieces.

My many years experience, surrounded by beautiful art and the combination of knowledge gained in the conservation field led me to open Boxwood Antiques and Fine Art in Old Town, Alexandria, in 1996. This gallery specialized in artists from the 18^th to 20^th centuries. I also collected and sold many other precious works, including fine 18^th Century English and American silver, Chinese, Japanese and English porcelain, and 18^th and 19^th Century American and English furniture. All of these items have helped me develop an appreciation for the many techniques that I bring to bear when creating lessons for children.

In 2001, to allow more time with my family, I closed the gallery and begun my journey as an artist.

After a few weekly workshops with important American plein air artists I realized that my true passion was painting and that same year I was lucky to be juried into the historic Washington Society of Landscape Painters (WSLP) and the Oil Painters of America (OPA).

My works have shown in several major national exhibitions, including those hosted by the OPA and American Women Artists (AWA). In 2002 I was invited to participate in I the exclusive Carmel Art Festival.

Now my most important focus is my family and children. I have three beautiful children, Liam 7, Sofia 6, and Tristan 5. This keeps me very busy and my time behind the easel is for now limited. In 2010 I decided that it would be wonderful to combine my passion for art and children, so I started teaching small groups of children drawing, painting and art history.

The result has been very rewarding, and the creativity of children never ceases to amaze me. I often find that I learn as much from their open minds and limitless vision as they learn from me!