I’m in Toronto, Canada attending a workshop at the Academy of Realist Art entitled In the Studios of Caravaggio.
Academy of Realist Art — Toronto
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter from the 1590s to 1610. He changed art forever by abandoning the heavenly looking religious figures in Renaissance art . In their place, he substituted real people and ordinary clothing from the streets of Rome. 
Caravaggio developed a school of painting known as the tenebrists or tenebrosi (“shadowists”). He used dark shadows and bright shafts of light on his characters. He influenced generations of painters, including Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens.
Caravaggio was a genius in his art but he was also a scoundrel and a murderer. He had an unhealthy fascination with swords. He is alleged to have murdered a love rival in a bungled attempt at castration. He also attacked a waiter with his sword. The waiter served Caravaggio four artichokes cooked in oil and four cooked in butter. When Caravaggio asked which were the ones cooked in butter, the waiter suggested that he smell them, That prompted a sword attack from Caravaggio. (Note to self: stay away from moody artists with swords).
My teacher this week is Fernando Freitas, the Director of the Academy of Realist Art and the senior instructor at ARA. He has over twenty years of teaching experience.
On this, our first day, Fernando discussed with his 11 students Caravaggio’s personal history and his painting style. We prepared our wood panels with a dark pigment, selected the Caravaggio painting each of us wanted to copy, and left for the day. My next mission today is to discover Toronto.