THE COCKTAIL ISSUE

THE COCKTAIL ISSUE

" I never have more than one drink before dinner, but I do like that one to be very large, very strong, very cold and very well made."

                                                             - James Bond, 007

DARK, DARK, WE ALL GO INTO THE DARK

I write this on the shortest day ( light) of the year, the Winter Solstice. If you are an optimist and your glass is always half full then you can call it the longest evening of the year. If your glass is half empty, its just plain dark. It is at this time of year that we cloak the days with tradition and custom and we call it 'The Holidays', from Thanksgiving to Epiphany ( Jan.6 ) there is a cascade of festivities designed to help us forget how miserable we really are. ( Think of how you feel in June.)

I do know of one way to assuage the misery of darkness....a roaring fire and a great cocktail.

THE (unofficial) ITALIAN NATIONAL COCKTAIL

" Hey Bartender, you got anything stronger?"

                                                                            - Conte Cammillo Negroni, 1919

Negroni Cocktail

James Aponovich

oil on panel,  9" x 6"

Beth and I were beating the streets of Florence with our guests, Tom and Shannon. It was a hot day and since we were near the Via Tournabuoni, we decided to head for Bar Procacci for a glass of prosecco and a tartufatto panini ( truffle sandwich). Of course, it happened

 to be Monday and guess what?....closed!

Tom then noticed a little bar around the corner with outdoor seating. It was there that we discovered the Holy Grail of adult beverages, Caffe Giacosa, the birthplace of the Negroni !

In general, Italians are not big cocktail drinkers. Order a martini and you are likely to get a glass of sweet vermouth ( brand name Martini and Rossi). They are fond of two types
 of liquor: an apertivo ( before dinner) and a digestivo (after dinner). One of the most popular apertivo is from Milan. It is distilled from rhubarb and herbs and it is quite red, its name is Campari. By itself, Campari is fairly bitter, so it is customarily diluted with soda water, add a little sweet vermouth for balance and it becomes an Americano.

Legend has it that in 1919, a Count Cammillo Negroni went to the Bar Casoni ( now called the Caffe Giacosa) and ordered an Americano, but he was not satisfied, and wanted 'something' added to it. He had  had a tough day and he needed a 'stiffer' drink. The bartender, Fosco Scarselli , thought for a moment and added a shot of English gin and in honor of the count, called the drink a Negroni. It was an instant hit. With time the soda water went away and it has become an Italian classic.

THE NEGRONI

1 oz. Campari

1 oz. sweet vermouth

1 oz. gin

Shake with ice and serve cold with an orange peel as garnish.

Salute!
Felice Anno Nuovo!

PS. Add the soda water back and it reverts to the original, the Italians call it a "long drink".

PPS.  I must confess.......I drank the still life.

{week 18}

Copyright 2014 James Aponovich

           

E~N~E

E ~ N ~ E

"The dogfish are back" *

                                                    -Kimball Petty, Little Deer Isle, Maine

* Local Mainers response to the returning 'summer people', who like the small sand shark ( dogfish) only come when the weather is warm (er).

DOWNEAST

 Blue Hill From Parker Point

James Aponovich

oil on canvas

As far as I know, there is no agreed upon point as to where "Downeast" actually begins. To mariners gunkholing up the Maine coast, it starts when you set your compass East / Northeast to follow the coast after Cape Elizabeth. To others, it is when the glacially fingered Mid Coast opens to Penobscot Bay, home of ancient volcanos. To diehards, it's only after you reach lonely Naskeag and set out onto Blue Hill or Jericho Bay that the real Downeast begins,. It is also, as they say.....

.......A STATE OF MIND

Pine Tree, Sebasco, Maine

James Aponovich

oil on canvas

We have lived there, for fifteen years we owned a house on Eggemoggin Reach,  about a mile from the Deer Isle bridge. We lived amongst the aging hippie diaspora   who settled there seeking the "good life,' albeit on rocky soil and frigid waters. We also knew the Grindles and Grays,  descendants of English prisoners released on the shore of what was then Massachusetts Bay Colony, later the British exported 

their 'unwanteds' to Australia. We were friends with Consuela and Julia, aristocratic Atlanta belles who taught us gardening and grace. We were all there bound by one common question, often asked: "How did you ever find this place?" We all came there from different circumstances and for different reasons, but the convergence united us all until the tide turned and it was time to move on.

THE TIDAL POOL

The Tidal Pool, Low Tide

James Aponovich

Oil on canvas, 8" x 12"

The current thinking is that early in our planets life, the earth was only rock, no water and little, if any

atmosphere. Our little sphere endured an aerial bombardment of asteroids, leaving craters and somehow, water, which after countless eons, created oceans.We still go to the coast of Maine and find that primordial scene recreated, the ebb and flow of water and rock. The scars from that violent epoch are still visible on that other rock, our Moon. On Earth the scars are hidden, but here the sea gradually erodes the granite shore exposing the once molten, ancient basalt. As the land slips under the sea and the Earth spins under the Moon, it all becomes magic.

Moon Rise Over the Gulf of Maine, High Tide

James Aponovich

"The sea has many voices, many gods and many voices."

                              -T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets

THE POST-IT NOTE QUESTION

THE POST-IT NOTE QUESTION

? 

James Aponovich

Assemblage: wood panel, paper, ink, 2014

To:  Aponovich 43

Re: Artwork

Title:  ?

Source:Blog post, # 15  A43

Dear A43,

I am quite interested in your use of the visual/ conceptual trajectory in your recent assemblage ? ( 2014).

 Your repurposing of the found object combined with the manual task of art marking engage and challenge the existing social matrix (zietgeist). The manipulation of a significant social artifact (post-it) coupled with the highly charged symbolic

 icon (?) enables you to reference the current, existential, nihilistic angst ( blank canvas/nothing). I find all this most refreshing.

    I look forward to following your explorations. Were you at ArtBasel? I don't recall seeing your work there.

                                   - Trevor F., Manhattan

                                      

A.  Uh.... No... I wasn't.

GOBBLEDYGOOK  ( GOB'  EL - DEE- GCOK )   n. ( coined by Maury Maverick 1895-1954)

                                                                Unclear wordy jargon.

THE ACCIDENTAL PAINTING

? Post-It Note

James Aponovich

oil on panel, 20" x 16", 2014

Sometimes you find paintings in the strangest places. In order to illustrate " Blank canvas brain freeze" in the last blog I set up a "still life' of a sticky note on a blank panel which became the basis for this painting.

The question is, why the question?

I don't really know.

ALL THAT GLITTERS

ALL THAT GLITTERS

Malted Milk Balls

James Aponovich

oil on canvas, 11" x 9"

R.T.A.

R.T.A. is gallery speak for a work of art that is "returned to artist." for whatever reason, they don't want it anymore, it may take up too much space or there is little interest, but as they say," we know where it is".......

....not always.

I have had many R.T.A.'s in my career and generally speaking, they have found new homes. Sometimes they stay and occupy a prized spot on a wall, other times they find themselves back in the studio like disorderly students

 who find themselves in detention after school, they sit in the studio and the question is asked, "what is wrong with you?"

Believe me, I am very familiar with this analogy.

BLANK CANVAS BRAIN FREEZE

?

James Aponovich
Post-it Note & Ink, 20" x 16"

The blank canvas or (or page) contains unlimited potential and it is up to the artist to release the latent energy within. I have tried to explain that one method to assist the exploration is geometrical proportion, but that by itself will not necessarily get you very far, it is only a substructure. It's what you put onto it that becomes the "art", which is ineffable and impossible to teach. When a sculptor looks at an uncarved block they must envision the form they want and just remove the excess (material) to release it. A painter adds only what (material) is necessary, no more....easy to say, difficult to do.

SITTING IN DETENTION

So, here I have a painting I 'completed'  a couple of years ago. The gallery didn't want it so I brought it into the studio for a look. I decided to have another go at it but keep the theme of a bag of candy. The malted milk balls seemed dull, so to get more visual appeal I needed glitz!...and I knew exactly where to go to find it.

"I only eat candy."

       - Andy Warhol *

EYE CANDY

If you follow the 43rd Parallel due east from Peterborough, you will arrive at the Revolutionary War Capital of Exeter, New Hampshire, next door is the town of Stratham, the American home of the Swiss mega sweet corporation,

Lindt Chocolate, and they have an outlet shop!

Bins of candy at Lindt

What's the line about a kid in a candy store? This is Lindt's outlet store and it is amazing. While Beth went to the cafe for a hot chocolate ( it was a cold day)., I started digging through bins of European wrapped chocolates. I was seeking total visual eye appeal and was more than happy to be beguiled by a fancy wrapper. Armed with my bag of visual munitions, I returned to the studio for one more round with the painting......so here it is.

SAME PAINTING TWICE

                                      -with apologies to Howard Mansfield

Bag of Chocolates

James Aponovich

oil on canvas, 11" x 9"

P.S.  The obvious question arises as to why use an old canvas? Why not just start with a new one, its all about mojo. Paintings must have the flame of magic in them and if there exists only a spark ( in this case, hardly an ember), then the 'failed' canvas must be continued,

 artists must be explorers and again.....

A painting is only finished when there is nothing

more you can do to make it any better.

* Early in Andy Warhol's career this is what his response was as to why he wasn' eating at a formal, upper East Side dinner. He didn't know which fork or knife to use........brilliant response.

THE PRIMARY CHORD OR THE GORDIAN KNOT UNTIED

THE PRIMARY CHORD OR THE GORDIAN KNOT UNTIED

The most difficult color chord to work with is the primary triad of red, yellow and blue. They are the starting point in the mixing of other colors ( i.e. yellow + blue = green), but likewise they cannot be created from other colors. They don't particularly like each other so are difficult to place side by side, they each vary in chromatic intensity with yellow being the most dominate and blue least. red is very symbolic.

This chord was the starting point for the Hydrangeas Over the Amoskeag I introduced in week 2. Working with red, yellow and blue is like dealing with three chromatic divas so I needed a color that could settle this crowd down and that color is green.

This particular combination was one of the first 'scientific" color chords of the early Nineteenth  Century. It was also the first primary color chord. It was developed by none other than Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the German poet, dramatist and Italophile who also liked to dabble in the new science of optics. A Phd. was not required then.

IS IT FINISHED?

Hydrangeas Over The Amoskeag

James Aponovich

oil on canvas, 34" x 55"

So, here I am and the long climb  is approaching the summit. The painting of ten thousand windows and a million leaves is slowing "coming together", but exactly when do I finally put the brushes down and consider it done?

I have said before that a painting is only finished when there is nothing more you can do to make it any better. true enough, for a painting is more than the sum of its parts. By parts I mean all the complex elements of color, line,energy, visual weight, balance of imagery, proportion of areas and a myriad of other things  that all need to rush to a conclusion, a finish. But should a artist cross the threshold and seek to extend the painting it becomes "overworked." The life quickly gets sucked out of it.

The artists responsibility is to recognize the point of conclusion and there remains only one more thing to do......sign it.

Hydrangeas Over the Amoskeag  ( detail)

THE FOOD ISSUE { Rome }

THE FOOD ISSUE

ROME

Rome From Quirinale

Elizabeth Johansson Aponovich

oil on panel,  10" x 8"

"When in Rome do as the Romans do."

                                                  - Saint  Ambrose (329-397), advice to St. Augustine

Q.  I am planning on visiting Rome and I am on the Atkins diet. Is there anything I can eat?

A.   No.

S. P. Q. R.

During the turbulent period of time after the assassination of Julius Caesar, Rome was thrown into a Civil War. Patrician Senators sought the restoration of the Republic while forces loyal to Caesar fought to establish a new Empire. Three men joined forces to oppose the Republic: Octavius (the mind), along with his future enemy and Cleo boy toy, Marc Antony ( the muscle)

 and the third, Marcus Lepidus ( the money). This alliance was known as the Second Triumvirate, the rule of three. But, as they say, that was a very long time ago.

Today there is another Triumvirate that rules Rome. This one is not built of military strength and political ambition, but of something much more simple, durham wheat and water.

" Adapt your dish of spaghetti to circumstances and your state of mind."

                                             - Guiseppe Marotta

Romans take their pasta very seriously and three dishes stand out as forming the nucleus of Roman cuisine, The Roman culinary hat trick:

CACIO e PEPE

Served in a beautiful ceramic bowl from Deruta

The quintessential Roman dish, spaghetti tossed with finely grated Pecorino Roman

 cheese ( no substitutions), and freshly ground black pepper. Straightforward, simple...easy? un-un.

Timing, heat, good pasta, good olive oil make this dish best left to professionals, order 

it at  AR Galleto and sit outside in the Piazza Farnese, a block and world away from the ordered chaos of the Campo dei Fiori.

SPAGHETTI alla CARBONARA

Spaghetti with fresh eggs, "bacon" and grated pecorino Romano. Forget the myth that this dish was invented for American G.I.'s who missed their bacon and eggs. Carbonara means 'charcoal burners wife' and probably came down from Abruzzo, but , lets face it, every farmyard in Italy has chickens and most raise at least one pig, for guess what? Pancetta ( cured pork belly) and 

guanciale ( cured pork jowl). Romans  insist on guanciale. Try this dish at Al Moro, quite close to the Trevi Fountain.

If you'd like a quick  lesson in making Spaghetti Carbonara, watch Elizabeth Minchilli's video from her Rome kitchen , November 13, 2014 post:
www.elizabrthminchilliinrome

BUCATINI alla AMATRICIANA

 This is a dish that no matter what you are doing, rest assured you are doing something wrong. There seems to be no definitive list of ingredients. The pasta is Bucatini, a thicker

 hollow spaghetti ( 'little hole '), but you may see it served on penne or rigatoni. There are ground tomatoes ( San Marzano), unless its 'gricia', no tomatoes. Onions? To some its a sin to add

 onions ( Queen Margherita, of pizza fame, is said to have insisted on onions.)

Some like to add wine, red or white? It depends. Others say wine ruins the acid balance. Oh, did I mention garlic? Mama Mia! The recipe does require meat....guanciale. Almost everybody outside Rome just roll their eyes and use pancetta. There remains only one ingredient that everyone can agree with.......crushed red pepper and of course a good appetite. We first had this pasta at Checchino dal 1887 in the Testaccio neighborhood, but go to La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali, in Monti and you will have the best in Rome.

" Everything you see I owe to spaghetti."

                             -Sophia Loren

"Buon Appetito"

~~~~

Post scriptum

You can take the boy out of New Hampshire......

Coffee Cups and ?

James Aponovich

pencil on paper

I was fortunate enough to be Visiting Artist at The American Academy in Rome. We had an apartment in the main building ( McKim, Mead & White Building) called 'Il Cortile' because it looked over the central courtyard. I was there to draw and immediately set up a still life of two espresso cups with a snazzy container that I filled with sugar and began drawing. Awhile later Elizabeth came in and looked at my drawing and asked, "what is sugar doing in the cheese server?"

Uhmmm........ah......duh........

WHAT LIES BENEATH

WHAT LIES BENEATH THE SURFACE

( won't always bite you )

Italian Nocturne

James  Aponovich

oil on canvas, 17" x 12"

Q. "Hey Jim!, I'm an artist and I'm reading your blog and all I'm reading is pumpkins, shoes n' stuff! Where's the art? What's the matter, you got no more hocus-pocus and golden whatever's to explain?"

                                                                                                      - Quin R., Brooklyn

A. "OK."

DYNAMIC SYMMETRY

Remember the squared circle? here it is again, but now I've drawn the diagonal of the square and used the length to determine the sides of a new rectangle. 

It becomes an irregular proportion (i.e. a 12" x 16" is a 3 to 4 ratio and regular,

 this rectangle is 12" x 17", thus irregular). It is called a root two rectangle.

MIX AND MATCH

Now that I have established the outer lines of the rectangle, I now draw a line down the middle, bisecting it. I locate the Golden Section points on the sides (dotted lines).

CHILDS PLAY

With a compass I've had since elementary school, I inscribe the two circles  from the center on the Golden Section points. The circumference of each is determined by the distance between the Golden Section points. Still with me?

The circles more or less determine my key elements, the flowers, and mirroring them, the fabric. Balance by symmetry.

Q.  "Come on Jim, you're giving me a headache! Whats with all the lines? Don't you ever just wing it? 

      You know .......create? That's what artists do....create."

                                                                                                   -Quin

A.  "Again.....naturally"

THE SHELL GAME

The Chambered Nautilus is an example of the Golden Section as logarithmic spiral as a growth ratio .

In other words, as it gets bigger the shape remains the same.

The ancients believed that all of nature is infused with the 'Divine Proportion'. That I don't know about but why not use it to structure and enhance your.....

CREATIVITY

Cards From Cortona

James Aponovich

oil on panel, 7" x 5"

PS.  In response to Quin from Brooklyn, more than valid concerns that these formulas are in and of themselves hindering creativity I would say that I have spent over a quarter of a century studying formal composition, as I would tell my students, Once you  have learned it....forget it. Let it sink into your visual memory so that you can re-cognize when you see it. In other words, "Just wing it.....with knowledge."

OLIVES { week 11 }

OLIVES

Ancient Olive Tree

James Aponovich

pencil on paper

" If I could paint and had the necessary time, I should devote myself for a few years to making pictures only of olive trees."

                 - Aldous Huxley

ITALIAN HARVEST

One morning, Katia came to our house for a visit. "James and Elizabeth, you must come to Panicale in October and help with the olive harvest, I will feed you!", she exclaimed with a flourish. It sounded to me like a Tom Sawyer and the fence set up. A lot of work, no pay. Elizabeth then replied, " Katia, you know that we would love to visit in the fall, but it is also a busy time for us in the studio, it is very difficult to get away" ( never mind expensive). Undeterred, Katia continued,"Senti carissima, the harvest is so much fun, we all participate, Massimo, my father and mother and even nonna helps out! And the food! Mama Mia!"

LITTLE DID WE KNOW WHAT WAS TO COME

olive orchard

The landscape of Umbria and Tuscany is characterized by two crops, grapes for the production of wine and olives for 'green gold', extra virgin olive oil. In both cases the fruit is harvested and pressed in the fall and miracles of everyday transubstantiation take place. all across central Italy, many private homes have a small vineyard for wine that will be consumed throughout the year, this is called table wine, humble and delicious. There is also usually from a few to hundreds of olive trees on the property. The oil that is pressed from the olives will sustain a families cooking needs for a year.

Together, these are the life blood of Italy.

Il Progresso olive oil

Who has the best olive oil in Italy? It depends who you ask. Some insist on the peppery Tuscan olive oil from Lucca and Chianti, others swear by the refined, elegant oil from Garda. Puglia, to the south has unwavering support, while to other southerners it is the dark green, sediment infused oil from Sicily.

Hillside of Panicale

James Aponovich

pencil on paper

Personally, all I have to do is look out the window to see where my favorite olive oil comes from. The hills surrounding Lake Trasimeno are considered by many to be the perfect blend of rocky soil and harsh climate necessary for the best olives.

DARK CLOUDS O THE HORIZON

That is until this year. The winter of 2013-14 was unusually mild, followed by a wet spring. we had heard rumors of a blight of Biblical proportions killing trees in Puglia and making its way north. The culprit is a fly inadvertently brought from the Americas, possibly California (gulp!). The fly burrows into the fruit, lays eggs and the larvae suck the olive dry. What is harvestable is questionable. A cold winter is necessary to control the fly population and it didn't happen,...so,what happens now?

One thing for sure, la casalinga (housewife) who was used to having oil for the year must now buy it...at higher prices. Italy is the second highest exporter ( after Spain) of olive oil in the world. That means less to export...higher prices.

Maybe next year will be better.

Ancient Olive Tree

James Aponovich

oil on panel, 10" x 8"

SPERO DI SI

( I hope so )

THE POSTSEASON

THE POSTSEASON

Three Leaves

James Aponovich

oil on panel, 14" x 11"

In New England, the fall foliage season rolls down from Canada in early October and cascades over Cape Cod and the Islands around the beginning of November. This arboreal technicolor review is witnessed by countless tourists in large buses as well as 'daytrippers' from all parts of New England, New York and beyond. They come to catch the first glimpses of the yellows, oranges, vermillion and magentas of the sugar maples and myriad of other trees. There is nothing subtle about a 'peak' New England fall.

Japanese Maple

SECOND ACT

Personally, I wait for the tide to roll back, after the maples have dropped their leaves and the tourists have bought their souvenirs and left, a quiet returns and a second 'fall' occurs. It is now time for the majestic oaks, rugged hickories and elegant birches to step forward. The oak eschews the brilliant chroma of the maple and instead dons a more regal mantle of burnt orange and russet. The hickory turns gold, the envy of any potentate or commodities trader. This thunderous chord is offset by the lyrical dance of the white birches with lemon yellow leaves. Only the beeches will keep their leaves all winter, a ghostly presence, rattling in the wind, waiting for spring.

Shagbark Hickory

NOVEMBER LIGHT

The angle of sunlight is now low and sharp, the clear, piercing light passes through the bare trees, casting long shadows on the dry fields. Deer are on the move. It is time for sheep to find winter shelter. Birds are agitated, preparing for their long flight south. Overhead, a river of hawks arrive from Mount Desert in Maine and catch the thermal updrafts above Pack Monadnock mountain and continue down  the coast.

There is a certain nostalgia or sadness to this time of year. Firewood is stacked strategically around the house. It will be needed to ward off the bitter cold of winter, gardens are put to bed and everyone waits for the first flurry of snow. Storm windows are fastened and everywhere you begin to see the unofficial flag of New England unfurl, the blue plastic tarp that covers everything for the winter. 

LATE HARVEST AT LULL FARM

"Live Free and Farm"

This is also the time for the rural farmstands. Not far from us is one of the best, Lull Farm, in Hollis, New Hampshire. I spend a part of my youth nearby at my Uncle's farm. Here bins of apples compete with mountains of pumpkins and squash for attention. The weekends find the stand crowded with families in festive moods. Children scamper over piles of pumpkins trying to find the perfect one, classic country mirth. It is an event that reminds me of a Brueghel painting.

 The Wedding Dance, 1566

Brueghel

Tip 'O The Hat and my thanks to  our friends Judith and Robert Oksner
for on call editing