On my second morning at Il Collegio, while having breakfast in The Doctor's House/Castle where I was staying, I noticed the TV aerials on the rooftops. I found them charming and humorous. They reminded me of music stands. So I spent the day doing a series of drawings of my rather unusual subject, using fibre tip pens and pencil as my medium. In the days that followed, I did a number of variations on one of my designs (aerial right): in monoprint (with fibre tip pens and pastel) and acrylic. top
I didn't have to go very far from where I was staying to find inspiration. I just seemed to stumble upon it. Like this remarkable fissure/crack in a large slab in the public walk-way below the Doctors' House (or Castle, as it was also known). I did a number of rubbings of the fissure, discovering not one, but three figures in the slab. Like a circus troupe, or fantastic hare. What do you see in it? top
I spent some time trying to capture the simple beauty of this section of a wall, situated on a square just beyond the doctor's house, and later used the juxtaposition of block and circle in other designs. top
Towards the end of my week at Il Collegio I noticed a junkshed en route to the village down in the valley. I took a digital photograph as we passed by in the bus, and decided to make some time the next morning to take a series of photographs, for future reference. top
At the end of the week, I decided to venture into acrylics. I'd taken along a drawing in felt tips pens I did some time ago of a pomegranate. Check out the original and my Tuscan version, in stages. Decide which stage do you like best and which one comes closest to the original. top
My hotel, Benvenuti, was situated on the Via Cavour, down the road from the Dutch Consulate. As I walked up and down the road, during my five days in Florence, I became fascinated by a series of drain-covers on my block. There were 11 of them, interspersed amongst the newer, solid iron drain covers. As you take a stroll down the block with me, stop to admire those old drain-covers, man-made but so altered by time. top
I discovered this great bookshop, right in the centre of Florence, that stays open until 12 midnight and has a coffee bar where you can get drinks and snacks at decent prices, and get a seat at no extra charge. I regularly made my way there - alone, or with friends. Meet two of them: Damian (19), from Pretoria, South Africa, whom I met in the photo store where he works, and Antonio, a teacher from northern Italy, who was in Florence for three weeks, where he had a summer job teaching at the local military academy. We met at a self-service restaurant around the corner from Edisons. top