Genoa Travel Poster

This is probably my final post on Jude In Italy! I've been home for over a week now and I'm glad to be back. I had one piece of unfinished business, though, and that was to finish this poster I started while in Italy. I started with a simple idea: create a beautiful travel poster that promoted Genoa and the Italian Riviera. I used the Lighthouse of Genoa on the poster because of its significance as a port city. The colors are inspired by the Italian flag, and they also kinda remind me of Gelato.

In addition to designing the poster, I recorded the whole creation process on my computer, then spliced it together and sped it up. I've seen this done before, but had never done it myself. The entire design took around four and a half hours, and the video below is 40 times the actual speed. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading my blog!

Genoa at Night

I (finally) went out at night to get some photographs of Genoa. I've been meaning to do it for several weeks, but because the sun doesn't set until around 9:30, my 30-year-old self usually just wants to stay in. I went down to the harbor and got some interesting stuff. In this top picture, one can see the lighthouse on the left side, and a cruise ship moving through the harbor during the 15 second exposure. I really like the way the photos turned out, perhaps I'll venture out again tonight.

The Harbor

The Aquarium

This effect is created by zooming in and out during exposure.

Piazza De Ferrari

Via XX Septembre. I stood in the street to capture this one.

Class, The Aquarium, & The Lighthouse

I just looked at the blog and realized my last post was 6 days ago! Sorry for the delay everyone. Here are a few pictures showcasing what we did this week. Below you'll see images of the students drawing in the Villa garden for Hans' class on Wednesday. After drawing, we went to the Aquarium of Genoa. It was fun, but because we were told it was the largest aquarium in Italy, we were a little disappointed - it wasn't that big. After lunch, I made my second attempt to climb the Lighthouse of Genoa, only to be disappointed again. Apparently it's only open on weekends and holidays, strange. At least I got a nice photo of all the students from the base of the Lighthouse.

From left to right: Mark, James, Tyarn, & London

From left to right: Sterling, Salena, Megan, & Jon

Here are all the students at the Lighthouse. We were at the base, the top was closed.

Penguins at the Aquarium.

Manateeeeeeeeeee

Tigershark, I believe. I did not see any tiger bait, though.

Photography in Genoa

I've made an effort to spend more time taking photographs around Genoa the last few days. Walking around here is a real chore, considering that there's rarely a level stretch of road or sidewalk. We recently acquired a new camera, and it does an amazing job. The photos below were shot in color, and were adjusted to black and white in Photoshop, along with a few other small tweaks. Hope you like 'em.

To The Lighthouse!

I had a very good day today. It included a productive morning and an enjoyable class in the afternoon. Around 6:00, though, a bunch of us set out to find the Genoa lighthouse. It's viewable from a distance, but we had no clue how long it would take to walk to it. Well, it took about an hour! Unfortunately the Lighthouse was closed, but we could walk around the base. In the first photo you can see the large shipping yard with thousands of containers ready to go in and out of the port. Photo #2 features Mark, Josh, Sam, Jennifer, and London. Finally in the third photo you get a good view of the Lighthouse itself. According to Wikipedia, a lighthouse has stood on this location since 1128, although the current structure was built in 1543. It is also the second tallest masonry lighthouse in the world. 

The Genoa Coast

Today I went for a long walk by myself down the Genoa coast to an area I haven't been before. It took about an hour from our villa just to reach the shore, and then from there I was able to walk another 30 minutes along the shore. The first photo you see is the sidewalk that runs parallel to the shore. On the other side of the walking area are private beach areas, complete with swimming pools, tennis courts, football (soccer) playing areas, and restaurants. I also found this beautiful arch, though I know nothing about it. I'm sure it celebrates a military victory, as most of them do. Also, you'll notice the beautiful anchors made from flowers. Look for the girl modeling for her mom in the picture. The total walk took about 4 hours, good thing the high temperature was only about 75 degrees today!

Some Things Never Change

When I go to the grocery store here in Genoa, I take a really long time. It's hard to know what to buy when I can't quite figure out all the labels. I can read about 25% of the language (that's a generous guesstimate), and of course pictures on the labels help, but I don't really know if I'm going to like what I'm buying. One time I was looking for some snacks to satisfy my sweet tooth, and I bought what looked like twinkies filled with chocolate. Sounds great, right? Well, the little cakes are really dry, and don't have that much chocolate in them - HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.  There is one thing I can count on, though, and that's Coca-Cola. I prefer Dr. Pepper, but I have yet to see one in Italy, so it's Coke all the way, everyday! Plus, I like the tall cans here, we need these in the States.

Lettering

I started teaching a course on hand-drawn lettering while here in Italy, and it's only the second day of class, but I'm really enjoying it. My students are doing well, despite some of them being architects, landscape architects, and interior designers. I'm also drawing along with them, to show them how I approach lettering problems and to reveal my process. So far we're just working on scripts in pencil. Below, you'll find a couple of examples of the word "Quiet," and it's meant to evoke the meaning of the word "quiet". I chose a vertical script, because of it's stillness, and it is fairly light in color with a few extra flourishes. I'll be posting more from my sketchbook as the class progresses.

The Villa

This will be a short post tonight. I'm posting pictures from our Villa here in Genoa. The large house is owned by Clemson University. Their Architecture program sends students here each fall and spring to study. On the bottom floor are a kitchen and dining area. On the middle floor is the classroom space and library, and on the top are the bedrooms. I'm settling in nicely here, there are beautiful, large windows that let in a lot of sunlight. Plus, the view of the city and sea is amazing. Enjoy the photos.