Volare

For this piece, I cut a Dean Martin stencil out of a manilla office file folder. Whenever I use spray paint I feel like a pseudo-street-artist and I like to do the piece sort of graffiti-like.  At least that is how I feel about it while I'm creating it.

The idea of adding silver leaf doodles came, in part, from reading Mati Rose's new book.  She likes to use silver leaf and I think that's something I can really get into more in the future.  The doodles are a definite nod to artist Keith Haring.  I used a silver leafing pen by Krylon.

The text in this piece, "your glögg has given me wings" is a parody of "your love has given me wings" which is a line in the Dean Martin version of the song, commonly called, Volare.  

Volare is an Italian word, which means "to fly".  

The story of how the song was written is quite interesting.  It was inspired by two paintings by Marc Chagall.  Go here to read about the background of the song.

There's a version of this song, which, incidentally, is not really named Volare, by the Gipsy Kings on You Tube, which you can see here.  The actual name of the song is "Nel blu dipinto di blu".  They give it a fun Latino groove.

I painted this art piece on a used board (previously it was building material), which I got at the Re-Store in Bellingham, WA.  It probably used to be a cabinet front.

The hearts with wings are a Scandinavian woven heart design.   They are collaged on elements.

Below is a video of the song, performed by the man who, along with a friend of his, wrote it.  This is on the Ed Sullivan show.  

Below is a video which shows the English translation of the original lyrics.  "Your love has given me wings" is not in the lyrics!  I've learned that the song was Americanized to contain those words.  In fact all the English words that Dean Martin sings in his version are not in the original song!




This Dean Martin painting is going to be part of the glögg collection at Simon's Tavern in Chicago.  It will be on display during glögg season, which is in the wintertime, around Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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I got myself some Fabriano stationery a few years ago and it is really a joy to paint on.  Once I paint these cards, I have some cool art that can easily be mailed out to friends.  The cards are high quality watercolor paper.  I have used watercolor paints on them many times.  But in this case, with these cards, I focused mainly on acrylic paint and inks, though they are mixed media.  The envelopes for the Fabriano cards are made of a different paper, but they are also paintable.

It is a great way to loosen up and try out some new color combos and try art ideas and tools.  I was just playing.  I feel less pressure doing these than when I am making a painting, say.  I can mess one up and just throw it out.  I like the sense of freedom.

If you don't feel like mailing them out, they're easy to tuck into your art journal too.  You could make some notes on the back, regarding favorite color combos and just what you used on a given card.