Raffaele Ciccaleni came to us LIVE from Italy on Friday, November 4th vía Zoom para compartir sus técnicas de acuarela y su paleta de colores favorita.
Here’s a quick Q&A with Raffaele:
¿Por qué haces arte?
I‘ve always been drawing and painting (and playing) since I can remember, so making art has always been a way of expressing myself. No special goal to pursue or rules to follow, just a normal way of traveling through life. What has come out of that process may not have been actual “art” all the time of course, but it was the essence of that travel anyway.
¿Recibiste formación artística formal?
No, I only had a formal training for my main job, which was teaching. Now after retiring, I am a full-time working and teaching artist.
¿Qué te inspira?
As for subjects, I mainly get inspiration from landscapes. As for creativity, everything can inspire me – books, art history, abstract words, fine art critics, students and teaching.
¿Qué tipo de música escuchas mientras pintas?
As a musician… I absolutely prefer a non-music environment while I paint. Do musicians usually look at artworks while composing music?
¿Has tenido algún mentor?
My main cultural mentor was my University professor Gino Stefani, who taught of History of Music. He always suggested a semiologic approach to every field regarding communication and expression. He was a friend of the late Umberto Eco, whose University courses I also attended in the 1970s. My watercolor mentors are to be found in books by J.S. Cotman, E.Lear, J.W.M. Turner, E.Wesson, E. Seago, R. Hilder and J. Fletcher Watson. I have been fortunate enough to have some correspondence with the latter. Also Eastern contemporary masters, which we have only been able to know and follow on the web in the last decades, are of great inspiration.
¿Pintas todos los días?
I do not paint every day. I need blank periods made up of thinking and studying days. Then at a moment’s notice, I go paint!
¿Pintas una pieza a la vez o trabajas en varias simultáneamente?
I usually work on a piece at a time, but I often paint some pieces in one session – I do prefer to work very quickly! Sometimes I work after stating a concept or an inspiring idea-trigger, but I mostly go with the flow, especially en plein air.
¿Prefieres pintar en estudio o al aire libre?
I do prefer to paint en plein air, but I feel like I am en plein air even indoors, since I never had a “true” studio.
¿Cuántos colores básicos utilizas?
I use very few core colors all the time, but I have been limiting myself to very restricted palette sets. In the last decades one of my main interests has been the effort to study, understand and exploit the lessons that color triads teach us painters. My perfect set is three colors, three brushes, and a water cup.
¿Tubos, sartenes o palitos?
I prefer tube paints, though I sometimes also use pans when traveling – staying light is a must. It may seem funny, but tube paints are still preferable for quick sketches. I consider using sticks mostly for “filling” whole pans in special sets.
¿Cuándo sabes que tu obra está terminada?
I know that a piece is finished… mostly too late! Only at this age am I beginning to let a painting flow and stand on its own in its “unfinished look” glory.
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