I found Ademaro Bardelli through some meanderings on Facebook (not all who wander are lost, indeed).

Lately I’m really yearning to get back to my figurative roots, so to speak. I used to do a lot of work involving figures, especially at school and art college; I adored life drawing and keep saying I’ll find a class. I’ve found several in fact, but haven’t actually been to one yet.

And of course I’m being drawn to figurative work by other artists more and more. My favourite is the kind that really uses the whole page/canvas. Composition that uses the shapes almost to abstraction give me that excited feeling in my stomach, you know?

Anyway, Signore Bardelli’s paintings are prodding at me to work with the figure again, as Karen Griffiths’ did recently.There’s a real mixed media feel and I love the soft-yet-bright colours, the drips and patches, the feeling of looking at these women through coloured filters.

I found the English translation of his biography strangely touching:

Ademaro Bardelli was born in Florence in December 22 1934.
He lives and works in Tuscany and has been involved in art since 1956.

He attended the Art Institute of Florence from 1949 to 1953.

After military service, he travelled abroad, in Belgium, working in a coalmine in Switzerland, in France, doing all kinds of activities, such as porter, quarrier, docker, waiter etc.

Back in Italy in 1956 he started his professional artistic activity.

He has died on January 30th 2010, in Barberino di Mugello.

Florence has a special place in my heart since I spent a month of my Gap Year there studying fine art at the British Institute; a dream of an experience, and a very long time ago! We did intensive figure drawing there, I will never forget it. Mine were nothing like this, but that figurative artist is still in me, and still loves beautiful paintings like these.