Can I just say, "I LOVE Florence!!"? This city never ceases to amaze me. I guess if you love art, food and wine - this is the place to be. Of course you can get delicious food and wine throughout most of Italy. But here, in Florence, the art is just unbelievable. I don't think I would ever, and I mean ever, run out of inspiration in this city. I'll be sad to leave here when it's time to move on.
We signed the family up for a fresco painting class at the Palazzo Vecchio the other day. What a fun adventure! We had a little lesson in how the sand used in making the plaster was brought in from the Arno River. No sand from the sea, or ocean, could be used because the salt would adversely effect the lime from the plaster and change the colors of the painting over time. Children back in those days would help the artists prepare their pigments. They would grind different stones and earth in mortar and pestle to create the powdered colors. Some stones were imported from different trade routes, such as India, and had great value. Just by looking at a fresco and seeing what colors were used, you would immediately know the wealth of the client.
Here we are, taking our own dabs at fresco painting. Even though our instructor had already plastered our tiles and prepared the paints for us, we had such a joy working with this new medium. Bret even let the artist in him shine through!
This is how the powdered paint is sold in art stores.
