Feature
LIC ARTIST
TAKES
TUSCANY
CLARE STOKOLOSA
CAPTURES STREET SCENES
IN NYC AND ITALY
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
Her bags are packed and she’s ready to go.
Long Island City-based artist and fine arts
educator, Clare Stokolosa, is returning to her fa-vorite
Tuscan hilltop town in Italy, which overlooks
a picture-worthy valley with breath-taking vistas of rolling
hills and mountains.
She says the color and light are inspirational for painting.
“I was introduced to Cortona, a magical place, and I have
not stopped going back. It has changed over the years, as
many more people speak English and there are more tour-ists,
but it still holds its magic,” said the Astoria native whose
grandparents came from Naples.
Stokolosa sketches as she observes people and places in
NYC, here in Queens, and over in Italy. This theme connects
her beautiful artwork.
Sketches are enlarged to larger than life-sized pieces
then painted in watercolor. “I do what is called plein air
painting, working on sight in watercolor (her classical style),
outdoors,” she explained. From her Studio 34 LIC space,
she creates those large watercolors, as well as oil paintings.
(See images of her painting Italian landscapes and scenes
of people in the piazza).
Talking about her “NYC Faces” series – paintings of
people in transit in and around the city, on the subway,
LIRR and other public spaces – the artist said, “I paint
sites that connect Queens to Manhattan, such as the 59th
Street Bridge https://youtube/tGwO6xbwWfM?t=1. I
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I JULY 2019 29
/www.qns.com
/tGwO6xbwWfM?t=1
/www.qns.com
