The boys

The boys have been busy and active as usual, calcio (soccer) started back, they go to practice 2 times a week, and just recently the weekend games began. I have mentioned their coach a small, smoking most animated oldish man, who has a good heart, nothing to do with his smoking though. They had a game a week ago, the opposition was more like 12 - 14 years old, the boys just looked and stared back at me, and said their huge dad, my only comment was , they are, even the coach was smaller than them. My best advice to the boys was go out and play like its aussie rules, get in there and play hard, and keep running. l tend to give them some inspiration and advice, as they don't always understand the coach, and he often is yelling at Hunter, calling him Ewan, and visa versa. this is rather confusing when he wants one to attack, and one to defend. Anyway the match ended up 1 - 6, but they played well, and Hunters speed saved a couple more goals, and Ewan is quite the tackler and goal sneak, one just missed the goals.
Their week nights are busy with calcio on Monday, Wed, sometimes Friday, drama on Tuesday, Ewan has piano on wed, they have a small lesson in Italian with a teacher on thursday, and on Fridays they often have an art lesson with Antonio. I was asked by one of the parents why do you send your kids to an art lesson, you are an artist, l explained l have no patience, and they dont listen to me.
Their ltalian is improving dramatically now, Even Hunter is talking in it, but he is best with his waving of the hands, and going dai dai!!! Ewan seems to understand very well, and often talks back to people in the street if they are rude.
Ewan recently was sent home from school by the headmaster after throwing a foam ball at her. He was playing with Hunter and another boy Luca at playtime and the headmaster felt it was unsafe,   and told them to stop it, and to play catch instead, so Ewan threw the ball at her in fun, but alas the headmaster did not see it that way, and the concern that other parents and kids watching may also end up throwing balls at her, she quickly sent Ewan to her room and rang me. When l got there and heard the story, l nearly laughed and patted him on the back, but luckily l remembered l was a parent and kept a straight face, and took him home, he was very apologetic and sorry, and felt very embarrassed for him.
A week later Hunter was told to write an apology letter to a teacher for mis-behaving on a field trip, apparently he was not listening to the guide, when l asked him about it he said , he didn't understand him because he spoke in Italian, and wanted to look at the pictures in the art show instead, again l found it hard to wonder what he did wrong, but l am their parent!
Hunter has taken to biting his  finger nails, and no amount of weird nail polish that is supposed to stop that has helped, he says his hungry, we are increasing his portions at meals.
Hunty asked me a few days ago , at what age to you have to stop holding hands, l said you never have to stop if you don't want to, he smiled and said good, because l always want to hold your hand dad.
Ewan is still getting emotional, when he sees people begging in the street, or when l new kid comes to school and is teased, he really is a saint, though l have my suspicions that he is wiser than we believe, and he knows that when Hunter is misbehaving, which is generally always, he acts more saintly.

Dressed to play

 

Drama group

Ewan the clown

 

Hunty the clown

 

The coach and Ewan

Lucio Dalla. March 4th 1943 - March 1st 2012

Last month a most famous and talented singer, songwriter, musician and actor died. I had not heard of him before, but seen him occasionally in the street, as he lived near my old studio. The town of Bologna, infact the country of Italy went into mourning, it is something l found quite moving, possibly like Jim Stynes death. There was over 30,000 people at his funeral, and they had his casket just off the main piazza here over the weekend do people could pass by it, the line stretched for thousands, people going throughout the night, just to say goodbye. All the shop windows had photos or paintings of him in their windows, the words "ciao Lucio" were hanging from the piazza and other windows. there was a mountain of flowers and messages outside his apartment, every age seemed to be touched by him.

Ciao Lucio, Piazza Maggoire

Thoughts of the day

Warmth is back to Bologna, the last of the ice has melted away, no more icicles hanging above us, the streets are back to the buzz of scooters, and the Bologna shuffle is gone for another year. What is left is a thick surface of dust on the pavement under the porticoes, which leaves lovely foot marks in the house now, as we just dont remember to take our shoes off. Along with that is the dust gets stirred up, and coughing is the new thing in bologna, throats are sore, chest heavy and the chemists are making a fortune with throat sprays. the roads have got worse, all the snow and water has dissolved the base under the stones and so it is rather uncomfortable riding the bike, having to dodge the tough bits, but today in my haste to be comfortable, l elbowed a bus, neither of us was severely hurt.
But the warmth is terrific, as the rules for Italians are clear, you cannot remove your winter coat, until the local council has degreed that winter is officially over, and that spring is here. I of course am not Italian, and speak it badly, so l have dropped the coat most of the time, and can be seen wearing only a colourful check shirt, with bright coloured pants, ohh the looks of envy, well maybe not envy, but the looks l get. Jayne must have become Italian over winter, as she is still wearing her jacket, and got angry with me when l wanted to wear by boat shoes out.
Hunter has been sick with a bad throat and cough, but Ewan marches on. Hunter said to me today, "dad, you know when l bless you!" he has forgotten the word sneeze, and has not yet the word for it in Italian, or he has taken some higher than mighty approach with me.
And as the signs of warmth came, so has the scalffolding come down on so many sites around Bologna, it is as if a flower blooming, the beauty of the restored facias is wonderous.
The school fees have gone up, and the standard down, it is such a pisser that there is no other option, other than attend a local school, but we have been told that that could really bugger up the boys, unless we were here for a long time.
The studio is working well, have been busy as a bee, and though there is no true natural light, all is going well, though we shall see how it is in the heat of summer.
Jayne has just read the blog over my shoulder and has instructed me that she is wearing her mid season coat, not winter coat, so apologize for that.
Better go, before Ewan and Hunter start reading over my shoulder and insisting that other things are not correct.

Home Sweet Home. London

Well we are all back from a week in London, and what a week. catching up with Holly and Steve Thomson and baby Rose in Richmond, and then stayed with Kate and Mike Frayes family in Chelsea which was fantastic fun

For me it was a Picasso and English influenced artists at the Tate, then David Hockney "A Bigger Picture" at The Royal Academy of the Arts, and then Freud at the Portrait Gallery, finishing with new German artists at Satcchi Gallery. The Tate modern was terrific, but no major show on that l wanted to see. As well as that we had an exhibition of Scotts expedition to Antarctica in 1912 when he died at the Natural History Museum, and another photographic show of Ponting and Hurleys photographs from Shackelton and Scotts trips. So life was great for me for a week, and the boys enjoyed most of the shows, especially the natural history museums rock/ mineral display and a dinosaur exhibition. A few weeks earlier l was in New York for 5 days, and l must say that London has it on New York for art shows and exhibitions, London to me seems very alive and clever, were New York seemed tired and the same. Don't get me wrong, Central Park, the people, buildings of NY are amazing, and it is New York, but l guess I was surprised by London as l did not expect much. Now we have been in Bologna around 10 months, and it was quite lovely to have fish and chips, steak pies, pork pies with squashed peas to eat, but the coffee and brioches are just too good in Italy to compare, there was alot of Starbucks, which is really crappy. We loved the double decker buses, and you must get an Oyster card to travel with , big saving. The other great delight was so many green areas, my favorite is St James Park, the view and effect of light across the pond is picturesque, but any green area is good,especially from Bologna were there are none really except for Marguerita Gardens.

All our friends were so good to us, Mike kept going out of his way as always to make sure we enjoyed ourselves, and Kate was so relaxed and easy with us, though she had sick kids and no nanny that week. And of course Holly and Steve were Holly and Steve, perfect. It was also good to catch up with my old neighbour from Waterloo Street, Simon Lee who has been living there for 25 years, and has his own  most impressive major gallery there, he kindly invited us to his place at late notice for drinks, and we hope to keep in touch alot more. So London was terrific, and l dont harbor the emotions l had of the English nearly as much as before.

We did the "EYE" the big wheel which apparently is London's biggest fund earner in tourism, and l must say it was terrific, we went up on a sunny day, so that helped. The thing we noticed was the queues, we lined up to go into the Natural History museum for 45 minutes, then another 20 minutes to get into the show, then it was 35 minutes at Hockney, 30 minutes at Freud to then get a entry ticket for an hour later, and the wheel was a bout 45 minutes. They say book your tickets on line, and in some cases that can be quicker, but often it is the queuing to get into the show that takes time. My best advice is get a pram and a doll, push up to the start of the line, and say you had to leave quickly from the show as the child had shitted itself, and l feel you will sneak in straight away and for free. Of course you will have to find a pram and doll. Everyone in London is incredibly friendly, from the hotel we stayed in near Richmond at Kew Gardens to the cabbie, underground ticket operator, bus operator, tour guides, it was hard to find someone who was rude or uncaring. Thank fully we made it back to Italy, where as Jayne remarked as soon as the plane landed everyone started pushing and being generally unhelpful, ahh its good to be back home!!!The first meal we had was dinner that night a solid tortellini broda, lasagna, gnocchi, and tagliatelle fungi, simple and perfect. Followed up with a gelati. Its amazing the difference in two places only 1 1/2 hours away from each other by plane, and thank god for that!

Tower Bridge from Tower of London

Enjoying some English/ German food

Boys with De Chirico, Giaccometti and Picabia

The boys with baby Rose

Westminster

View from the EYE

Hunty holding up Buckingham Palace

The Bolognese Shuffle

Winter in Bologna, they warned us how cold it gets, and the chill gets into your bones, but like Antarctica it is not cold if you wear a jacket!
So everyone in Bologna wears either a Woolrich or Pueterey jackets, l personally prefer the more fitted Pueterey, there are of course those who wear puffy jackets but lets not talk about them, as they often wear their Ugg boots as well, and need to have sun glasses on. So its not that cold, colder in New York, the most important piece of clothing are boots, l wear Sorrells or my Redback work boots, but no boot is designed for the terracco polished walkways under the porticos. With just a bit of water or snow, they become a skate rink. And so the Bolognese shuffle comes to life, you see well dressed people shuffling along the walkways, rarely moving sideways, which is something they continue in summer as well, so wearing large jackets is essential as there is a lot of shoulder work. You look forward to a stretch of regular stone floor or concrete, but then you hit the open area wear the snow and ice are stained with the yellow tinge of dog pee, or ochre colour of shit. And beware of the falling icicles from the blocked guttering high above, if there are not casualties from this l will be most surprised, as Bologna is decorated like a christmas tree with these icicles dangling down.
The streets are silent, no scooters, few cars, and the people go quite, there seems to be less smoking as well, snow is such a leveller, it flattens space and softens light, it reaches into the people and subdues them, calms them. Winter is when the Italian bars come to life, they are a sanctuary from the cold or snow, a quick pit stop for a  una caffe e brioche, and back out again, just enough time to warm the face and let the snow melt from the boots, leaving puddles in the bar. And cardboard, the material that l search for around the bins in the streets to paint on, takes on a new life in winter. Everyone is busy looking for large bits of cardboard in the streets, its a battle , as they use it to place on the portico floors to soak up the water, make it less slippery outside their shops, of course this brilliant idea has one small drawback, its cardboard! And so a couple of hours later it turns dark, and begin to break up, there upon wedging small pieces into the sole of your boots, making them now less likely to grip a surface, and the cardboard ends up spread over a hugh area, thank god there seems to be a never ending amount of cardboard in Bologna.
Now on another direction, we have had two lovely weekends lately with friends, going to Ca'Shin in the hills of Bologna, a co-op style restaurant, that has courses and holds events, it is a most beautiful villa in the hills, at the moment covered in snow, the kids can play outside, and the food and service is relaxed and most enjoyable. The other place was a Brazilian restaurant out in a nearby town called San Lazzalo, great to eat lots of meat again, and the best thing is their is a ten pin bowling place next door. Finally all those years l spent at the Golden Bowl came back to serve me well. Those who know me well, may know l have my own bowling shoes, that l somehow pinched years ago from the Golden Bowl, a red/white/blue banded pair, with number 8 on the heel, leather sole of course, the perfect dress shoe. I wont harp on about the bowling just to say the kids had a lane, the mothers another, and the fathers another. I came a solid second beaten by Christiano, the gentleman! who bowled wonderfully, having two strikes. But if l could say, l still have that lovely style where my back foot slides behind and across me as l let the ball go, it is as professional footwork as you could get, years of watching the professional drop outs bowl, while having a super thick shake with Simon Lee and Jason at the Golden Bowl.
The boys school, has been closed for a week over this snow period, why is another question, as you can still move about, and suddenly every parent had to change their lives and job times to suit having the kids at home. No homework was sent out by email, no thought of asking the parents what they wanted to do, no leadership, no bloody idea what to do. Well l am glad to drop that heavy load, just dont get me going again on the school, the cost and the moronic thinking that comes from this supposed International School begs belief.
Jaynes Italian is better and better, she has classes every day from 9.30  - 1.30, as well a her friend Berenese, who speaks solely in Italian to her, with the occasional English for correction, she is French, but speaks Italian perfectly, and is learning English, and this is the way to learn  a language, speak it. Sadly l am in the studio listening to talk back radio, and mumbling to myself in a language that is yet to be recognized.
The boys have a young girl who picks them up from school on thursday, and spends two hours talking only in Italian, and so they are improving well, and have a better understanding than you think.
Off to London with the family on Friday, the school has a weeks holiday, called ski week, don't get me going !!!! So we are going to London, to see Holly and Steve, (the boys god parents), and Mike and Kate Frayne, as well as the natural history museum, David Hockney exhibition, Lucian Freud drawing show and have a go on the big wheel.

Ca'Shin

Australians and Spanish

The boys with Thiery at Ca' Shin

Cool Scooters!

 

Icicles

 

Peace and quite, Via Pepoli

 

Quite times in Piazza Maggoire

The Bologna Bowling Team

Xmas lights at Galleria Cavour

ANZACS

 

La Piccola Galleria

Well l have talked about the idea for sometime, and where better to do it than somewhere else, Bologna, I have opened a gallery. Now before we get to excited, it is as the name suggests rather small (La Piccola Galleria), in fact it is the front room of my new studio, and in winter it just does not get very warm, and you do have the issue of people staring in through the glass windows. So l have turned the 3.5 x 3 metre room into a gallery. The opening was last saturday 28/1/12, it coincided with La Notte Bianca, which is part of the Arte Fiera, a large art fair and art awareness week. The exhibition centre here puts on a fair much like the art fair in Melbourne, there are two large arenas which showcase galleries local and elsewhere, and another space for galleries showing more traditional or recognized artists, like Di Chirico, Burri, Paladino, Chia etc. The standard is high like Melbourne, but also lots of crap, lots of look at me pictures, and too many neon tubes. But the coffee and food is excellent. The third room is a real treat to see so many works by these artists is terrific. In Bologna all the galleries and bars stay open till early morning on the saturday allowing people to walk and eat as they go around. So with this in mind, l opened on this night, and had about 50 or so people visit, lots of lovely words, but no sales yet.
I have decided to every month, have a small opening of the work l have done that month, keeps me honest, and a good excuse to see people once a month.
So my new studio is not as great as the greatest studio l had before, not much natural light, or air flow, ground floor, but is has the opportunity for the gallery, and is well set up once l get some more fluoro lighting in the studio area.
My first show was of the works (watercolours) l did at Cortina in the Dolomites, as well as works l did in the studio the last week ( larger gouche works on cardboard) and two larger oils on linen (though unfinished)
So now l am back furiously working away, feeling better and my mind is a buzz of activity.

The artist and Rosella

La Piccola Galleria

An artist, nurse, headmaster and teacher

Opening night

Historical facts about Cortina

Dolomite ( /ˈdɒləmaɪt/) is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg(CO3)2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone.
Now dolomite has also been found in high saline parts of the Coorong in South Australia. It is the manganese that gives the rock the pink colour that seems to be golden in the morning light.
Dolomite is used to make concrete which you can see mine areas all along the road into Cortina.
Apparently Cortina is very much liked by the wealthy families because there is only one way in and out, and so kidnapping is uncommon, if this fact is true they need help, and l presume it was before helicopters were flying.
The kin folk of Cortina parade around not only in full length furs , but also weird party dress's that look like dolls dress's or something out of a German kids story book. Now l accept this may have been rather normal back centuries ago, but today? These people obviously have not ventured down the only road in and out over the years and are in some kind of time warp.
Ohh l found out why some hot chocolates are so thick, they add flour, that has ruined it for me now.
The town of Cortina has some very wonderfully designed living spaces in the old style buildings here. The buildings are all white with wooden verandas and railing, all done with some kind of decorative design , mostly 3-4 stories high, with an attached wooden storeroom for the animals and workshop of years past. They have a railed area for veggie gardens in summer, and metal roofs with the railing to stop the snow sliding off. What l have noticed which is very illustrative of Italy is that many buildings are un occupied due to safety reasons or have not been up dated for 30 -40 years. And though they walk around in their furs, which are also often 30 -40 years old ( thank god for the animals) they are broke, and this is Italy.
I am thinking and I'll need this proven scientifically , that the reason for the orange faces is due to the drinking of the local water which is very tasty, having a high amount of manganese in it and when the sun hits their faces they go a golden orange colour , this of course is heightened when they wear their umpler umpler suits.
Now l may be going into difficult territory here, but my feeling from meeting several groups of people here is that the women have got some grave issues, and have a hostile nature , this may be due to the fact that the Botox and surgical ventures have seized their facial manners, or the chemicals have got into the blood and made them go a bit goofy. That said l find most men quite normal and casual, but the fact they stay with these beasts begs the thought that they too suffer from something. I should add that this is about the regular inhabitants not the passing trade. Though l have started to hold back from drinking the tasty water.
I swear today when l was walking down the main strip, it was as if l had accidentally warped myself to Spain and was watching the running of the bulls, l have never ever seen so much fur, or animal hide.