C.A.V.A. MEMBERS EXHIBITION AT BRIDGEPORT ART CENTER SEPT. 15 - OCT. 29, 2023

 FONDAMENTA DEL VETRAI, 38 x 30 inch oil and pencil on paper painting by George C. Clark  Available

This painting of houses on a canal in Murano, near Venice, will be in the Chicago Association of Visual Artists Members Exhibition at Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 West 35th Street in Chicago, in the 3rd floor gallery. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday,  Sept. 15 from 6 to 10pm, and another reception on Friday, Oct. 20 from 7 to 10pm.  Gallery hours are Mon.-Sat. 8am to 6pm and Sun. 8am to noon. The show will be open daily through Oct. 28, 2023.

SAN MARCO, VENICE IN 1976

San Marco Façade, Venice, 9 x 12 inch ink drawing by George C Clark   AVAILABLE

Here's a real blast from the past!  I recently found this little drawing in an old file I hadn't opened on decades.  It was originally a page from the book of heavy Canson paper in which I began my series of on-site "Traveler's Sketchbook" watercolors when my wife and I were touring Europe by train in the late summer and fall of 1976.  The watercolors I did on that trip are mostly long since sold, but in those early days  I was only showing watercolor paintings in my exhibitions and this drawing got filed away never exhibited.  Ten years later I began working sometimes in the medium of ink and watercolor for this series.  In the last decade as my mobility has declined I have begun doing ink drawings on-site and adding color at home, or sometimes exhibiting the ink drawings without color. 

For this drawing I did the light linework with a Rapidograph technical drawing pen with a no.1 or no. 0 point.  The heavy blacks were added with a Sharpie felt-tip pen.  I just looked at a blown-up map of the Piazza San Marco to determine that I did the drawing at one of the outermost tables of the Caffe Quadri's outdoor seating.   This Caffe has been there since the 18th Century.  It was expensive in 1976 and I understand the prices are even more outrageous today.  However, I got a real kick out of sipping Campari-and-sodas at an establishment previously patronized by Casanova,  William Dean Howells, Richard Wagner, Thomas Mann and Federico Fellini.    

CAMPO SANTA MARIA FORMOSA, VENICE

Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venice, 29 x 40 inch oil and pencil on paper by George C. Clark    SOLD

This is a big oil and pencil on paper studio painting I made after a visit to Venice.  I sold it to a collector in Lake Bluff from an exhibition I had in Lake Forest in the 1980s. In it I depicted my younger self about to cross paths with Corto Maltese as he emerges from beyond the kiosk at the right.  One of the joys of visiting Europe back then was the opportunity to buy great graphic novels by French and Belgian and Italian artists that weren't available in the States.  I discovered artists like Corto's creator Hugo Pratt, Guido Crepax, Jacques Tardi, Jean Giraud aka Moebius, and Milo Manara.  When I was living in Paris in the summer of 1976 I used to get the magazine Charlie Hebdo for the brilliant satiric Paulette comics drawn by Georges Pichard and written by Georges Wolinski who was murdered recently by terrorists.  The Paulette stories were later published in book form and I still have them all in my library.  Now of course, European graphic novels are easily available here in English translation or their original editions from sources on the internet.

BEHIND THE SCUOLA DI SAN ROCCO IN VENICE

Behind the Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, 12 x 9 inch watercolor by George C, Clark    SOLD

I went to the Scuola di San Rocco to see the amazing giant murals by Tintoretto.  Afterward I painted this little watercolor of the canal behind the building.

SAN MOISE, VENICE

San Moise, Venice, 29 x 23 oil on paper painting by George C. Clark    SOLD

I had to cross this bridge and walk through the little campo in front of the Church of San Moise to get to San Marco from the hotel I was staying at in Venice.

GRAND CANAL, VENICE

Grand Canal from Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 12 x 9 inch watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I painted this little watercolor sitting on the steps of the great church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice.  The water taxi was actually tied up at the fondimenta in front of me, but I decided to portray it in motion.  Then, just as the painting was about finished, some churchmen came from behind me, got in the boat, and it took off.