The time in Andrea’s atelier feels like a lifetime ago. Just like any apprenticeship, there was time for lessons from the Maestro and time for learning from my many mistakes, bound to happen when working on many pieces of varying sizes. After I became comfortable with the basic layout of the reproductions, I was allowed to further contribute to each piece, which required me to practice the subtle textures of sand, water and lavender fields. Here are a few of the paintings I was lucky enough to work on.
The first is the painting of a white sand beach: a magical place where the land meets the water! This is how I learned to use brush strokes to give my canvas the texture of a sandy surface. The shadow of the palm tree, while adding a nice touch to the overall composition, was a real challenge.
How do you make things even trickier: paint a beach when it is only lit by moonlight! I had previously practiced painting hundreds of irises only this time, their delicate colors had to blend into the overall hue provided by the gentle moonlight.
This next painting is a very different one, prominently featuring man made buildings. It is the reflection by the chaotic surface of the water that gives this piece real life. This was a true challenge and it took great patience from me and from the Maestro always there to help, to reach this point where the reflection looks both alive and realistic.
And finally, there was lavender: how do you use a restricted palette of colors, to create the illusion of volume? With a lot of patience and a lot of work! A painting like this one is the artistic equivalent of a marathon: it requires layers and layers of touches to bring the flat surface of the canvas up and make it feel alive with depth! This other piece, used gradation of whites which gives it an otherworldly look.
This more or less concludes what I can say about the work I did for Andrea and the things I learned from him at the time. To grow as an artist, one must confront the unknown and find a way to express what lies inside of ourself. It is sometimes something you have to do yourself. However when I really need help, I can always go back to Andrea for his opinion and advice. The time I could spend with him and the people around me in Hawaii is one of my great treasures.
This is also a painting Andrea Razzauti that I participated.I remember that preparing this painting was difficult for me among other paintings that I tried at that time. The light effect, and the contrast between the shadow on the sunflowers. I was impressed by the number of layers of colors. blue, red, yellow, purple, and green…
The photo above shows the canvas that I made as a preparation. I copied Andrea’s original paintings on small canvas in one day of work hours. They were dried up while I make other paintings, and after they dried, I started putting a layer of colors on each painting. In the next blog, I will introduce some photos when I tried lavender field, sand, and the surface of ocean.
This is a painting by Andrea Razzauti, an italian (Toscany) artist creating amazing work both in music and painting. I am very lucky to have met him and have been given a chance to study his technique while assisting him, preparing for an event. The original is an impressive 1.5 x 1 meter framed canvas, displayed at his house on the Big Island of Hawaii.
From 2010 to 2012, while living in Hawaii, I apprenticed under Andrea’s direction. He taught me his technique for acrylic painting and in return, I helped him reproducing several of his original paintings (leaving the maestro the final touch of course!), that eventually were sent to be displayed in Lahaina Gallery galleries both on Maui and in California. This next painting of iris field is one of those. I ended up reproducing the same painting on several canvas of different sizes.
Of course, you have to begin small: my first attempt is the one featured on the right in the above picture. But after becoming more comfortable with the basics, and gaining more confidence in your own abilities, you can tackle larger, more ambitious projects: eventually, my copies grew larger, like the one featured on the left!
It took patience, hard work and dedication to get to this point. But it was immensely gratifying to see my work taken over by the Maestro, to be turned into an amazing piece of art, using oil techniques, adding even further depth to the scene. You can see the finished piece in the picture below.
Doing this work for about 2 years, through this experience, I learned much technique. It exposed me to the work and experience of a real master, gave me more appreciation for the work that goes into making art, and made me realize where my goal in life is participating to some sort of movement for people finding their happiness. I believe that a great happiness is always within our heart, where no one can destroy. The key to be happy is finding the place of the great happiness within us, and expand around us through something we appreciate to do. For me, it’s drawing and painting. Even after I moved to France, I get his advice and comments for my works when he came to Italy where is his home town.
