Italy 2013 Challenge- Day 12: "Red Dress, Venice"

"Red Dress, Venice"
- soft pastel on paper
- approx. 8.5x9"/290x320mm

Red Dress

By Mark Ivan Cole 

From a concept by Mark Cole and Ping Hsu

Alberto rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Giulietta,” he says; “you’re a worse romantic than your namesake!”

“Maybe so,” she says; “but it’s worth ten euros to you if you’ll help.”

“I haven’t sung in ages,” he says.

“You’re a gondolier!” she insists; “and you can still sing. I hear you through the floor, you know. You sang in the shower just last week.”

“And I sounded like a pig in heat,” he says.

Giulietta smacks him on the arm. “You sounded like Placido Domingo—with a hangover. Alberto! Just one song! Bring them to the back door of the shop and help them out of the gondola as you’re singing. It will keep him from having to explain too much.”

Alberto gives her that sad, sideways grin of his. “How do you know this is the right thing to do?” he asks.

Italy 2013 Challenge- Day 7: "Leccio Fields"

"Leccio Fields"
- soft pastel on paper, approx. 8x6"/21x15cm

Everyone else had gone shopping. We still wanted to be outside. The storm clouds lingered overhead, but the rain held off as we walked around the perimeter of the outlet mall near Leccio, Italy. A vine-covered shed stood out in the middle of a wide field of vibrant green under heavy skies. Then the sun broke through! This was another one of those times we were glad we'd said: "Let's go take a look."

Italy 2013 Challenge- Day 8: "A Light in the Cathedral"

"A Light in the Cathedral"
- soft pastel on paper
- approx. 11.7x16.4"/30x42cm

"Hey! There’s a light in the cathedral window! I wonder why. Maybe there’s a spy hiding in the upper chamber, sending information back to some Nefarious Criminal Mastermind bent on taking over the world..."

My inner 10-year-old got inspired! For the full story in sound and pictures, click on the link below for a short, semi-animated video (2:22).
http://youtu.be/Zy9nhketSKQ

This painting was another real stretch (I seem to be doing that a lot!). The challenge here was to accurately lay out and depict the stonework and the architectural details without rendering every bit of minutia in this view of Milan's Gothic cathedral.

2013 母親節 - 母親的感言

Italy 2013 Challenge- Day 6: "Tuscan Hills, Italy"

"Tuscan Hills, Italy"
- soft pastel
- approx. 8.75x 11.25/210x297mm

Our red Ferrari fairly flew across the countryside as the indicated speed climbed ever higher: 250...275...300 km/h!

Outside the window, the hills of Tuscany lay placidly in the dappled sunlight, the higher summits playing peek-a-boo behind puffy clouds. A rambling stream sparkled under a blue, blue sky.

We marveled at the horsepower that propelled us forward, racing past the newly-budding glens, leaving league after league behind us effortlessly. Every curve felt like we were on rails. The beverage in my cup barely shivered.

That's because we were...on rails. Italy's newest bullet train was built by Ferrari. So now we can say that we've crossed Tuscany in a red Ferrari at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph). Ping snapped this picture out the window. I just loved it.

Italy 2013 Challenge- Day 5: "Rainy Night..."

"Rainy Night at the Piazza della Repubblica"
- soft pastel on charcoal gray paper
- approx. 11.7x16.5"/297x420mm

Raindrops wash down from an inky sky, an endless cascade of tiny, dazzling droplets shining brightly as they fall past the lights of the piazza.

They dash to the paving stones only to splash up in a last leap skyward before settling back to the ground to find somewhere else to run off to.

Umbrella-topped pedestrians pick their way across the open space, unsure if the next puddle is a deep one, hoping it isn't.

Around the square, waiters inside wait as tables outside wait out the weather.

And you are here. And I am here beside you in the rain. And we are happy.

--Mark Ivan Cole
***
I really stretched with this particular painting! It's my first-ever street scene; I've done pencil sketches here and there, but nothing this ambitious or colorful. I laid out everything on a grid to help me get the drawing right. I did a little smearing on the sky and the building in the upper left, and I  occasionally "pounced" a fingertip to soften a mark, but most of the strokes I left as they were laid. I let the painting sit for a couple of weeks, and then did a few corrections. The poem was written as I was thinking about my wife and myself walking across the Piazza della Repubblica in Florence, happy to be in Europe for the first time, together, regardless of the weather.

Italy 2013 Challenge- Day 4 "The Way Out"

"The Way Out" - soft pastel, 300x420mm

Today, we go back to the Roman Coliseum to get one person's perspective from the inside. Follow this link to hear the original music written for this story (and finished only an hour before I posted this!).

The Way Out

By Mark Ivan Cole

I don’t want to go out there.

Not today. Not anymore.

Not against this boy.

Not for the roar of the crowd, the laurel wreath.

Not anymore.

I’ve done this too many times. My knees are crumbling. My ribs ache with every breath. That unlucky cut from the last fight still seeps a little.

I can’t go home again.

No one goes home once they’ve made it to Rome.