This is my caricature to honor jazz guitar great Jim Day. I took artistic liberty adding shades and a cigarette, just to keep it not-too-serious. What is serious, is Jim’s remarkable guitar chops playing jazz, blues, classical, and classics.
The original 11″x14″ acrylic on wrapped canvas is available for purchase. Contact me here for information.
PRIDE FLAG DAISY celebrates all my friends and family in the LBGTQ community. I wanted my flower to have a party on my canvas where everyone’s invited. Cheers to you all for being who you are. I love each and every one of you! We are one, all Mother Earth’s children. I still have hope that in my lifetime I will see everyone, despite their race, ethnicity, religion, lack of religion, economic situation, sexual orientation, etc., treated with dignity. How hard is it, really, just to treat people the way you want to be treated? The original 9”x12” acrylic on one-inch thick wrapped canvas is available for purchase. Contact me here for details. Quality Giclee prints from greeting card size to poster size, coffee mugs, tote bags, pillows, etc., are available for purchase at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/pride-flag-daisy-pamela-allegretto.html
The Festa del Redentore, one of the most important traditional events in Venice, commemorates the end of the plague of the 16th century. The annual celebration takes place during the weekend of the third Sunday of July.
Between 1575 and 1577, the plague struck Venice. The bacterium was thought to have been brought into the city on one of the commercial vessels. The plague killed 50,000 people, almost one third of the total population.
In 1576, Doge Alvise Mocenigo made a promise to God to build a church in exchange for an end to the plague. When the plague ended in July 1577, the new honored this promise and built a temporary wooden church. The Redentore Church, named after the Redeemer, later replaced the wooden church.
The Santa Maria della Salute Church was built for a similar reason. This church remembers the 1630 plague in Venice.
So I guess the take away is that the next time a plague hits Venice, that means God wants a new church.
The most famous victim was the painter Tiziano (Titian), who died in 1576. Although, since he died at age 88, it is not definite whether he died from the plague or from another disease.
In 1578, he also started a new tradition by installing a temporary bridge for a pilgrimage across the Giudecca canal from Zattere to the church. The original 11”x14” acrylic on Pintura canvas board has been sold, but quality Giclee prints are available at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/venezia-pamela-allegretto.html
My most sincere gratitude to Rebecca Carter for writing such a lovely review. Best wishes.
“What a bittersweet story. It shows the depths people will go to during a crisis: in this case, a war. Some cower in fear, others feed their greed, while the true heroes face calamities and strive to make the world (even if their own little corner of the world) a better place. I enjoyed learning about the Bridge of Sighs from a historical perspective. The characters and story will remain with you long after you’ve read the final page.”
BRIDGE OF SIGHS AND DREAMS is available for purchase in paperback and eBook at:
There are over 1000 windmills in Holland, and exploring some of them makes for a great adventure. The Dutch have restored many of the historic sites, and once a year, Holland holds “NATIONAL MILL DAY.” Every second Saturday in May, 600 windmills and watermills around the country open their doors to welcome visitors. It’s an opportunity to visit some of the historic mills that are no longer open on a regular basis. If you are a bicycle enthusiast, this should be on your “bucket list.”
For a long time, I wanted to do a painting of a Red Vespa, but I couldn’t decide on the background. It seemed everything had already been done, and I wanted my Red Vespa painting to be unique. Then I saw this wonderful wall and window in Rome with the stonework and bars in the window. That was it. That was the inspiration for my Jail Break Italian Style.
The original 11″x14″ acrylic on Pintura Canvas Board, can be purchased from my Italian Scenes Gallery on my art website: http://www.pamelaallegretto-franz.com
On this joyful day, we should take some time to reflect on all those everyday things that we take for granted: a roof over our heads, lights, water, heat, food, a change of clean clothes, shoes, etc., etc., è cosi via. We need to be mindful that in a moment due to floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, and bombs, we could lose these basics, including family and friends. So pay it forward. Do what you can when you can for as many as you can. Despite race, ethnicity, religion, lack of religion, economic situation, sexual orientation, etc., we are all Mother Earth’s children. Spread the love.
HAPPY MAY DAY!
TUSCAN TABLE
The warm Tuscan sunset inspired the rich colors for this Tuscan Table painting. As I am not usually a still life painter, it was a bit of a struggle to keep my eggplant from looking like a mutant cucumber and my onion from taking on the appearance of a cherry on steroids.
Quality giclee prints from greeting card size to poster size, tote bags, pillows, etc. can be purchased at:
The original 11″x14″ acrylic on canvas painting is available for purchase from my “Trompe L’oeil Gallery” on my art website: http://www.pamelaallegretto-franz.com
Tuscan Table – Click on garlic to enlarge image or to purchase giclee prints.
In celebration of EARTH DAY, I thought I would post my painting “TROPICAL TRINITY.” I’m not a fan of wishy-washy, muted colors, and so I played with the bold vivid colors that speak to me while hanging out in Paradise and sipping a smoothie made from bananas and pineapples and mangoes. Oh my!
Cheers to Mother Earth for bestowing us with these awesome fruits. I hope I did them a semblance of justice. Mother Earth provided us with clean water to drink, pure air to breathe, and non-polluted crops to eat. All She asks in return is that we take care of these gifts and keep them that way.
We are one, all Mother Earth’s children. I still have hope that in my lifetime I will see everyone, despite their race, ethnicity, religion, lack of religion, economic situation, sexual orientation, etc., treated with dignity. How hard is it, really, just to treat people the way you want to be treated?
The Easter Bunny came early. No chocolate eggs but something much better, this lovely review from Mary Kay McCabe. She started reading the paperback, misplaced it, and finished the read on her Kindle. Such an enthusiastic reader is truly an author’s dream.
“Could not find my paperback copy of Ashes to Ashes, Diamonds to Dust anywhere! Needed to read it, so I bought a copy on Kindle and spent the next 10 hours reading it! I have NEVER done that before, but could not put it down except to get something to eat or drink or to let my Border Collie out! Awesome book! Can’t wait for your next one! Loved the reference to your last book! Thanks so much for a great read.”
ASHES TO ASHES, DIAMONDS TO DUST is available in ebook and paperback at:
Amazon sites worldwide, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, and BookLocker
I decided since today is April Fools’ Day, I would share a few Italian Proverbs regarding fools. These are just a bit of fluff for a light-hearted holiday.
“I stolti crescono senza innaffiarli.”
“Fools grow without watering.”
“I stolti inventano la moda e I savi la adottano.”
“Fools create the fashion and the wise adopt it.”
“I stolti per lettera sono I maggiori stolti.”
“Learned fools are the greatest fools.”
“Quando no dice niente, non è dal savio il stolto differente”.
“When no one speaks, the fool and the wise are equal.”
“Quando un dito indica la luna, solo gli stolti guardano il dito e mai la luna.” “When a finger points at the moon, only the fools look at the finger and never at the moon.”
“Ognuno può far della sua pasta gnocchi.”
“Everyone can make his own recipe for pasta.”
OOPS!!! That doesn’t have anything to do with fools.
APRIL FOOLS!!!
What does it really mean?
“If it’s yours, you can do as you like.”
As for the painting “STRONGER TOGETHER”: no matter the shapes or colors of the petals, I wanted my flowers to have a party on my canvas where EVERYONE is invited. UNLESS, you are a racist, bigoted, misogynistic, homophobic bully, in that case, stay out of my garden. No fooling!
Connecticut is a plein air artist’s paradise. In addition to the vibrant warm hues that dominate the fall landscape, an explosion of pink, yellow, violet, and rose proclaim spring.
The first time I painted this waterfall in East Hampton, it was early spring before the flowers and trees had a chance to bloom. And although the waterfall was lovely, I always felt the painting lacked pizzazz. So I went back and added some color.
Lo stato di Connecticut è un paradiso per gli artisti di plein air. Oltre ai colori vivace dell’autunno, un esplosione di rosso, giallo, violetto, e rosa dichiarono la primavera.
Benchè mi elude l’abilità identificare i fiori coi nomi giusti, e si vede la mia mancanza della conoscenza floreale quando dipingo una margherita con le foglie d’una rosa, tuttavia, mi piace dipingere i fiori e li dipingerò ancora, se sono veri oppure fiori che vivono solamente nella mente.
March 15 has a notorious reputation: Julius Caesar was assassinated on that date in 44 B.C., the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas the II, abdicated the throne on the Ides of March in 1917 and the World Health Organization announced the deadly SARS outbreak on March 15, 2003.
I wonder if that venomous, insane invader from a far off land is fearfully watching the clock and counting down the hours left in this ominous day.“Et tu Brute?”
This watercolor was a first draft book cover for
“Midnight and the Magical Prairie Schooner” written by my good friend Denis Gessing. There’s nothing ominous about this book. It is a magical mystery ride from start to finish.
There’s no better way for me to celebrate “WORLD BOOK DAY” than to share this recent 5-star review from award winning author, Alison Morton.
“Stoic is the word which springs to mind when you consider the protagonist, Angelina, yet she is courageous, warm-hearted and a survivor. But the author is particularly clever in developing Angelina’s nemesis, Lidia, whose bitter, obsessive character descends into her own private hell with horrendous outcomes for anybody she encounters.
The author doesn’t take the easy way out for her characters, but shows us the twists of fate, the blank ends, and opportunities that human beings face. And this is set in a harsh time of brutal occupation with its everyday difficulties engendered by shortages, injustice, an irrationality.
The period detail is vivid and precise. I found myself shivering on several occasions at the reality of it, and I read a fair number of stories set in the Second World War. There are tender moments, ice-cold fear, triumph, despair, crushed ideals, helplessness, and redemption. But Angelina is the shining spirit in this well-written novel. Highly recommended.”
Reviewed in the United Kingdom.
Many thanks to Alison Morton for taking the time to write such a lovely review. I am grateful for your consideration.
BRIDGE OF SIGHS AND DREAMS is available for purchase in paperback and eBook at: AMAZON worldwide and multiple online book sellers.
Here’s something interesting: I belong to 37 FB artist groups. In about half of those, I posted this painting with the simple title “Peace.” 3 of the groups denied the submission, as they considered it “Too political.” I never would have guess that the word “Peace” and a painting of three sunflowers would put me in front of the paint ball firing squad. Ecco la vita!
Pamela Allegretto Artist/Author 
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