Paint like Botticelli

My one-day adventure

One-day adventure – because I was able to attend only one day of the four painting classes.

No, it's not really like that... It all happened few days before an exam, I would say almost two weeks before my last exam (which I thought was the hardest one), but I said to myself I cannot miss the opportunity to take part in a painting course: art has priority! Being a bit “scared” about it, I told the professor that “I want to come, I will attend the course, but I will only be able to stay one day because of the session... ”

What I advise you “not to do” is do not be afraid, like me, of things and, instead, take them as they are! Now I can say that at least two days could have been perfect for continuing the portrait, and between us, it's the only exception I made in portraits.

So I signed up!

Yes, I signed up on the day I saw the announcement. I must admit that since I'm here, I see only interesting ads about art - contests, courses, exhibitions, etc. And all these come from this virtual multinational, Facebook.

I liked and I really thought it was a very nice idea and a nice gesture from the teacher to provide us big canvases, oil, brushes and all the utensils we needed; in fact I really had nothing with me here, just some pencils and paper for sketches, illustrations or whatever my mind wants to scribble on paper. I could take “masterpiece” with me even if it wasn’t finished yet: I did not want to let anyone else continue it, nor I let it there to be lost forever in that studio in Florence.

Since then I remember Florence, the course was held there, in the palazzo Bruciato which in my desperate rush I had passed like two, three times without noticing it; my excuse was that I was so late, so so late!

Having no internet connection, (my phone was a bit useless back then; it was just for pictures and music) I couldn’t check my location on Google Maps, so I made a “homemade” route: I booked the train tickets a night before, and I tried to approximately calculate what time I had to catch the bus in the morning (which did not happen because there are no miracles in the morning at 7, only at 8). Also, how long it is from that palazzo to Santa Maria Novella station. I tried to be brave by booking the ticket at 7:39 in the morning, such an unreasonable hour for a student during the summer, but anyway, in this case it wasn’t my fault, it was the bus! Finally, after an hour and… a while, I arrived at the train station and I took the train. Should I say that I had lost about three trains in that time?!

Ok, the course started at 9 o'clock, and in all that time I was somewhere on the way but... while in train I said to myself it was a sign to come back the next day and recover the missing hours.

Finally, I arrived there – S. M.Novella station. “Theoretically” I should have caught a bus that takes me to a bus station near the Palazzo street, but I was so lucky that I found Florence’s streets under construction, streets blocked, deviated traffic and everything you want to see when you are late somewhere!

I have said so many times that I was guided by a 13th century compass, but this time it saved me. I quickly found the station, I took two tickets and I went to the stop written down in my agenda. From there all the way down the street to the destination, as I said, I passed without any worries two, three times near it – and again I lost time... but I got it, it's ok.

The surprise was that in that huge hall we were three people! And I was the third, delayed. I apologized for the delay and took a seat at a table, drawing out the painting I wanted to try. I could choose any Renaissance painting I would try to reproduce but I chose a portrait, and not any portrait, but the one made by da Vinci of Cecilia Gallerani. Okay, I translate for you... "Dama con l'ermellino".

• She was the favorite and most celebrated of the many mistresses of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. It happened around XV century.
• Advice: read about Borgia family and so on.

Because the course lasted until 5 o'clock, I tried to paint as much as I could. What I learned was that for oil paintings is required a long time to cover the contours and combine the layers, overlay them and finally get the desired result. So it was pretty clear that in just one day I could not reach any big result, nor the copy of the da Vinci portrait.

I trie to take it home with me because it's still a challenge and I want to see my progress, I'm curious about what I'm capable of. And I promised the teacher that I did not abandon the project anyway. Maybe I'll get in the sphere of Picasso, you never know, haha.

• By the way... Someone started the painting, the same portrait, about four, five months ago and she told me "well, it is not finished yet, I still have to paint more and more and reach the kindness of her eyes like in the original one". But take a look at the result, after some months it looks like this. Honestly, I really appreciate her work and her patience.

Photo gallery