Azulejos and Birds and …

Many years ago when I lived in Ansedonia, my dear friend Anna Costantini had bought some magnificent white open-embroidered curtains with fascinating designs. I became totally hooked on every detail and began obsessively drawing those birds, grapes and all the external friezes, which I then transferred onto canvas and finally wood panels. I was soon dissatisfied with ‘normal’ frames and began using a jig-saw to cut elaborate frames onto each panel based on themes of the curtain.
At first I used more or less realistic colors, but after a trip to Portugal I was struck by the extreme versatility of the magnificent azulejos which succeeded in expressing everything and anything in blue and white: from a Last Judgment to a naval battle. For many months I lived a blue passion: everything became blue: the castel at Vulci, birds, olive trees.
This was a particularly happy period of my life.

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