Italy

Italy

April 12-April 24

This was more of a journey than a wedding anniversary trip for me. My husband and I went on a trip to Italy to celebrate our 24^thanniversary.  It was life changing experience.  Although, here in NY where I live, I wear many ‘hats’ so to speak, I felt I was completely pulled out from my identities.  I sensed something higher, grander and mysterious.  Even the travel took me out of my realm as the time shifted 6 hours after transporting us for hours in air.  I experienced about a month's worth of site seeing in a mere week and a half.  I will touch base on the events but want to express that it was the people behind these buildings and sites that were transforming to me.   

It was the spirits and the ghosts in the walls of the buildings too that spoke to my heart in the rushed, swirling days and nights.  The first few days were a bit blurry from lack of sleep, but we visited the Vatican.  After arriving to our hotel in Rome we walked through the cobble stone streets of Rome Italy.   It felt surreal.  We saw the piazza novena and saw many churches.  On Sunday we went to an ornate cathedral, the first Jesuit church….where, although they said the mass in Italian, I felt universally connected.   

Later in between absorbing the mores and heights of parts of the city, we went to the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps.  It was so much in one day. We woke up early and met the world of cars and historical sculptures, we walked and looked…..All along people wanted us to buy things from them.  Toys, flowers, tickets.  My husband and I talked about what if they have families and this is the only way to support themselves.   We continued onto the Borj park.  We walked about seven miles that second day.  I was quite tired, over whelmed and in awe.   We walked to the pieta Campanili.  We walked to the coliseum and we sketched many buildings and trees.  The Vatican and the museum at the Sistine Chapel was  life changing. 

I didn’t hear but rather felt the people, the history whispering their stories.  We went to see the Papal audience with Pope Francis and was almost in touching distance.  He picked up a child, a smiling boy who reminded me of my grandson.  This mass was warm, intelligent, holy.  I felt hope.  

 We went to Florence and saw the David.  Amazing.  The detail was staggering.  As an artist I observed this famous piece of art from an esthetic point of view and also from a technical point of view. We went to an all-day painting class in which a professor --that studied in an acclaimed Florence Academy of Arts—taught us traditional techniques in still life and portraiture.   

After arriving back to Rome briefly we traveled to Assisi and Orvieto. These two places were one of the most favorite places I have been too.  It was quaint and warm and lovely. In St Francis chapel there was a center section that had a mesh around various sundry items like baby pacifiers, shoes and the like.  It was a shrine of people that have passed.  Spontaneously,  I took my mother’s scarf off which I had been wearing around my neck and pushed it through the mesh.  I felt so happy and I felt a part of my departed mother’s spirit was with St. Francis.  I felt radiant peace. It was all so mystical and I felt love throughout all the incredible impressions. This quote came to my mind from the book: “The Inner Eye of Love” that William Johnston wrote when he was talking about love and mysticism which was the pulse and heart beat during in my Journey to Italy: ”Mysticism is a question of love, a love which arises in the heart in answer to a call, a love which leads through the darkness of the cloud of unknowing to the great mystery which is light in itself but darkness to us. Saint Teresa of Avila speaks of occasions in which the inspiration to pray for another rose spontaneously and unexpectedly in her heart. “  It was bittersweet coming back home.  I missed my children, grandchildren, friends and pets.  I missed my form I was use to.  The memory is in my cells now.  The hunger for more in the depth of my soul.

Artist Log March 7

3/7/2013 

Today I am productive and flowing but then am slapped by flattened fatigue.  I am obsessed with ferns.  I study them.  There are so many.  The steerage fern. The California Fern.  The asparagus Fern. 

“But what if man had eyes to see the true beautiful ~the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colors and vanities of human life.” ~~~Plato

Artist Log March 6

3/6/012    I attached myself to the mystery and the spirit.  I did not trust at a young age.  My anchor was my art.  Helen Keller said that, “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.  It is still winter and cold out but my body moves as I run.  Not bad for age 54.  It is good when I feel Spring in the air. “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind” Bob Dylan

“Art is not a Thing; it is a way."- Elbert Hubbard.

3/3/3013 “Art is not a Thing; it is a way."-  Elbert Hubbard.

There has been much.  We are like seasons.  I feel like much of my life has been summer.  But now I am in dormant winter still with teases of Spring.  The desert is long, so long.  I am at a center and am not sure where to go.  ‘Nature does nothing uselessly. `Aristotle

   (Fact) Da Vinci was a vegetarian and an ardent lover of animals and nature; he was a gentle man and would buy birds in cages just so he could set them free. Excerpt from “the daily book of Art” Colin Gilber:

"The births of my two grandchildren have been a remarkable all-encompassing miracle to me after experiencing death including my mother slipping to heaven in my arms.  Circle, Circle.  I put it all in my art.  My Life, visions, my poetry¸ journey. I try to do and act the way I think is correct.  Sometimes I over compensate like with my loved ones.  Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday.  This is her second birthday in heaven.  I believe in heaven.  I feel her spirit.  I put this into my art work. I craved her love. Never quite had it like this long desert journey.  So close, within reach but not there, the eyes, her touch. So I gave it to her instead and I give it to others instead.  I saw a bulb coming through the soil today.  Hope.  Happy. I am very alive.  Empathetically I feel the heart beats of my loved ones and not so loved ones, of nature, of God of the pulse of the earth. I took my role of mother seriously.  I see it as a virtue.  I wait now for the birth of Spring.  I pick up my rake and start clearing away the leaves and tiny light green buds emerge from the daffodil bulb.  I am smiling. “Form is the outer expression of inner meaning.” Wassily Kandinsky

Artist Log - March 2 2013

3/2/2013 This is the first time I have ever written an artist log. I have an art space where I create and teach students named Isis Art Studio.  I will talk more about the name down the road some.  I give you some thoughts now of my perceptions, and insights.  I also give you my up and coming ventures.  Presently I am entering into a Hyde collection competition that will be in Glens Falls, NY.  I read a whole lot; I probably will put inspiring quotes down as well as facts about artists. I believe I was born with the right side of my brain (creative) more developed then the other, and so I learned to be quiet, when little with my twin by my side. There was a whole litter, a whole clan of us…all eight of us.  I felt buried most of the time. My twin was the babble and I was the sponge.  I spoke long sentences after not speaking at all. My first language was Art, second English. I grew up by the sea.  I would scare at the Long Island shore.  I absorbed the environment, was lost in sunsets and have always had a perpetual longing to interpret what I saw and felt in a physical form via paint or gardens or sculpture.  My mother and her mother dabbled with paints, resisting.  My father was a writer and photography.  Both put their passions away.  I have been taking classes for decades and majored in art and psychology in college. I have had exhibitions of my art work, both group and solo, since I was nine. I had three sons I call masterpieces who are having their own ‘masterpieces’ now.  My beginning life by the sea was always part of my unconsciousness. For over four years I painted the sea in one form or another.  At the end of the obsession, I painted just the waves without reference to anything around it.  Later I entered into an almost six year journey of the Way of the Cross, creating 15 traditional with contemporary visions within each.  I went through a dormant time, almost a desert…thirsty but not knowing how long before the rains fell…. “Nature does nothing uselessly.”~~`Aristotle Now I am just starting to bloom with a new series of works called ‘Trees, Roots, and Fiddlehead Ferns.’

Classes, Commissions, and Open Studio

Isis Art Studio is a Guilderland-based studio run by Patricia Trudeau. Isis Art Studio focuses on the complexity of expressing one’s inner self through unleashing creativity. Patricia Trudeau, an awarded artist herself, teaches classes and is also available for commissions. For more information or to book a session, please contact Patricia:
Email: Isisartstudio@gmail.com
Phone: (518) 456-7651
Website: http://patricia-trudeau.artistwebsites.com/index.html


Commissions
Commissions are priced individually by quote. Each quote is determined by the size of the area to be painted, the material requested (oil vs acrylic paint), and the number of sitting in order to complete the project. Patricia has done several comissions of various sizes including the St. Ambrose school entryway and the wall in Marisa’s Pizza in Guilderland. To set up a free estimate, please contact Patricia.

Open Studio
Aspiring artists are invited to utilize Isis Art Studio’s Open Studio time. A relaxing and near-meditative environment allows for the most creative environment. Anyone coming to open studio is expected to bring all art supplies. Easels WILL be provided.
Cost: $10/hr


Classes
Two different classes are offered through Isis Art Studio. Classes are booked in either one or two hour sessions. Contract and registration are required prior to taking any class. All levels are welcome. Each course is broken down into either 6 or 12 classes.

Course 1: Isis Drawing and Painting Technique
Throughout the course, students will learn contour drawing, gestural drawing, and upside down version, perspective, and color theory. These elements will provide the student with the necessary tools, exercises and direction to begin the journey of expressing oneself through art. We will use graphite pencil, charcoal, acrylic or oil paint and water color. A list of art materials will be provided. Books used are Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards and The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.
6 Week Option for 1 hour class: $180, due prior to first class (30/class)
6 Week Option for 2 hour class: $360 (60/class)
12 Week Option for 1 hour class: $300 (25/class)
12 Week Option for 2 hour class: $600 (50/class)

Course 2: Isis Journey: Expressive Art Series
The classes will take the student at their own pace exploring, uncovering and discovering one’s inner vision and voice. Topics explored include Spiritual Electricity, Creative Evolution and more. Materials will be discussed at consultation/registration. Books used are The Zen of Creative Painting by Jeanne Carbonetti and The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.
6 Week Option for 1 hour class: $180, due prior to first class (30/class)
6 Week Option for 2 hour class: $360 (60/class)
12 Week Option for 1 hour class: $300 (25/class)
12 Week Option for 2 hour class: $600 (50/class)