So,Jill provided us with what she called a "cast of characters",12 different Roman
gods that she felt pertained most to Umbria. We then roamed the town of Orvieto,hunting and gathering ephemera,taking pictures,sketching,thinking...then we came back to the classroom and made collages of our choices.Here are my classmates' collages...all so different and all wonderful...
I admit,I was a woman possessed,and actually did 9!!!I am really happy with most of them...
This first one means "Dreaming of Orvieto"...the picture is that one I took in the vineyard that is my favorite photo of the trip...
This is the goddess Vesta,of hearth,flame,eternity...the "mosaics" are photos of the cobblestones taken by one of my classmates,cut up...there is cut up stationery,a transparency I drew on,a "gold coin",a town street with names I made up in French representing my current state of life...
This is the god Bacchus,god of grapes and wine...there is a teeny photo of my 3 glasses during a wine tasting, a wine label,some gift wrap with Italian writing onit...I drew most of the grapevines,and made the large grapes by stamping with a cork!
These next two are of Pomona,representing gardens,fruit,abundance...the large lettering is rubbings I did on mailboxes in town!(boy I got some funny looks!But,the townspeople are used to all these artists by now!)...another drawing,a photo of a Roman god that I took in Rome,some private thoughts, and a watercolor wash...
This is Mars,the god of War...a sketch of him,a dove of peace, Luke,the bull(because I thought tht he looked like he would belong to Mars!) was a transfer...more mailbox rubbings...teabags...an Orvieto map...paper scraps...and a string and wax seal from the stationery I bought...
This is the first plein air drawing I ever did...you saw the photos of us overlooking thi landscape...I used my new favorite word,Italianicious, as a "crop"...the paint "swatches" are colors I feel represent Umbria, and are labeled in Italian...
This is Thyrus,who is not a dragon,but is a creature called a wyvern...he represents war and pestilence...I added a photo of Mary and Jesus from the convent,drew some olive branches(peace),a photo of the cathedral window,added roses from stationery,and put him in a "cage",which was a portal that I drew from one in the town.All is placed upon a map of Orvieto.
Another drawing/watercolor of the vista from the edge of town,this time done upon some antique Italian book pages that I got at the Rome flea market and shared with everyone...a photo of my favorite door knocker placed upon a destressed teabag(thanks Kathy!)...Umbria,the goddess of shadows and secrets,which you see coming out of her hand...some old stamps that I found in a shop...the stained glass window done with inks:we were trying to re-create the alabaster windows in the Duomo...I placed it upon a doorwy I had drawn in town...the Italian quote means "what secrets are hiding in Umbria?"...(sister Giovanna thought that this idea of secrets hiding was very bizarre!!!)
I love this page! Another portal I drew,framed by teabags and gift paper...this is the god Janus,of beginnings and transitions, of doors and doorways,of beginnings and endings..of past and present...when Jill said she wanted us to draw him,we all panicked,so she showed us a simple way of breaking down his profile into simple lines...and voilà!To make it even cooler,we did it upon my antique book pages,in dark ink,then folded the pages,wet them,separated them,and we had TWO faces! So appropriate,as he represents east and west,past and future. The color is a typical color of Italy,one of my all-time favorites...some writing in Italian about not knowing what my future will bring me,and keys to unlock that mystery...
There will be one last post tomorrow.
