fine art | Gary J. Kirkpatrick Art and Travel Blog

Picasso Visit: Two Women Embrace

07/07/202405/03/2016 by Gary Kirkpatrick

Continuing with the Picassoesque themes, here two women embrace before a blue sky, under a pale moon.

Picasso Vist: Two Women Embrace , acrylics, A4, 8.25 x 11.7" — Picasso Visit: Two Women Embrace , acrylics, A4, 8.25 x 11.7″

Picasso Vist: Two Women Embrace (detail) — Picasso Visit: Two Women Embrace (detail)

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

07/07/202415/11/2015 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:

Miniatures and sketches from Istanbul

07/07/202418/10/2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

Istanbul has had its moments of beauty and grandeur. You can relive a bit of it’s heyday in the Hagia Sophia, the Archaeology Musem and the Topkapi Palace.

[wpecpp name=”Topkapi Palace” price=”50″ align=right]

The Topkapi Palace, home of the Sultans, his harem and the eunichs since circa 1450:

Topkapi Palace Entrance (mini, acrylics)

Topkapi Palace Courtyard (mini, acrylics)

While we waited to get into one of the rooms at the Palace (we thought it was the main entrance, but we’d already passed it. It was just one of the rooms!) I sketched a section of the lovely old wall.

Turkish woman in bus:

Haggia Sophia, a World Heritage Site, noted for its architecture and mosaics

07/07/202421/09/2015 by Gary Kirkpatrick

September 20 2015 Istanbul

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!

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo at the Civico Museo Sartorio

07/07/202415/08/2014 by Gary Kirkpatrick

August 14, 2014

We visited the Civico Museo Sartorio this week. It’s on the other side of Trieste but certainly walkable for us. It is another mansion owned by a wealthy family that now holds the family’s collections, furniture with plenty of room for exhibits. The mansion is huge, at least 4 stories and I bet there’s a hundred rooms.

The Sartorio family lived there from 1775 until Anna Segrè Sartorio donated the property to Trieste, requesting that it become a museum. The Allies made it their headquarters after WW2 until around 1953. The city renovated afterwards. Stunning floors and ceilings, endless displays of ceramics, and portraits that went on and on.

The special exhibit displayed the drawings of Giovanni Batista Tiepolo, an amazing artist whose vast out of drawings and paintings make him one of the worlds best albeit less known. . He died in 1770. Here’s one of his drawings. Many of the ones we saw were done in ink. They’ve been restored, having been found in bad condition. The ink was acidic and had to be neutralized, and the backings removed and replaced. This is quite an extensive collection.