11 February, 2007

La Ca, Italia




This little traditional Italian house is tucked into the "front" of Riva Ridge, in a town with the likely name: La Ca. The landscape is dominated by that precipitous ridge, and the not very distant snowy Apennines.
It is the sight of some very high drama in my late father's youth, during that little event called WW II. I visited there last year, and it isn't hard to see why I have so much passion for lovely Italy.

Riva Ridge Operation.

I long ago gave up on cross-hatching with pencils, as I found that varying pressure worked better for me. But, with the influence of van Gogh, I am trying to put it back into my repertoire. It does seem to work better when scanning or printing from pencil.
Also, I don't usually "hatch" trees, but it worked well here to push this one forward.
The wonderful, late Bill Mauldin was not on my conscious mind, but his influence is all over this, too.

10 comments:

Philip said...

It's good that you have been to Italy - I think one can learn so much from another culture and environment. Have you painted anyhwere else? I have only painted in England and Spain although I have travelled widely (Russia, China, US, North Africa and throughout Europe). A friend in the US (Paul Lorenz - link in my blog) has recently invited me to work in his studio though and I hope to do so one day.

Casey Klahn said...

I did do some drawing in Alaska many years ago. My other overseas travel didn't include any on location drawing. I think I stayed in and doodled when I was in Japan.
One nice thing, though, is that a guy can get a sense of a place, and draw upon that for later art.
I am trying to make as much of my Italy trip now, while it is fresh. I didn't go on my own itinerary, but I did take a pochade box and tripod.
I hope you get to make the US trip. If you didn't already have London, I would encourage you to not miss the art viewing in NYC.

Anonymous said...

I love this sketch Casey! When I look at art of old houses I can't help but wonder what went on there. Who lived there...and what happened on the inside? NEVER GIVE UP SKETCHING CASEY! I love your paintings as well. :)

Casey Klahn said...

Thank you, Angela. I'm plowing my way through the complete and letters, VVG.
Also have 3 or 4 Italy sketches in the book that I'm working on. I may've found the one I'll be painting, but it's the hardest one! Yikes!

Philip said...

I have actually been to NY a couple of times Casey and it was great to see Jackson Pollock's huge works at MOMA as well as other things. I would love to got to Alaska though. You are right though, there are fabulous galleries in London and I used to live and work very near to many of them. I also used to be a member of the Institute of Contemporary Art near Buckingham Palace. Never saw the Queen there though!

Robyn Sinclair said...

Bravo, Casey, this was worth waiting for! It is so lively and full of character. Please sir, may we have some more?

Casey Klahn said...

Too many projects on the easel at one time. That reminds me of VG.

Casey Klahn said...

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone!

Robyn Sinclair said...

I came back for a second look! I want to tap the energy in this drawing for my next VG effort. It's delightful.

Casey Klahn said...

Great! The only thing I would add is that the La Ca drawing scans and publishes like India ink, rather than the graphite that it is done in. I suppose that I may start Photoshopping these ones to return to a gray scale, if I can figure out the best way. Anyone experienced with this? I say this because the black shadows are "too" black, if you will.

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