“Via Alessandro Volta”

On the run, I forgot about the traffic cones and knocked down one of them. When I got out of the car to replace the battered cone, the lady stormed out of the house screaming “via, via!” making her standpoint clear. I jumped into the car and rushed away. In front of a small pizzeria we stopped, again ignoring the restriction, to phone our host. She told us to stay where we are and wait for her. Only the next day I realized that Via Santa Maria is more or less the main road for tourists, directly leading to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Oil on Canvas, 40 x 50 cm,

“Via Alessandro Volta crossing Via Roma”

we should have remembered the house in Via Roma to which our host guided us. From the representative hallway led some aisles to a number of doors. I couldn´t remember the aisle to our door, so during our visit I went into the wrong room twice. Our host guided us through the house and told us that she had lived here together with her husband for over forty years. Since they allow their guests to bring pets with them, they left their own dog at the place of their oldest daughter in order to prevent possible tensions. She didn´t worry about the cats since they can take care of themselves. From our spacious living room we had access to a terrace which was part of a Mediterranean garden, full of fig trees, bushes of oleander and a palm tree.
Oil on canvas, 50 x 80 cm,

“Doll's kitchen”

Although the kitchen looked quite nice, we couldn´t find any clean pots. It looked like many of them have not been cleaned for ages. It seemed like many of our predecessors didn´t mind cleaning them. Since it took us some time to clean all the pots it was the main discussion topic while we ate mangold with potatoes and fresh bread.
Oil on cardboard and wood, 43 x 53 cm,

“Pisa, Via Santa Maria”

Within the area of the Arno where we arrived on the first night, the street looked quite worn out. The trash lying around disappeared when going into the direction of the cathedral and the streets looked more representative there. This contrast inspired me to create two different paintings of house fronts. One with more subtle colors and the other with bright colors and a lot of white in it.
oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cm,

“Via Venezia Giulia”

This was the first street name that I´d remembered. I later on used it for a painting which was far from reality and influenced by my pleasant anticipation to the historical center of the city. This however, was only the first of many streets which looked like many other Mediterranean suburbs with its new multistory buildings from the late 1960ies, promotional signs and lighting of shop windows. When we grasped a glance at the Arno for the very first time, exactly at this road, I imagined how the river entered the Tyrrhenian Sea during the 16century, when Galileo Galilei lived there.
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm,

“Parco di Migliarino”

Nowadays, the closest access to the sea is 7 kilometers outside the city. But we didn´t visit the closest beach during our daytrip, because we wanted to see the surrounding country. The landscape, just before we arrived at the signpost leading to Viareggio, was determined by alleys of trees and cycle ways that went in a square angle to the sea. Although we saw some signs that indicated a bathing ban, some cyclists looked like they knew a way that led them directly to the sea. We tried our luck on one of the broader paths. But when we ran into a group of cyclists waiting at a second crossroad, we decided to go back to the main road in the direction of Torre del Lago.
oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm,

“Bluish landscape aroun Viareggio”

We didn´t want to be back at our apartment too early, so we followed the signpost into the direction of Viareggio. This is the place where the Arno enters into the Tyrrhenian Sea, and I hoped to grasp a sight on the river mouth. Since we didn´t grasp a view of it, I decided to paint a picture out of my imagination of a blue landscape, in which the river separates itself into many streams.
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm,

“Slopy, roundbodies vase”

as a reconciliation for the wrong accusation of Gina eating the cactus, our host received us with glooming eyes and showed us that the cactus is now blooming next to the breakfast table. Our host informed us that this is a very special event which only happens once a year.
oil on canvas, 50 x 100 cm,

“Rainy Day”

When I did the first version of the painting of the kiosk about 20 years ago, I accidentally destroyed it when I tried to clue it onto a wooden board. Within the same year I painted two bigger versions of the kiosk.
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm,

“Next rainy day”

while drawing the images of rainy landscapes, I planned a trip to Berlin and painted a picture of the arcs of the suburban train bridge in the run up. I immediately sold the first painting which I did of this motive. I don´t know why he chose my latest painting of all the paintings which I stored in my atelier.
oi on canvas, 80 x 100 cm,

“German landscape, 7”

on our way back I observed the German landscapes, which differed from the Austrian ones in their size and the straightness of their lines within the areas of cultivation. Although there is no superlative of straight, the comparison of the landscapes would demand one. When thinking about those straight lines, I remember the importance of a quick brushstroke when painting straight lines.
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm,

“Rainday painting”

at home I continue with the paintings of rainy landscapes. I had a hard time with the canvas because the material was too thin and after every layer I had to tighten the canvas again. The first customer, after a longer period of not selling a single painting, was interested in exactly this painting. Although I regretted the selling of this painting, I was happy because I could afford new fabrics. I donated the thin fabrics to the “Verein zur Rettung kleiner Wildtiere”. It took me many weeks until I finally finished the complicated paintings of the rainy landscapes. During this time the weather changed and I was in the mood for painting more Mediterranean and sunny landscapes, however, I used these days to air my atelier thoroughly and get rid of the acrid turpentine smell.
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm,

“Fortezza da Basso”

some years later I was asked to exhibit some of my paintings at the Biennale Florence. I brought the artworks personally, because I was interested in the process of creating such a big event. This was in the year 2003, so the first year where I got my dog. I had to take it to Fortezza da Basso, because I couldn´t leave it alone. In the bustle of construction work, no one noticed the dog. We had an apartment in the Via de Fiume where I was explicitly told not to let the dog alone in the apartment, not even for a short moment. So I spent quite some time in the apartment painting the first layer of many paintings. One of them was a side glance at the Fortezza da Basso. Masses of people went to the opening event and looked at thousands of paintings. I couldn´t hear any of the speeches because I was standing at the back. It was end of November and for my feeling quite warm. From my window I could see over the rooftops of the city where the pigeons left some clear tracks. When I leaned out of the window I could see into the atrium of the hotel, where huge trash bags were lying around.
oil on wood, 43 x 53 cm,

“Via della Scala”

the way from our hotel to Via Fratelli Roselli where the “Hotel Michelangelo” is located, in which the event took place, is easy to find. You just go through Via della Scala into the direction of northwest and arrive at Porta al Prato where Via Fratelli starts. Via della Scala is a single lane road and we walked against the direction of the traffic. I once got a keychain-compass as an advertising gift and I use it whenever I am looking for new places within a city. My travel companion always gets nervous when I get out the compass, but I find it practical to get an overview. The whole time I kept looking for the stairs which appear in the name of the street. But just like there is no river in Via Fiume, there are no stairs in Via della Scala.
oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm,

“Entrance to the hotel”

the entrance to our hotel in the Via il Prato was in the third floor. Meanwhile I know that it is common in Florence that the name of the hotel is written next to the door in one of the upper floors. It is possible that there is more than one hotel in the same building. Our landlord didn´t live in the same building so he told us to give him a call 10 minutes before our arrival. I´ve heard this many times before now, and every time I wonder how a stranger should know that they will arrive in exactly 10 minutes.
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm,

“Break dishes at Corte dei Principi”

The two male owners of the café seemed to make a point in collecting all kinds of different dishes for their breakfast dishes. Not a single cup or plate had the same color or form as the other. They made their coffee in the same Italian coffee brewer as I have at home, which slowed down the process of serving breakfast. I immediately felt at ease and I particularly liked the idea of not getting a normed breakfast. They just served what was available. While some of the guests where eating already, the others had to wait for the pastry that was still in the oven. One of our hosts told us that he can forecast the weather only by looking at the sweep of the swallows, which actually was correct for the whole length of our stay. I always wanted to go there again, but whenever I tried to book a room there, they were fully booked.
oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm,

“Santa Maria del Carmine”

the next big square is Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where Viale Fratelli Rosselli starts again. On the western side of the city center the traffic is not too bad and one can walk through the streets easily by foot. The distances are quite far, but whenever I recognize a building or a street they seem to be way shorter than they actually are. During one of the days I walked to Ponte alla Vittoria. I didn´t cross the bridge because I just wanted to take a look at the place where I took the wrong turn with the car. The main goal for this day was Santa Maria del Carmine, so I stayed on this side of the river and went along Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci up to Piazza del Carmine, where the church Santa Maria del Carmine, with its Brancacci Chapel, is located. The building doesn´t stand out between the other buildings and the number of visitors is manageable, after 10 minutes in the waiting line I got in.
oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm,

“Ponte alla Carraia”

Starting from the square, I went in the direction of Ponte Vecchio. After Piazza della Signoria I took the route to Piazza Maria Novella although it was a detour, it made orientation easier for me. Back in “Corte die Principi” I continue my notes about the bridges over the Arno.
The next bridge starting from the Uffizia”” into the direction of northwest is Ponte alla Carraia, which, in comparison to Ponte Vecchio looks like a prototypical bridge. On the way to the southwest riverside of the Arno, I crossed Ponte alla Carraia, which I had sketched the year before. When crossing the bridge I noticed that on the other side of the Arno there are fewer tourists and the area didn´t look too tidy. Maybe even a little neglected.
oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm,

“Garage, Via Ricasoli”

the man at the garage told me that he was an artist himself. But he added that it is impossible to live of art here in Florence. People coming to Florence only want so see artworks from the renaissance. I told him that almost every artist thinks the same about the place where he lives and that I was invited to Florence because of my contemporary art. He responded that this were only small events and that it would be much easier in the north of Italy or in Turin. He told me that there are many contemporary painters in Turin and that it is generally easier to live of painting in Austria or Germany. I told him that I would think about it. And it´s true, I think about it.
oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm,