blog | Gary J. Kirkpatrick Art and Travel Blog

Visit to the fallas workshops (with photos)

July 7, 2024March 6, 2016 by Gary Kirkpatrick

March 3, 2016 we visited the workshop area where the sculpture for Fallas are produced. These are made from foam over a wood frame. Each neighborhood Fallas contracts with a workshop to produce these creative and delightful sculptures each year. Except for a very few ‘small’ ones (small is human sized) all are burned around midnight on March 19 each year. The largest are around 25 meters/80′ in height. This industry employs hundreds of artists, carpenters and other skilled labor and brings in 800,000 people to Valencia each year. The streets are lively, filled with lights and stands selling churros and other fried goodies, mojitos (a mixed alcoholic drink) and of course beer and wine. The neighborhood fallas organizations have tents, lots of parties, and make paella on wood fires on the street. Some of them sell portions as fund raisers.

Fallas is the annual carnival in Valencia, Spain. For background information see https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/the-fallas/ ‎

Fabulous fireworks during Fallas, Valencia (video)

July 7, 2024March 6, 2016 by Gary Kirkpatrick

Fabulous fireworks during Fallas, Valencia March 5, 2016 from next to city hall. Enjoy!

Fallas 2016!- first photos

July 7, 2024February 28, 2016 by Gary Kirkpatrick

These are the first photos from Fallas 2016. Fallas is the annual carnival in Valencia, Spain. It is truly one of the wonders of the world. They erect hundreds of sculptures made of foam and wood (these days), some of which are 25 meters (75′) in height. There are daily booming fireworks more for feel than light, daily at 2 pm. At night there are more traditional fireworks in the parks. Valencia doubles in population for the event, which starts March 1 and ends March 19 every year.

In Rusafa, a section of Valencia, there are not only fallas’ (the statues) but also sound and light shows. Here they are installing the lighting.

Much more to come!

For background information see https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/the-fallas/ ‎

¡Hola de Valencia! First drawing from Palau de la Musica

July 7, 2024November 15, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

We are back in our favorite winter quarters, where the sky is always blue and the winter temperatures moderate, the street life vibrant, the food fresh and varied, and the people warm and friendly. It’s a place that brings smiles to our face the moment we look out the window or go out the door.

bar plaza sant jaume — Bar Sant Jaume (Saint James), pen and ink

The flight from Rome is normally quite beautiful. You might get a view of the Coliseo. You fly over Sardinia and then get a lovely view of Valencia. Not this flight. Weather has hit the entire Iberian Peninsula, and even Valencia is effected. Light rain greets us but still we shed the jackets and sweaters we were wearing to get to the airport in Rome.

We are staying in a new ‘piso.’ This one is near Plaza de Toros, much larger than our previous place, more expensive too, but better for the painter in the household. We will miss our view:

View from Our Place in Plaza Cisneros pen ink — View from our old place in Plaza Cisneros pen and ink

We go to the Palau de la Musica here most Sundays to listen to the symphonic bands, of which there are many in the province. The first Sunday we heard the Banda Municipal. I often do small pen and ink drawings as I listen. Here’s the flautist playing a piece by one of local composers:

Arrivederci Roma: The Marcus Aurelius

July 7, 2024October 31, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

October 31, 2015

It’s our last day in Rome and I spent the morning drawing the statue of Marcus Aurelius in il Museo Capitoline. This has to be one of the most impressive pieces of art around, for its magnificence, proportions, gilded in bronze and dating from around 180 CE. It’s astounding and a privilege to sit before it. It is in its new setting in a special room at the museum.

Just around the corner there is this Etruscan piece from 700-600 BCE

This one is terrific but pales in comparison to the Sarcophagus of the Spouses in the Etruscan Museum here- called Villa Giulia. Circa 520 BCE. Terracotta.

Museo Nazional de Arte Clasica Romana (Roman Art) has some mighty fine statues

July 7, 2024October 27, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

The Museo Nazional de Arte Clasica Romana is across the street from Termini. It houses a fine collection of Roman era sculptures on the first two floors, very professionally exhibited with excellent English translations. The top floor houses wall paintings from Roman era villas, many of which are in amazing condition. There are also some excellent examples of mosaic art. Here are some examples.

Female diety flanked by titon, 290 BCE, 2nd C. CE

Greek god copy 4th Cent BCE done in @nd CE

Museo delle Mura (Museum of the Walls), Rome at St Stephens Gate

July 7, 2024October 24, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

The Museo delle Mura (Museum of the Walls), is at St Stephens Gate, at the entry to Appia Antica, the Appian Way as it is known in English. It wasn’t open when we were here last and in 2000 I do not think it even existed. It is small but the small albeit older style exhibits tell you about the history of the Roman walls and their many alterations and reconstructions. And the views are great!

Museum of the Walls), Rome at St Stephens Gate View of both gates

View of Appia Antica are from St Stephens Gate

Museum of the Walls), Rome at St Stephens Gate — Museum of the Walls, Rome at St Stephens Gate

You can walk along the top of the walls, as you can see from here.

Barberini Palace, Caravaggio, Raphaello, chiaroscuro cieling

July 7, 2024October 21, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

October 21, 2015

The Barberini Palace, just up the hill from Bernini’s Tritone Fountain, is an immense mansion and the home of the Galeria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, art from about the 15th c -17th century. Here is Caravaggio’s Narisco- Narcissus. Get a load of the reflection!

In the galleries I try to find something I can draw. I try to find something that is interesting and doable in 5-10 minutes and where there is a seat, good lighting, things like that. Sketch of Gerrit van Bronckhorst’s Betsaben al Bagno. I’d never heard of this painter. Seems to have been influenced by Caravaggio, given how he treats the light here.

Gerrit van Bronckhorst Betsaben al Bagno in Galeria Nazionale d'Arte Antica Rome — Gerrit van Bronckhorst Betsaben al Bagno in Galeria Nazionale d’Arte Antica Rome

Sketch of van Bronckhorst Betsaben al Bagno

Back to Caravaggio, here’s another masterpiece hanging in room 20 (in my best Spanish accent, I asked where this room was in Italian and got a reply in Spanish!). It’s so gruesome I nearly walked out of the room!

Caravaggio's Judith and Holofernes — Caravaggio’s Judith and Holofernes

Salvator Rosa’s “La Poesia” and “La Musica” (17th century) are superb.

And a rarity for the time, a woman painter, and quite a good one! Portrait of a Young Woman Dressed as a Bacchante

'Portrait of a Young Woman dressed as a Bacchante, by Angelica Kauffmann, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy. — ‘Portrait of a Young Woman Dressed as a Bacchante, Angelica Kauffmann,

Here’s yet another prize- what the Galleria notes as the first female nude:

Jacopo Zucchi “Ritratto di Ciela Farnese”

As for the building, it is a divine palace built by the Barberini family, whose symbol, three bees, appears throughout. It is in wonderful shape. The most magnificent room is on the second floor, immense and nearly empty except for several small sofas in the middle. People lay on them and look at the ceiling, some 20 meters/60 feet above. Here’s why:

Pietro da Cortona Triumph of Divine Providence.

You have to go there to appreciate all of these, especially this ceiling though.

All this for 7 euros.

Hagia Sophia (circa 550), one of the world’s greatest buildings

July 7, 2024October 18, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

September 20 2015 Istanbul

Hagia Sophia miniature (4" x 6") acrylics on postcard stock — Hagia Sophia miniature (4″ x 6″) acrylics on postcard stock

The Hagia (Holy) Sophia (Wisdom) is a stunning domed building built as a Greek Orthodox cathedral in 537 when Istanbul, then called Constantinople, was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire(also known as the Byzantine Empire). Between 1204 and 1261 it was a Roman Catholic cathedral. Following the conquering of the Empire by the Ottomans in 1453, the Hagia Sofia became a mosque. In 1931 it was closed and then converted into a museum, which it is still. The minarets and round domes give it an Islamic setting, and some of the interior maintains that influence as well. Nonetheless it is an impressive structure, notably the dome, and for 1000 years it was the largest cathedral in the world, replaced in 1520 by the Cathedral in Seville.

Here are some stock photos of the interior. It is way too dark and large for me to get good photos. These are mosaics!

Istanbul Modern is another pleasant surprise

July 7, 2024October 18, 2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

The Istanbul Modern is another pleasant surprise in a city full of them. The artists on exhibit when I visited yesterday were mostly Turkish, some trained here and others in the US and I think one or two in Germany. Most of the work is representational but very creative in a modernist sort of way, as you can from the photos I’ve placed below.

The installations made sense- how unusual- and were interesting as well- also unusual. One was a young man playing make-shift drums, another various people lip synching Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah.’ Behind thick sets of hanging strands of fabric hangs a geographical globe with stars and planets on the walls, while in another section is a political globe. In a third room a face of a woman is projected onto a mannequin. She is singing.

Not so pleasant is the getting there. There are large signs and even an arrow pointing tot the enntrance. The large signs do not point anywhere except for the one with the arrow, which points down a lonely, shabby alley. I walked past it thinking this could not be. But it was.

The location challenge came after I ran across an angry confrontation a few hundred meters from the entrance. There was angry shouting and a man banging hard on the hood of a van. There was pushing and shoving. The police arrived. I heard four bangs, someone with a notepad came running toward me. I then turned around and scooted back a hundred meters, and crossed the street. A security guard told me it was not gun shots, just more banging on the van I suppose, so I went on. Traffic had piled up between me and the scene so I felt reasonably safe.

Here are some of the pieces I found interesting. The first is fabric sewed onto canvas, probably my favorite, which given I am not a fabric art fan in general, is a strong endorsement: