La mia demo per Fabriano in Acquerello 2026 al Teatro Arena del Sole
Fine Artist Blog by Francesco Fontana, AWS, NWS, MPA
Monday, April 27, 2026
A Bologna รจ stato speciale
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Spring moves me, so I draw!
How a return to the basics regenerates the spirit ⁓
Spring truly moves me. On a bright, sunny day, the light radiates pure happiness. Maybe it’s the serotonin boost from those first rays, or the flowers and scents that trigger memories of youth—even childhood. Whatever it is, my first instinct is to get outside. But not before tossing a couple of sheets of paper, brushes, and colors into my backpack.
Yesterday, I took a long walk with no destination in mind and ended up in a small, slightly hidden, and overgrown park behind my house. I sat on a bench and started to draw.
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| Francesco Fontana, Pencil Drawing Outdoor, 2026 |
After seeing Gianni Provenzano’s beautiful work at the Galleria Caravello in Palermo—those beat-up cars and everyday objects I love so much—I felt a sudden, crazy urge for pure drawing: just a pencil and a kneaded eraser!
And so, my informal plein air session on a park bench turned into over an hour of total bliss. A return to the basics that truly regenerates the spirit.
Do you love to draw, or do you feel the need to improve your line work (especially if you paint in watercolor)? Let me know in the comments, maybe I can help you loosen up your hand.
Actually, scratch that... I mean loosen up your eye. Remember: you don’t draw with your hands, you draw with your eyes!
Friday, July 4, 2025
Painting Together: A Path to Self-Discovery
Why Artistic sharing enlightens the journey ⁓
Since early this year, I've been able to use the spacious studios at the academy where I teach as a workspace for my larger paintings
Young artists who are refreshing the tradition of Renaissance painting with contemporary themes, work in this studio. It's incredibly beneficial because there's a constant exchange of feedback and a very fertile intergenerational dialogue. Many ask me for advice based on my experience, but the most valuable thing is the unexpected comments I receive on my works in progress.
I imagined a totally different artist
A new student saw me working on an oil painting (I've resumed this medium along with watercolor) and, looking a me in action on the piece, commented with surprise: "When I saw the painting on the easel (you weren't around), I imagined a totally different artist. Younger, reckless, and defiant. Not the calm and thoughtful man I see now".
Her words confused me; they shook my assumption of knowing who I am. Perhaps there's a difference between the image we project and the complexity of our inner world. My instinctive response was,
"Perhaps that wilder young man lives inside me!"
It's possible that an artist is a vessel for multiple souls, of different ages and moods, which emerge in unexpected ways in their work, even unconsciously. Creating my art among other artists, or aspiring artists, is enlightening for the journey I'm on to. I remember the singer Mika saying, "Today we are all isolated; everyone creates in solitude, and artistic sharing is very rare."
I truly recommend that, whenever possible, everyone works in a collective or even public space. It might require patience and a bit of nerve, but it pushes your art to a higher level.
Happy Art Life! ⁓ Francesco
PS. Had any experience of collective workspace? Share it in the comment below or via email
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Being an Artist in a Controversial World
Resilience and Authenticity in a Changing Planet ⁓
As I've already written, I find it difficult to activate my creative side these days. Painting, writing, teaching... in short, thinking positive!
Should the Show Must Go On?
I admire those who pretend it's "business as usual." They put on their brightest smiles, express their enthusiasm, sing and dance, have a party. "The show must go on!" While the world is burning around us. This is understandable; it helps keep morale high, makes us feel part of the solution and not part of the problem.
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| Middle Eastern Eyes - Watercolor by Francesco Fontana (c) 2025 |
Today's Meaning is Hidden in the Past
To rediscover meaning and motivation today, I reread old blog posts or review old paintings. As Jerry Saltz says in How to Be an Artist, "In your old suitcase is the truth of who you are." Looking to the past helps me recognize what recurs over time: signs, color, themes, sensitivity. This allows me to get rid of what no longer represents me and helps me be true to myself. By developing this and moving forward, I hope to leave a tiny trace of truth in the world.
Being Proud of Myself
I don't intend to leave this planet too soon, and I plan to create works that I'll be even prouder of. Works that bear witness to my presence in this fantastic and painful, bloody and ecstatic era all at once. And I leave you with a question: shoud I (we) be more radical in our artistic research!
As always, write to me with your thoughts and feelings.
Happy Art Life, Francesco
P.S. More about my artistic statement in this my blog post:
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Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Art in Tumultuous Times
A Reflection on Creativity, Compassion, and Our Shared Humanity ⁓
I can't deny that the escalating global violence profoundly impacts me and my work. While I won't make political statements today, my stance is clear: I stand with the defenseless, who are suffering and dying in numbers too vast and in ways too cruel. Even in peaceful nations, my values place compassion before rules and authorities.
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| (c) Art by Francesco Fontana (detail) |
This period has brought an amount of stress I didn't even experience during the COVID lockdown. Back then, I found peace and inspiration in my studio, leading to a fruitful creative phase. Today, it's a huge struggle to find the focus to create new work, despite the powerful feelings I long to express through my art.
How are you navigating this challenging time? Has your work halted, shifted direction, or slowed down? Are you buying or selling less art? Please share your thoughts with me.
Happy Art Life!
Francesco
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Monday, November 4, 2024
Francesco Fontana Solo Show Back in Palermo ~
Since I was a boy I have pursued a bohemian idea of nomadism. With my youthful emigration from Palermo to Paris and then to London in the eighties, I sought a symbiosis between life and art. Working as a portraitist in the sun of Montmartre or on cold evenings in front of the National Portrait Gallery in London was a school of life, exhilarating and hard, whose signs can be found today in my pictorial world. As well as the faces and stories of my traveling companions who have been a source of inspiration for me and examples of profound humanity.
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Genius loci is latin for the spirit of a place. Over the years I have painted in the most diverse places: from Claude Monet's water lily ponds in Giverny to the rice paddies of Bali, from the ranches of Texas to the cliffs of Dorset. In Sicily, Berlin, New York... everywhere the places have a strong identity, a humanity in motion. My eyes do not chase postcard images, so to speak instagrammable, but seek the energy that pulsates beneath the surface, the soul of those places and of those who live there.
In the works of this exhibition there is no paysage indulgence, not even in the many works painted en plein air. If a place is recognizable it is not its beauty that attracts me but its magic, its mystery, its history, the unsaid. A vision and an experience as personal as symbolic.
Sometimes in the context it is the figures that prevail, like a zoom on the gaze of a man who tells about the place and a story. Many characters are part of a series called Street Business -- people who make ends meet on the street in the most diverse ways. I know the joys and sorrows of that life, in those faces I find a bit of myself, of the young street artist I once was.
Different subjects require different techniques. Watercolor has been my medium of choice in recent years, which has allowed me to be awarded and recognized on the international circuit, becoming a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society - the two American organizations that historically promote the art of watercolor in the world. A fascinating and complex medium, capable of expressing all the power of contemporary reality.
This return to Palermo after a long world wandering excites me. It is a privilege to share my works with you, new generations and friends of the past. I invite you to explore the world with my eyes. Before starting a new chapter of this extraordinary journey!
Monday, July 8, 2024
Sometime We Win. And go to California! ~
The work you see here just left for California. It will participate in the San Diego Watercolor Society's international exhibition in October 2024. My piece Posing by the Car was selected out of thousands from around the world. Only 104 paintings will be exhibited in Cali.
I am very happy with this choice because this work marks a step forward in my search for style (and message) which I have gradually been carrying forward for 3 or 4 years. First of all there is the choice to also work with the figure, then to look at the contemporary world and finally a work on style and color.
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| Young Lady Posing by the Car (Lincoln Continental 1971) Watercolor painting by Francesco Fontana |
This girl struck me on a street in Berlin, posing next to a vintage American car. Her boyfriend photographed her, probably to post it on social media. Her attitude seemed very typical of our times to me.
My Street Business series - dedicated to people who do the most varied jobs on the street - has been exhibited at various festivals, awarded and collected. The narrative continues, insisting on the testimony of our contemporaneity, with all the wonder and horror that it offers us today. The potential of the watercolor medium also continues to stimulate a stylistic challenge in me.
Where are you at in your journey?
Francesco
Happy Art Life! -- Francesco
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