Hello Ilia.

It is my words that are confusing, I am sorry for that. I think where we are miscommunicating is that I am looking at fresco as a fine craft - which can be used by fine artists. Your experience, quite rightly, treats fresco as a fine art technique with a noble heritage.

So, for example, when I talk of posting cartoons/reference photos, I mean for people who are approaching fresco as a craft - much like stained glass or mosaic for example. For these people, which includes myself at this point, I "borrow" from the classic masters so I might learn the techniques. When I am ready to transform my own clumsy drawings and artistic concepts into original artwork - including principles of foreshortening, perspective, color theory, etc - I will be much more at ease. Right now, it is enough for me to know that I like certain fresco pieces - WHY I like them only becomes apparent to me as I carefully dissect and reproduce them. This is another point about fresco - I now know that photos can never duplicate their mysterious beauty. I also know that many pieces cannot be purchased at any price. The alternative is to attempt to recreate them - and, unlike oil or acrylic, this is a genuine option with fresco.

I do not know if others are interested in fresco as a fine craft. My advice to Karla, and comments in general, have been made with this mindset.

You do wonderful work Ilia, you do not need me to tell you that. I get the sense you would like to extend fresco to a wider audience, the fine craft approach will certainly do that. Unfortunately, most people do not have 1/10th of the talent and creativity that you have - if you could offer a "fresco-paint-by-numbers" set they would fly off the shelves! You would be giving the people an opportunity to substitute technique for talent. This approach is worthy of criticism but this is how people learn. Music - you always learn others music before (and if) you ever create your own. Writing, Cooking, - all the same. It is only in learning sculpture and painting that we say "here's a brush or chisel - create an original piece of work".