Marc Dalessio

I’ll be having another exhibition for charity next week at the Osteria di Santo Spirito. The paintings are all sketches from this winter painted in the Oltrarno of Florence and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Amici di Santo Spirito association. The opening reception will be on Thursday, February 25th from 6 to 9 pm. You can see some of the work here.

I recently got a new DSLR camera capable of filming in 1080/24p full-HD (a Panasonic Lumix GH1) for some video projects I want to do. Having never filmed anything before (and I’ve only owned a regular camera for a couple of years), I’ve been using the forums over at DVXuser and youtube tutorials to learn a bit about shooting and editing the footage after.

These are my first attempts, so they’re a bit messy. The first was practicing with the camera while some friends painted a portrait sketch at Ben Fenske’s studio.

The second is my trip last week with Leo Mancini-Hresko and Joe Altwer to find where Corot painted his ‘Bridge at Narni‘ in southern Umbria.

My hope is to start using video to do tutorials, so stay tuned.

Here, quickly, are a few of the sketches from my trip to lake Como this week. We stayed above Varenna at the beautiful Castle di Vezio (if anyone is looking for an exceedingly picturesque agritursimo around the lake).

View of Bellagio. Oil on panel, 20 x 30 cm.

Monte di Tremezzo. Oil on panel, 25 x 35 cm.

Ben Fenske and I had a painting competition for the view above. We bet our cars and I thrashed him. Too bad I wouldn’t know what to do with a purple Opel station wagon. (To be fair, the last time we had a paint-off he won by a mile).

The Ferry Landing at Varenna. Oil on panel, 20 x 30 cm.

Varenna from the Port. Oil on canvas, 18 x 25 cm.

Laguna Cliffs. 10 x 12 in., oil on panel.

I’ve been in Los Angeles teaching a small plein air workshop. Here are a few of the small sketches from the trip. Most are the paintings I do while demonstrating what to do so the artwork did not receive my full concentration. The good news is that I am finally getting better at talking while I paint after all these years.

Hyperion Bridge. 8 x 8 in., oil on panel.

Pines at Griffith Park. 8 x 10 in., oil on panel.

Fountain at Griffith Park. 6 x 8 in., oil on panel.

Eucalyptus. 11 x 14 in., oil on panel.

Palisades Cliffs. 11 x 14 in., oil on panel.

Still have to get the bugs off the canvas on that last one.

I remember the reason I wanted to become a landscape painter when I was young was the desire to paint the beauty of California. Its been a wonderful experience to be back painting plein air here after all these years.

There was also a small portrait workshop during the week.

Picture of the portrait demonstration on the first day.

The Trophy stand at Marcialla.

This post is a week late, but once again the painters from La Torricella swept the Marcialla painting competition last Sunday. I took first place (finally!), Kelly Askey took second, and Tim McGuire took third. For the few of you out there still unfamiliar with the annual painting competition held in the village of Marcialla, it is a charming event open to all (for a nominal 8 euro fee) held every year in July in a small hilltop town just outside Tavarnelle val di Pesa (40 minutes south of Florence).

My set-up at the Torricella.

Me with the Mayor of Barberino Val d'Elsa.

Actually, a number of small towns do these plein air competitions throughout Italy every summer, though they never have any advertising whatsoever. A few are scams where they keep all the paintings, or charge large entrance fees, but most are like the Marcialla arte, with an “everyone wins” attitude and lots of charm. The prizes are plastic trophies with wine and pasta donated from the local shops though the big winners every year are the those who get the “people’s vote” and walk away with the 15 liter bottle of a local farmer’s wine.

Victor with his trophy and winning work.

For anyone painting in the countryside in Italy in the summers, I would highly recommend you look into the local arts competition.

Using the sight-size technique for landscape painting.

There is a lot going on right now in my life and haven’t been posting much. This is just a quick post to help better explain to my weekend landscape students the principle behind using the sight-size method for plein air sketching. In the photo above you can see how the camera was held in a position where the subject is the exact same size in nature as the painting on the panel. When using sight-size in the studio, the painter moves back to view the subject and the painting together from a distance. In the case of sketching the large view of a landscape onto a small panel with the sight-size method, the trick is to make sure your head is always in the right position where the subject ‘fits’ onto the panel. I personally believe many painters do this instinctively without realizing it.

The sight-size method is incredibly useful for landscape painting as it allows the painter to focus on the colors, values and edges, and the shapes almost seem to take care of themselves. For atelier-trained painters especially, who have spent years painting with the sight-size method already, it seems a waste not to continue using it outdoors.

Painting at the Badia a Passignano.

Above is a panoramic photo of Wendy, Takuma and I painting at the Badia a Passignano this weekend.

Below are a few sketches from May. Always such a wonderful month to paint outside. The first is just a view I saw walking to the studio one day, the bright blue shadow in the muddy water struck me. The next two are from a series I’ve been doing in the Corsini Gardens here in Florence (I did a similar series in October a couple of years back, it can be fun revisiting the same scene in a completely different season). The last is from our rained-out trip to the beach this weekend.

I’m working on a couple of longer technical posts which I hope to get up soon.

Lungarno Serristori from the Bridge. Oil on board, 35 x 25 cm.

Corsini Garden sketch. Oil on board, 25 x 35 cm.

Corsini Garden sketch. Oil on board, 25 x 35 cm

Castiglione della Pescaia. Oil on board, 25 x 35 cm.

Painting with Jacob Collins and Travis Schlaht in Central Park

I was only in the city for a day and went to see the Grand Central Academy.  The place looks great, definitely one of the top places to study traditional painting at the moment. Afterwards, I met up with Jacob Collins and Travis Schlaht to do some plein air sketching in Central Park. We even got a classical piano recital for the last half of the session.

Painting with Beth Rundquist near Hampton Bays

I spent the rest of the trip in Sag Harbor and the Hamptons. Beth Rundquist and I have painted together in the past, this trip she showed me one of the nicer spots to paint at a small commercial fishing dock on Shinnecock bay.

My set-up in a parking lot on Shinnecock Bay

Painting with Jim Albinson on Little Peconic Bay.

Jim Albinson and I did a plein air painting at a beautiful spot on the Little Peconic Bay, just northwest of Sag Harbor. There are so many great spots in the area for plein air paintings of water, with all the inlets and bays.

I suppose May is beautiful just about anywhere, but I found Long Island to be particularly inspiring this trip.

The clothesline at the Torricella.

My wife asked me a year ago why I only own blue shirts.

It is actually for landscape painting. If you paint with the canvas in the shade you are probably standing in full sunlight (I don’t use an umbrella), in which case the color of the shirt will reflect on your painting and affect the hues. A few years ago I had a favorite orange T-shirt my brother gave me, and a couple of times I went painting with it on and had to go back to the house to change as the reflected orange was so distracting. I’ve also tried with black, but if I’m up against a hedge or in an area with very little reflected light I find the canvas can be too dark. White can also be annoying as you see your shirt reflected in the painting.

At the end of the day, a sky-blue shirt is the best for plein air landscape painting. I like mine with long sleeves in case of excess sun or mosquitoes. A shirt-pocket is useful for glasses or my superior Korean ipod.