On the Eve of Ravenna

 ,,,,and this is what the Upside Down Floorcloth looks like at this point, after a couple of days of blocking in the colours only. 

And tomorrow I am off to the ravishing Ravenna again, for Nabucco at the Opera Festival, once more meeting up with David, but also Jeremiah- we will be staying in the venerable Diana Hotel. Then I must ruch back to arrange a Christmas Aperitivo for neighbours, friends from ONDA, Paolo and his studio, Hettie and many more..,

The Entrance Floor Cloth

Those who have known me for a long time will recall that in my chequered career a certain object has made sporadic appearances in my life- a forgotten item of the interior called Floor Cloth or Oil Cloth. I have in fact made many of these, and they are all visible on my website www.sophiesarin.com  under the heading 'Floors'.

There has been this little voice in the back of my mind, nagging away at me, that I ought to make one for this flat, and for the entrance- it is most probably going to be my last home and hopefully for some time to come...so the idea is  finally beginning to take some shape. 

Since I became an Ondaiola in June, I have been quite a useful addition to the contrada- or at least I have been trying to make myself useful- here, for instance we have me in the Saturday morning coffee bar at the Via Giovanni Dupre, making capuccinos with Roberto, the other volunteer that Saturday.

                                                    

This sort of visible engagement helped me to take courage and ask Massimo, the Priore and one of the big bosses of Onda, if there might be some space, at present  not being used,  somewhere in the Onda territory, where I might be able to paint the Floorcloth for my entrance. To my great surprise and joy, he said I could use the floor above the Chiesina, the old church of the Contrada on Via Giovanni Dupre. Now, this space had definitely not been used, or indeed swept,  for a couple of centuries. 

However, after a dusty couple of days, it was time for the protective MDF sheets to go down and be taped together, with two purposes- one to protect the ancient floor, and the other to provide a surface for me to nail down and stretch out the canvas.

                                                 

Since the entrance to my flat is a very odd shape, it was necessary to lay down the canvas in situ there first and draw the shape on it, with the help of another Roberto, this time from the little theatre group who meet every Friday at my place...

And then the canvas was stretched and nailed down on the MDF in the Chiesina. 

                                       

                                                

The first layer of primer (ordinary vinyl emulsion paint mixed with PDF glue for elasticity and to prevent cracking) is important, because it is the one that stretches the canvas taut when it shrinks.

Since then five more layers of primer has been painted, and between each some sanding, and every time redrawing of the outline of the entrance hall perimetre, which shows through faintly  on each new layer and needs to be redrawn each time. 

So what will be the motif of this entrance Floorcloth? This has caused me some distress, as I have felt inadequate and uninspired... there is also some pressure on me, because the ONDA people are of course curious and want to know what I am doing... it will have to be good! And although I have done many traditional floorcloths in the past which have had patterns only, this one is not going to be one of those- it will be a lighthearted synthesis of what Siena is to me: it will use some details from my year of drawings from the streets of Siena- its crazy, lovely shapes and its caressing  movements. It will have some well-known silhouettes; 

It will have the colours of Siena and there will be Porta Tufi at the entrance, I think..

And then there will some details like Simone Martini's 'Blessed Augustino Novello' who Andrew and I called 'the SuperMonk' executing one of his miracles, catching the boy falling from the balcony...etc etc..

 And I expect there will be a horse of two...

I called Kathy, my dear artist friend whom I admire and love. 'I am scared' I said.  She said: 'We are all scared when we begin something new' she said...