Spring is Here....thankfully

Welcome back. Welcome back to a Quattro Archi blog and Welcome back to the spring weather.....longer days and a wee bit warmer and sunnier. The weather has certainly been strange with snow storms in Tenerife in March and no sun and continuous rain for 40 days in the UK (well....Scotland).

Italian Words. Now is the time for spring cleaning and checking equipment and inventories, but also a good time to brush up on our language skills wherever you might be planning to travel. The middle east is perhaps more tricky just now, but Italy is nicely located in the centre of Europe. So it is Italian for now. When I see Italian words I am constantly reminded of how close English origins are to Italian. I'm not sure if we owe that to the Romans who occupied England, Wales and much of Scotland. Or perhaps it is the church and academics who used Latin.

You may be familiar with Chiaroscuro from chiaro (light) + scuro (dark) -the dramatic use of light and shadow. Or perhaps Impasto from impastare (to knead/paste) -thickly applied paint that stands out from the surface. Sfumato is from fumo (smoke). Blurring or softening the edges of shapes. While Pastel is from pastello (small paste) -Pigment bound into a stick. Pennello is not a pen but a paint brush. Perhaps obviously Acquerello means watercolour. I like Cavaletto which sounds like it originates from horse/cavalry and actually means easel. Inchiostro is the origin of ink. Rullo is the source of roller. There are some you might not guess like Serigrafia....Screenprint.

Of course there are some false friends too. Carta does not translate to card but means paper. And if you have a sweet tooth, don't be fooled by Confezione. It doesn't means sweets or cakes.....it is packaging!

Paper. Paper is a fundamental component of what we do at Quattro Archi. We have occasionally painted or printed on other media, but paper is usually king. And it is SUCH lovely stuff. The gorgeous fine Japanese printing papers. The super strong papers for the intaglio process. The thick cartridge papers that look and feel so good and the textured papers which give a nod to canvas.

We have accumulated quite a stock of paper types, so recently constructed a new paper store. From a purely practical perspective without any consideration of the final purpose of the paper, the most important question was 'How big should it be?' So it was interesting to delve a little bit into paper sizes. The international paper sizes begin with the A0 size. This is one square metre of paper but not shaped in a square. The proportions are a ratio of 1:1.412......which you will instantly recognise as the square root of 2! This monster sheet of paper is 841 x 1189 mm. And this defined the size of the shelves in the paper store. The international paper sizes are quite elegant. Not only do they start with an obvious 1 square metre and apply some nice mathematics to define the proportion, but every time you cut the paper in half you create the next size down. So A0 can be halved to make 2 sheets of A1 which in turn can be halved to make A2. You can keep doing this 10 times until you reach A10 which is a tiny 26 x 37 mm or 1.0 x 1.5 inches.

And this sizing system ties in directly with the paper weights. We are used to our office printer paper being 80-90 gsm.....grams per square metre. Of course this means that a A0 sheet of printer paper.....a huge printer.... would weigh 90 grams, or just over three ounces!

Though the international system is quite clever, the Imperial system has some lovely names like the Antiquarian - 51 x 55 in, 787 x 1346 mm. This is one of the largest drawing papers made by hand in Europe, its size has varied over time between 36 x 54 and 29 x 52 in. It was first made in England, in Kent, by James Whatman in 1773: the moulds for these huge sheets were hoisted on a lifting device called "The Contrivance", with six to eight men required in the dipping and couching processes. Antiquarian was a popular size for creating architectural and ship building plans.

Cartridge - 21 x 26 in, 534 x 661 mm, is another interesting one. Traditionally a size for wrapping and drawing papers. Originally derived from the Italian cartoccio, paper (carta) for wrapping up a charge of powder.

There are lots of other great names (Crown, Double Crown, Eagle, Imperial, Royal). Foolscap is a little bigger than A4. The name is not from its intended purpose to construct headgear for for a fool, but rather because the watermark for this size was originally a jester.

I think my favourite imperial size is the Double Elephant- 27 x 40 in, 686 x 1016 mm which though a large sheet of paper is still smaller than the A0. The name again originates from the watermark of an elephant rather than the size of the paper. Double Elephant is also called Grand Eagle. The variations are still particularly wide in the largest sheet of this size.

Paper.....we love and have a nice new store to keep it in. Why not try our paper on one of our courses at Quattro Archi in Tuscany.

Course Availability. Our first three courses-retreats at Quattro Archi this year are fully booked. After that we still have availability. So if you fancy a drypoint course with Michael Waight, Watercolour with Susie Hunt or Jane's fabulous lino cut workshop, get in touch. Barga is such a great place to explore and sketch a great view or subject or detail to develop into your painting or print. You can get lost in the narrow medieval streets and find something original or you can find a sunny spot and work pleine-air. So much more fun than the online courses. And of course you can share experiences with others in the group and follow up with an aperitivo together afterwards. We really look forward to welcoming you to Quattro Archi, Barga, Tuscany.