Eravamo in 80 artisti tra pittori e scultori più alcuni musicisti e una cantastorie. Tutti artisti selezionati da un comitato artistico. Io ero presente con l’esposizione mie opere e, dal mattino alla sera, ho dipinto un ritratto dal vero della mia modella e amica Anna Laura.

Mi sono divertita molto a dipingere dal vero Anna Laura e l’accoglienza della gente è stata calorosa: sono state davvero tante le persone che si sono fermate a chiacchierare, chiedendomi informazioni sui dipinti, un biglietto da visita o anche solo per farmi i complimenti. E’ stato bello, soprattutto se si pensa da dove arriviamo quest’anno: ovvero un anno e mezzo di lockdown e relazioni umane assenti causate dal maledetto Covid!! Dunque è stato emozionante ritrovarmi ad incontrare le persone dal vero, parlare con sconosciuti (chi si ricordava più cosa voleva dire..) e vedere le strade del centro storico di questa bella cittadina pieno di persone con la voglia di vedere e vivere l’arte. E poi mi sono ritrovata a pensare, già per la seconda volta in pochi giorni, che mi piace davvero tanto la pittura dal vero, è entusiasmante!

Purtroppo, essendo molto impegnata a dipingere, non mi sono concessa il lusso di farmi una passeggiata per conoscere gli altri artisti. Questo mi spiace.. Ma d’altronde, è anche vero che, se l’avessi fatto, non sarei mai riuscita a finire il ritratto in giornata e non avrei fatto il mio show .. e dunque: benissimo così!! Gli organizzatori sono stati talmente bravi da chiamare ben tre fotografi a ritrarre Albino in Arte, ciascuno con la propria lettura. E con i loro meravigliosi scatti mi hanno dato un’idea più che completa dello spettacolo che è stato Albino quel giorno: una meraviglia!! Sono orgogliosa di averne fatto parte.

L’iniziativa è stata organizzata dalle associazioni del territorio Arte sul Serio e Circolo Fotografico Città del Moroni – Albino. Grazie ragazzi, siete stati bravissimi!! :))

I love autumn color and autumn fruits and vegetables. I love autumn. I think maybe is my favorite season together with late spring.. Anyway, if you think about it, both autumn and late spring are magical moments for nature! Lots of different seasonal fruits and flowers are at their best  and very mature and so rich in their colors. The painting has already found a collector.

Peonies are such a poetic flower, with all those gigantic light petals. They amaze with their size and with their splendour. I adore going in peony gardens and absorbing their energy and their beauty. They are such beautiful and poetic flowers! For some years, in the past, I lived in Montefiascone (Viterbo, Italy) and in april and may I used to go very often to Centro Botanico Moutan in Vitorchiano. There they grow all kinds of peonies, they say they have the biggest collection of chines peonies in Europe! I don’t know, if it’s the biggest. For sure it is astonishing. They have such a gorgeous collection .. you can litterally walk among peonies high like yourself for hours.. This year I would have loved to go again but due to covid lockdown, we couldn’t move from our region. Pity but it will be for next year! I was lucky that my neighbor has the most amazing peonies and I could make so many pics.

Hope you will enjoy this study. It was funny to paint it and the result is what I expected, a little bit dreamy and ethereal.

Peonies’ Dream, oil on canvas by Sara Calcagno, 41 x 22 cm

In this painting I wanted only two main character and one subject. The first character is for sure the amazing location in all its triumphant beauty (the Italian Alps in Aosta Valley, Italy). The second character is my model, representing all of us with the same spirit.. And here we are at the subject: the need for infinity, for new discoveries, the adventurer in the sense intended in the XIX century, the one I feel so near my soul.

About the amazing alpine landscape seen from the top of the mountains, of course is an homage to Caspar David Friedrich famous one, the Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, dating 1818. The figure represents for sure the artist, and all people like me in need for infinity with the particular adventurous spirit, with a romantic approach to life.

I am totally in love with the alpine landscapes and with the Aosta Valley, that I live since I was a child and where I have dear friends and dear memories.

The New Romantics, Painting by Sara Calcagno, oil on canvas, 76 x 35 cm

Two lovers are just resting after love. They enjoy the sun, they enjoy nature, they enjoy life.

This painting is a celebration of life,  of love and of beauty.

The Dreamers is a painting oil on canvas, 27,5 x 39,4 inches ( 70 x 100 cm).

The Dreamers is available for sale. For more information do not hesitate to contact me via PM  to my WhatsApp no. +393489136889 or to my email address sara.calcagno@gmail.com.

He was a famous American painter, born in Massachusetts in 1820 and died in London in 1925. He is generally considered one if the most famous portrait painters of XIX Century.

His beautiful portraits speak for themselves. I’ve studied his painting technique and  many of his portraits.

Among them there is this portrait of a woman with glasses. Her severe but ironic face is so interesting my interest was literally completely captured and I decided to copy it.

I made a painting using the wet on wet method, that is I painted it in one day and tried to maintain the fresh look of the original.

Hope you like it!

In particular, I find his portraits particularly beautiful and intense and I totally love his technique! I like the thickness of his painting and the apparent  roughness of his style in some points.

Rembrandt was certainly very modern for his times and I find his style sometimes really surprising and strong.

Because of my love for Rembrandt, a couple of years ago I decided to spend some time in making copies after some of his portraits. I decided to go small (all these paintings are no more than  11 x 8 inches big)  and I gave myself only one day for each one of these portraits.

It was a real challenge but I had also a lot of fun

For a little painting like these ones, for studying the image and drawing it I spent at least  three/four hours. Of course, if the painting was bigger I would have needed much more time!

I stand there looking at the image and drawing it until I was sure I liked the drawing and I perfectly understood the forms and the points on which I wanted to focus my attention both in the drawing and in the painting.

For me, these two steps are the most important ones, the ones in which I get in connection with the masterpiece. If I don’t analyze with attention the subject or if I go too fast with the drawing, this normally means to me making a bad painting or one without a soul. Painting needs time and concentration.

For coloring with oils little studies like these ones, I needed around another three/four hours. It was not so much time but again.. it was so only because these were very small paintings. If they were bigger, I would have certainly needed more time.

I find particularly helpful making copies after paintings I love. It helps me learning and making steps forward in my technique. I always say, that making copies after great Masters  is like making a private lesson with a great painter. It is like getting intimate with him/ her. Sometimes you can even figure out what the Master had in mind when he made some technical choices and when this happens, it is gorgeous and exciting.

This little painting I did after Rembrandt is (like most of the little studies I made) a detail of a bigger painting. I wasn’t interested in making the copy of the whole painting. I only wished to focus on the portrait and, in particular, I wished to focus on the portrait of an old man as I really love as Rembrand painted old people. I think he could really capture old people’s soul.. These faces really speak to me and have some real magic.

Hope you like this copy of an old man after Rembrandt and, if you are a painter, I wish you happy inspiration and happy painting!

If you wish to receive more information about my paintings or you are interested in commissioning me a portrait, don’t hesitate to write me through WhatsApp or call me directly at the number +39 348 9136889 

Hope you will enjoy it!

Quest’anno ho scelto una natura morta molto ricca di oggetti. Una stella di natale, un orsachiotto, uno schiaccianoci, un pupazzetto che danza, diversi libri, un piccolo angioletto da appendere all’albero, del nastro natalizio, delle pigne, una candela accesa, una tazza di tè, delle palline di natale sparse, un taccuino, una penna, una lampada e poi stoffe, due quadri natalizi, una scatola di biscotti.

Nel dipinto ho cercato di dare un aspetto a quello che per me è lo spirito natalizio, la magia del Natale, la magia che tutti noi da bambini immaginavamo e che la bambina dentro di me immagina anche oggi.

E dunque.. la possibilità che questi pupazzi inanimati nelle notte delle feste possano prendere vita e danzare, suonare, parlare…

Tutto ciò che è possibile immaginare è possibile, qualcuno disse  .. Sicuramente lo è per me in un mio dipinto rendo possibile l’impossibile e lascio parlare la bambina dentro di me che cin gli occhi sgranati vede e si aspetta la magia…

Nella foto un dettaglio del dipinto.

La Danza, olio su lino belga, 100 x 60 cm