Johnny Knoxville makes a documentary about the revival of Detroit! Premieres August 30th.

Oil Paint

Oil Paining is my medium of choice.

I learned how to develop the skill at Grace College (2002-2005) through my professor Tim Young. Other than meeting new friends in undergrad, painting was the only other thing that I gained from College... I got a degree in Graphic Design, but have never used it.

It wasn't until a sculpture class in grad school that I realized that I am naturally a Realist. I try to do abstract art sometimes, but it does not come naturally. Here are a few paintings I've done:

My first painting at Grace College.

-currently in parents guest room

The only painting that I have done for myself... then when I was poor, I sold it.

-My college roommate, Bekah owns it. It's in her bedroom in Cincinnati, OH

Bekah also had me do these for her. -Cincinnati, OH

This one is painted only using a knife; no brushes.

This is my personal favorite. It was also done my first year at Grace.

-located in parents living room

After my first Lily painting, I decided to do a bunch of them.

-This one belongs to a different friend named Becca. She lives in Wyoming or something crazy like that

-A longtime friend Ashley has this one in Indianapolis, IN

My cousin, Becky has this one in Louisville, KY. She will be having a baby in November and has already picked out the name of Lily for her!

Below: My painting in Cincinnati. It looks good there!

Assisi, Pompei, Capri, and back to Rome.

The rest of the trip was things that I wanted to see, but wasn't required to by school. It was still educational, but more relaxing at the same time...

This is the city of Pompeii. In 79AD the volcano you see in the background erupted and a poisons gas blown from the wind landed in the city, killing everyone. The city later was covered with 25ft of ash. This is what still remains.
You can see how this guy was trying to protect himself with his hands raised.

On to Capri from there, which is now one of my favorite places on Earth! Bella means beautiful in Italian. I went on a boat tour around the island, seeing many caves, people swimming in the bright blue water, yachts everywhere. Celebrities are often spotted here. My friend on the tour saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Campbell.

Back to Rome for a couple days. Tried to go to a few more art galleries but they were closed for the holiday. Swimming along the Tiber River today and fly home tomorrow. Gracie (Thank you) to Wayne State University for giving me this amazing opportunity to experience the art and culture of Italy. I plan on returning one day! :)

Venice

Venice means Queen of the Sea. This fishing city’s wealth came form the sea and trading. The 117 islands began sinking from the buildings above and were secured with lots of logs standing straight and tightly underneath the surface. All of the islands are connected with over 400 bridges. There are no cars or Vespas like the other cities. Walking a ton or taking a water taxi is the only ways to get around. It is a very unique city!

Gondola ride:

A must when in Venice!!!

St. Mark Basilica:

This Basilica, built in the 1100’s is the oldest monument in Venice. It took 50 years to build, and 500 years to decorate. The church has 1800 feet of glass and gold textiles.

Dodge’s Palace:

A Dodge is kind of like the President. He is the head of the Church and State, has governors, senate and court underneath him, but always has the last say. In the Dodges palace is a gold plated ceiling. It is this way so that others will come in knowing that the Venictians are supposively richer than them.

I went to the Art Academia in Venice which has only Venician paintings. I saw one that was a painting of St. Mark’s Square and God flying above it. The Square looked exactly like it looks today, except in the background had ships in the canal and the people in the square were wearing Renaissance clothing. It’s cool how history can be portrayed in art.

Guggenheim Collection:

Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was an art collector. Her motto was to buy a new work of art each day… rich lady if you couldn’t tell… She loved modern art: Abstract and Surrealism. The galleries that I know about were opened in London 1938, New York 1942, and Venice 1949. I visited the gallery and saw pieces that people have seen in books, but still have no idea what they really are like. I was going to buy a poster of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Alchemy’ for my classroom one day, but didn’t after seeing it because it just doesn’t give the work justice. Other works that you might know, that were featured (but we weren’t allowed to take pictures of) were Picassos ‘The Poet’, and Max Ernst ‘The Kiss’.

Getting lost in Venice is a part of experiencing it. When I was lost, I came upon a church holding 60 reproduced models of Leonardo da Vinci’s invention notes. Made from wood, brass, fabric, and bronze they are divided into sections of war, flying, water, mechanical, and building. He was a genius. Living from 1452-1519 and being a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, and writer makes him the archetype of the Renaissance man.

P.S. He pretty much invented the bicycle, but it wasn’t coined till the 1800’s.

Florence

Accaemia Gallery:

The other statue that made Michelangelo famous before the Sistine Chapel paintings was the magnificent “David.” David was created from 1501-1504. I think seeing this was the highlight of my trip! It is so amazing, so detailed, and so perfect.

Leaning Tower of Pisa:

I walked up to the top of the tower! Inside the staircase you can feel the lean as you walk around… The structure already had a lean when just the third floor was done. The construction stopped and wasn’t continued for 100 years. The soil wasn’t strong enough to hold the marble bell tower. 1890 they reinforced the base of the tower to keep it from moving, but it still sinks 1mm a year.

Uffizi Gallery:

Most of the art in Italy is religious. It shows the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus, or Jesus on the cross, other Biblical characters, or Popes. The other kinds of images I saw were Greek mythology showing pagan gods. “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli is at the Uffizi gallery.

This is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.

Roma Day 3

Day 3 in ROMA!

Colosseum:

“Legend has it that as long as the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand, and when Rome falls, so will the world.”

The Colosseum is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and I got to go see it! The mammoth amphitheatre was built by Emperor Vespian, and dedicated before his death in 79AD, however wasn’t finished till 80AD under Titus’ reign. It held 50,000 spectators. Wild animals were imported form surrounding countries like Africa and would fight to the death in the arena, as well as gladiators. After the fall of Rome, some of the materials were taken to help build and decorate newer construction.

In 1349 an earthquake destroyed half of its structure, leaving what we see today.

The Vatican is the smallest country in the world. Its 440,00 square meters and has 900 people living there, including the Pope. Inside the city is St. Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

St. Peter’s Basilica:

St. Peter was crucified between 64 -67 AD and his tomb is inside of the church. The most exciting thing to me about this church is Michelangelo’s sculpture that he did at the age of 24 in 1499. “Pieta” (which means sorrow) made Michelangelo famous and is his only work that bears his signature.

Sistine Chapel:

Built in the 1470’s, matching Solomon’s temple described in the Old Testament with a 12,000 square foot barrel vaulted ceiling, was named after Pope Sixtus VI. The ceiling was an “expanse of azure fretted with golden stars” until 1504 when a crack appeared. Patchwork was done by Barmente (an architect), but signs of damage still appeared. The new Pope Julius II had the famous sculptor, Michelangelo paint the 135ft long by 44 ft wide ceiling with illustrations from the book of Genesis in the Bible. Michelangelo considered painting to be an inferior medium for “rascals and sissies.” He did it only because the Pope threatened to wage war on his hometown of Florence. The ceiling took him 4 years to finish creating an arch to his spine. The “Creation of Adam” is Westerners most famous image. We were not allowed to take pictures in the Chapel, but one of the guys on my tour was daring enough to get a shot with an iPhone. I'll get the picture from him when I get home and post it then.

Roma Day 1 & 2

Since being in Rome, I’ve been trying to get used to the time change… it didn’t help that on the way here I was only able to get about 3 hours of sleep. I’ve been very tired; drinking as much coffee/espresso as I can manage, and also walking around all day trying to keep myself from taking catnaps, resulting in achy feet with blisters. These curcomstances are small compared to the huge blessing I’ve had to be here!

Rome is an amazing city. Wow, the drivers are crazy, its not an odd thing to see a business man in a suit on one…. which reminds me; there are some really good looking Italians out there…. I’ve seen a ton already and my tour hasn’t even begun.

Above picture is at the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps are 300 years old. At the bottom is a sinking ship fountain built by Bernini. All the fountains in Italy are powered by an aqueduct underneath and keep tourist hydrated.

The Pantheon:

Built before Christ was born to honor all pagan gods; the Pantheon is the pride of the city. It is the best-preserved temple of ancient Rome. Agrippa built it with gilded bronze so that it would gleam and been seen from all around the city. The only light comes from the apex of the 142-foot in diameter by 142 foot high dome opening. The Emperor, Hadrian rebuilt the Pantheon from 118-128AD, capping a former temple. It is the largest and most daring of its kind, and was until the 20^th century.

Piazza Novana:

Bernini’s “Four Rivers” is centrally located and represents the four continents that were known in 1650.

Fontona di Trevi:

Designed by Nicola Salvi in 1762.

“Throw a coin into it [backwards] and you will return to Rome.”

Castle of Angels

Me at the top of the castle. Best view of the city Ive seen so far...

Detroit Metro to Rome, Italy!

Italy has so much history… I had to read a few books to refresh my memory about its legacy. The United States has hardly any culture or history in comparison: We are only three centuries old, and all of our traditions or cultures originate from other countries. Growing up in school, I never paid attention in history or art history classes because the teachers were usually dry in their speaking. I used that time to catch up on my sleep. I barely passes those classes, and I honeslty didn’t care. Since then, I have wanted to self educate myself about world history, but never found the time. Going to Italy has inspired me to begin this process. It has been very interesting to learn, so far, about Roman history.

Today I’m flying from Detroit Metro to Rome, Italy! I’m so excited about this opportunity to go and explore and ancient land with amazing talents. Italy has not only influenced the world with its Empire, but its food, achitecture, and art. I’m hoping to learn as much as I can so that one day I’ll be the art teacher, inspiring students to be innovative like the Italians.

“Go, proclaim to the Romans it is Heaven’s Will that Rome shall be the Capitol of the World!” ~Romulus, the city’s founder.

Little bit of the History of Italy/Rome:

753 BC Founding of Rome by Romulus

509BC Temple of Jupiter, on the Capitol, was dedicated

27BC The Pantheon is built

27BC Julius Cesar is Emperor till he is assassinated

4AD Birth of Christ

14AD Cesar dies

54AD Nero is Emperor

64AD Rome burns, giving Nero an excuse to persecute Christians (They blamed them for anything that went wrong)

79AD Colosseum is dedicated

79AD Pompeii is buried alive

82AD Arch of Titus is finished

118-128AD Hadrian rebuilds the Pantheon

313AD Constantine makes Christianity legal

324-337AD Constantine is Emperor

385AD Christianity becomes the official religion of Rome

Rome was the Capitol of the World for a long time… It was thriving at the time when Christ was walking the Earth. No wonder there is so much art in Italy that revolves around religious figures. The Pope even lives in the smallest country that is located in the center of Rome. Now... I’m starting to understand more about Italy.

Re:View Contemporary

Saturday night, all my new roommates and I went to the Re:View Contemporary Gallery that is just across the street from where we now live. Free admission, free wine, and a special event drew us in...

I had met the owner of the gallery a couple nights before and became interested in doing my own art show. (something I've never done before)

The special event was very well thought out and original: The artist had many watercolor pieces attached to a chain that was wrapped all around her body, with nothing underneath. Each print was displayed on the wall with it's value. Values ranged from $80-$1,000. People were able to buy pieces and as they did they would come off of her body and would expose her skin. The more expensive pieces were located in areas that most people would want covered from the spectators. I love the refreshing idea that she had, but I wonder if anyone else might think that its almost like striptease?