Creating Mixed Media Art in Rome

The Pantheon

Art Class In Rome

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When I was studying abroad in Rome years ago, I took an art class as an elective. It was a lot of fun because our professor would take us to the most incredible places in the city and for an hour and a half we’d just sit there and make art. There were no rules at all. We could just make art representing whatever we wanted with whatever we wanted. The professor would then come around once during each class to discuss the art and give critiques. It ended up being one of my favorite classes because of the creative freedom.

Your own ideas really come to life when you have to come up with the rules for creating art.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Mixed Media Art

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I had been interested in mixed media art for a long time, but never really attempted any substantial mixed media art piece. I figured this would be a perfect time to try it out. There are so many layers of history, textures and colors in Rome, it just seemed to make sense. Instead of doing my typical sketching approach, I’d go to the site before class and take a photo. Then I’d edit the photo digitally to be very faint, print it out on the largest paper I could, tape it to cardboard and come to class ready to go. We’d head to the location that we were going to draw for the day and I’d settle down with some pens, paint, pencils, pastels and anything else I could get my hands on. I would then start drawing and painting over the top of the image to create colors, layers and depth.

Temple of Hercules

Special Connection to the Place

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In each of the art pieces, I played around with the idea of superimposing multiple images. Sometimes this would be done by combining two views from different perspectives and sometimes I’d imagine the past versus the present at the current site. This theme works well with mixed media because the art is being collaged and layered just like the physical place.

When painting the Pantheon I used the water from the fountain in the piazza for my watercolors, which didn’t alter the image differently than any other water would have, but it made a more personal connection to sitting in that special place in the center of Rome.

Theatre of Marcellus

These are pieces have since been lost - left in Rome where they belong. But the images of a few of them remain in digital form. I hope you enjoyed seeing these mixed media art pieces here as much as I enjoyed making them!

Ciao for now, Steemians.

- Weston (aka @design-guy)