Fishermen - 6 of spades in 2011 ACEO Playing Card Deck

Fishermen - 6 of spades in 2011 ACEO Playing Card Deck , inserito originariamente da Loredana Mariotto.

ACEO 2,5 x 3,5 - watercolor on Fabriano 300 gms paper.
Painted for the 3rd ACEO Playing Card Deck at Ebay Aceo Group. This year I have the 6 of Spades.

Tis is from a pic I took in Zanzibar a couple years ago. The color of the sky and the mix of bluish of the sea gives a great contrast to the white if the sails of this little boats.
The boats are carved in a single piece of wood and yhis wood looks so black.
Fishermen don't love that people takes pics of them or better they'd like to gain some money from this but my camera was powerfull enough to be able to get son excellent shoots that are perfect for some more paintings!

Edelweiss II

Edelweiss II, inserito originariamente da Loredana Mariotto.

I know I must give you all my apologize for not posting for a so long time, but those of you who know me from a long time knows how lazy and how busy I am. So, forgive me and post your comment on my last paint.
Hugs to tou all! :)

Piazza Vittorio - Torino

Piazza Vittorio - Torino, inserito originariamente da Loredana Mariotto.

This was made for my friend Rebecca Salcedo.

Like Louis Comfort Tiffany

Do you like Tiffany lamps? I've a passion for it, maybe because of all this color mixed and well standing alone at the same time, or maybe because of their fashionable light, you notice it when there's one in a room.

It's a while that I have this in mind and found a little time last thuesday, while I was painting with my friend Gabriela. I thought it would have been a nice and easy exercise, something you can do in a sort of doodling... if you ever think like me, forgive it and get a try, it took me 3 days to get to an end.
IT'S NOT SO EASY!

Wisteria brench.

Watercolor on Arches 140lbs paper painted with Winsor & Newton paints.

Hi all,
again I missed to post here since had much, really too much things to do, not necessary art related.

Last week-end my younger son Davide had his confirmation at Church and this is the last occasion to meet all the relatives together.
To prepare this great festivity it took ages because of the weather (snow, snow and again snow) choose the right restaurant cause we live in a hill zone and the snow causes many probs. And finally to prepare the gadget-box of sweets for everyone.

In the middle count a couple flues rushes and a run to hospital with the elder son (he was lucky enough to have not broken any bone).

Anyway, my dreams of painting are just a little flame in the middle of all this "to do" things.

I painted for the gadget and produced 100 bookmarks with a lighthouse this is the result:


This is the paint that I used as base of these bookmarks:


Watercolor on Favini 180lbs paper (approx 10x5,5")

We Should be Friends

This is my new ACEO, it will be listed at E-Bay tomorrow, November the 30th, Monday, for the Cyber Monday big sale. The Holy Season is here and my soul is in it!

Enlarging the Family

This is a little ACEO made for this month Nibblefest Contest, inspited by this month's subject which is "Holidays"


"Enlarging the Family"

In this days I'm working also in a portrait of my EBSQart friend Aimee, I hope I can end it in the next days (still needs some shadows and final touches), but also am working on some ACEOs for the next coming Holy Season. Will show it very very soon! Stay tuned!

Works in progress

The works under the roof are going well, the home painters are working hard and soon (I hope before Friday) everything will be tainted.
In the meantime I worked on some drawings to prepare the next paintings:

- The portrait of Aimee for the EBSQart Portrait swap 09.
- A few ACEO to be ready for Christmas time.
-The November Challange of my WnW (Watercolor Wet & Wild).

Now that the decorators are working upstairs, I planned to stay down working with colors on my drawings... Guess what???
My watercolor box is under the plastic cover you see on the table in the picture, all well taped not to be ruined, and I'm here wondering why the hell I was so stupid to left it there!

In wait...

This is a note just to let you know how things are going here.

I have some more home-works waiting to be done and when I'll end will be able to dedicate much more time to my artworks.

This morning I did the worst: I washed the all the (suit) cases I used this summer, it's a boring work and I hate it but couldn't do any different and had to doit.

After writing here I'll go to put a cover to every radiator here at home, 10 in total and some of the caps need some sewing stitches.

In the while I need to talk to the home decoartor because we have some works to do here.

The good big new is that I'm setting up a little studio for myself. It will be under the roof, near our new bedroom and I can't wait to have it all "well done" as since now my painting room was moved from the kitchen to the dinning-room and vice-versa.

A happy note is that my Camelia is in bloom and is giving me a lot of wonderful flowers, a late blooming plant, when I bought it my choice was to give the garden a joyful note in the time when the nature says It's time rest".


(((Hugs)))

The Good Witch and the Naughty Cat

HALLOWEEN is arriving.

The Good Witch and the Naughty Cat
- ACEO - 2,5 x 3,5 inches

This one was made after an attempt to follow an Anime lesson in a new book I've bought.
I don't love all kind of anime, but find that it's a very good way to learn to draw the faces expressions, I hope to go give some more try.

Actually this Aceo is listed at Ebay.

TOY #1

I hadn't much time to paint lately, but when yesterday I read a post from my friend Mary Lewis at my WnW group, talking about a frog I remembered that I had somewhere a sketch ready to became an ACEO. I searched it in the mess that actually is my painting-zone and painted this one. I hope that soem more can follow it.

ACEO 3,5 x 2,5 inches
Watercolor on Arches 140lbs paper, painted with Artist Winsor & Newton paints.

Watercolor of one of my son toys. They're growing and don't play anymore with them, before beeing dismiss in a box in our garage, I want to give a last chance of glory, in hope that one day someone will ask to play again.

A long summer.

Hi everyone!
The summer 's been long and a hard pleasure with the boys at home for 3 months and a half, but I'm back.
I'm here and happy to be back to my normal life.
I want to give you a possibly short update about my vacations.

In July, I went/come to USA and it was a fantastic time.
I can't describe every single thing I've been amazed from but I'll tell you about some things I've found quite strange or different from here.

At first I want to tell you Americans that you're lucky to be artist in this land, because it's a wonderful inspiring place and because you as artists have a lot of opportunity that here in Italy we don't have. I've seen so many open shows in many towns that here we don't have and neither it's allowed to use open spaces to go and market your art.

You're lucky as artists to have so many and big art-suppliers shops. I only bought a thing in USA and it was a big Tom Lynch plastic squared palette (the only space remained in the cases was an external pocket)

It was easy to drive in the roads with our satellite GPS but mostly I loved the way you sign the next exits in the highway and the "toll-free" too as we were 4 in the car! (we don't have this here)

I loved the 24/24 open markets and I loved to have a policeman inside it I felt really sure going to buy late in the night.

I wondered for about 20 days where you Americans go to buy the fresh food, than in Dan Diego I met a nice Italian lady "Hi Daniela" who lives there with her family since 8 years (not to say how little is the world but she is from my same town) and she told me that in USA you have the "Deli" shops...
I stood stunned because I thought that a Deli was an Indian Restaurant.

I found strange that in San Francisco the same breakfast at Starbucks costs 10$ less than in San Diego, same brand and same breakfast. I must admit that I miss a lot Starbucks, I think we have only one or two just in Milano and Roma.

The biggest surprise for me was Los Angeles, I liked it a lot, maybe because I thought it was an horrible town or maybe because we had our hotel near Beverly and Hollywood.
The place that disappointed me more was Malibù, I surely prefer Santa Barbara.


Just a note about the fact that I had to visit every Entertainment Park on the Road, I could visit only the San Francisco Moma and I didn't liked it much (well the architecture is fantastic), but this is because I don't appreciate a lot the Modern Art in its inner specific definition. Abstract is not in my mood.

An other note: I've never seen as many tramps as in San Fran, it hurt my heart.

I took about 1200, pics mostly are not related to the landscape or portrait of the family, but mostly are reference for my artworks (i.e. photos of each salt&pepper of each restaurant I visited, people sleeping everywhere, Fed Ex trucks allover, trash baskets, people walking with coffe cups in the streets etc...)

We have mostly ate in steak-house and Italian restaurants, this is because we just had problems like this, I can't imagine if we had to eat elsewhere. I'd like to point a thing about Italian restaurant in general, those that have an Italian owner had a much similar taste in their dishes to those whe have here, and the owner mostly told us that they had to modify the recipes to be much USA tasty. Those who had a non Italian owner or cooker were absolutely... awful! And I tried to explain that in Italy we don't use garlic at all in our food (in one restaurant we couldn't find any course without garlic if not the dessert).

We still laugh a lot when we think at the faces of our waiters when we ordered our meals we usually go with an appetizer, than a first course with pasta and a second one with meat or fish and veggie, it seems that you don't eat so much, and I discovered why. I've seen people eating ad drinking beer at any time of the day, we don't do that we eat 3 times a day but a full complete meal, for breakfast a tea or cappuccino with tosted bread (no butter) and jam. But you should have to see the reastaurant's bills :D

When I left USA I was very happy to have visited California, but I thought I'd never wanted to live there (not for a real reason), now that I'm back since a while I start thinking that maybe it could be a nice idea to move there, but you know that Italians are people that love to stay sit in their land and I'm not ready (yet) to leave this loved but hated country!

Last Landscape

Last Landscape , inserito originariamente da Loredana Mariotto.

This is the only painting I've been able to produce in the last two months, not witout a certain effort due to the few time I have actually and also due to the subject that involves the deepest side of you. the back side of the postcard produced brings a short poem composed by me that says this words:

"A last sight, than, the dark...
a new light,
I hope."

Summer Colors

This is my entry at June's Theme Week at E-bay ACEO group


ACEO 3.5x2.5 inches. Available here

Since ever watermelon's been my favourite fruit, I can be ill and feel bad but I can't say "no" to a watermelon slice. I've always tought that this preference is due to the fact that I'm born at summertime and am totally summer addicted (hate cold, hate fog, hate anything that's winter relatated with the only exception of Chritsmas time).

Guess what? I ate the whole slice before painting it (it was bigger than in the paint) and had to use a photo for reference!

Keys of my home

I had this aceo size paper on my hand and wanted to do something that didn't take much time to be painted, no ideas (also if my head is a sort of vulcano sometimes I have troube in finding the right inspiration).
Than come hubby putting my keys on the table to send me checking the mail. There they lied for a while, just the time to sketch it down and add some color.


ACEO 3.5 x 2.5 inches

Forever young

This is not really new, I painted it a while ago, but since I forgot to show it, I think it's the right season to do.



Watercolor 13x10 inches on Favini 350 gms/180lbs paper.

Stealing Candies - NFAC

I listed today in E-Bay NFAC (Nibblefest art Contest) this paint.
The NFAC is monthly themed art contests. Contests run from the 20th to the 27th of every month. All artwork is listed at 99¢ with no reserve!

This is my entry.


"Stealing Candies" 5 x 7 inches Watercolor on Fabriano paper.
Click Here to place a bid

What happens when everybody's out of home busy at work and at school?
Have you ever wondered why your children continue to deny the disappearance of such an amount of candies from the sideboard?
Here is revealed the true truth!


Work in Progress

Call for artists.

While strolling in Facebook's highways I discovered this "call for artists", due to its title I entered to have a look. I was fashinated by the subject, a strong and deeply thoughful (is it allowed to say "thoughful"?) topic for a painting challange.
The title is "A BOOK ABOUT DEATH", cool isn't it?

I wasn't sure I would have entered in this cyclopic attempt, but this seed has put roots in my brain, and now roots are in my stomach and I'm thinking that I WANT to do it.

I went in contact with its promoter, Mr. Rose, and he asked me to translate the descriprion of the exibition in italian, which I did pleasently because I feel that the more we are the better it is.
The exibition will be in New York at the EMILY HARVEY FOUNDATION.

What's nice its that you don't have to bring your paint there, and the originals remains in your property, so anyone from everywhere can partecipate.

I invite you to have a look at the prospect and eventually to join it!

I'd like to hear and see what you think about death, having lost the last year 3 very dear persons I'm very much into this subject, have you ever thought to paint the death?
The feelings it brings to you?
Don't you feel that we just avoid to talk about death because it's too much sad, too much personal???
I hope to see some of your feeling popping out in your blog and in the one of the exibition too.
Thanks for reading.

Flowers, Flowers... and more Flowers

This is not my favourite subject to paint, (if I ever had one LOL).

But here are the works I delivered for Francesca's First Communion.
The only fact that she loved all was just a prize for me!


Ninphea 6x4 inches (10x15 cm)


Wild Rose 6x4 inches(10x15 cm)


Fucsia 6x4 inches(10x15 cm)


Rose 6x4 inches(10x15 cm)



Apple Flower 6x4 inches(10x15 cm)


Tropical flower 6x4 inches(10x15 cm)


Tulips 6x4 inches(10x15 cm)

What's supposed I'm doing at this time.

I have decided: I'm not a good blogger.
I'd like to post more often and to say here much more interesting things, but I don't do it.
Why?
It's simple, I can't find the time to do all the things I love or must do.
I always miss a half day, each day, to spend doing things I usually don't do.

Well, you should be asking what I'm doing in this days, I'm not painting that much, not in the sense I'd mean I usually paint, I'm preparing a gift for Francesca, my friend Sabrina's daughter. Francesca will have her First Communion on May 3rd and I'm preparing a set of OSWOA painting that she'll give to her relatives and friends at the party that will follow the ceremony.
Theoretically the most important Christian Festivity is the Baptism
(Shower), but as we usually give it to the baby when he/she's very little, it becomes that the First Communion is the real first act one can do participating in first person.

So fine, Francesca came to my show and watch all the paintings I hanged to the wall and she decided she loved the flowers with the green painted matte; here I go and I'm preparing those for her. It's not a big work, it will be 8 or max 10 little paintings, I'll show 'em here if won't be in a hurry and if I'll be able to take some pics.

I want to add a picture of what's happening here around, spring is blooming, it rains a lot and when the sun pops out the clouds it's too hot!

My peach tree (in a vase and coming from a seed that the boys planted 3 or 4 years ago)

Liliac in the school's garden

Peony, my favourite flower at this time!

Have a great time you all!