June--Part I, Italy

 

In Montecatini Terme

My trip to Italy started in Montecatini Terme, where my niece, Cathy, and I joined her husband, Dave, at a scientific conference. I was fortunate enough to be invited along. The trip was a great distraction from my long separation from Mike. It seemed so disconnected to be in Europe sight-seeing, while he was on the open seas of the Pacific on his return voyage from Hawaii!

The three of us had three days in Montecatini before joining another niece, Amy, and friend, Hank, in Florence. We enjoyed the art and architecture of Florence, then moved on to the Mediterranean coast (with a stop in Pisa), where we stayed at a VRBO near Cinque Terre. Our house rental was in an incredibly rural location where we were surrounded by villages tucked into the hillside, each with a bell tower. Each hour we were serenaded by the bells, each slightly different in sound and timing.

 

View from Fortona

From the coast we traveled into the Tuscan landscape and lovely hill towns. We had reserved an apartment in an agriturismo near Pienza, a small, beautiful hill town where parts of "Romeo and Juliet" and "The English Patient" were filmed.

 

Pienza

We also visited other hill towns in the area. Siena was one of the more touristy destinations, but less crowded towns included Volterra (with a wonderful Etruscan Museum), Orvieto, and a real gem, Civita. Civita is a town accessible only by a foot bridge. The pinnacle it sits on is slowly eroding and crumbling from earthquakes. It truly seems like a place out of a fairy tale.

 

Civita


We ended our trip in Rome, where we took the obligatory, yet fascinating, tour of Ancient Rome.

 

Palatine Hill, Rome

The following photos will give you a quick peek at a few of the wonderful and inspiring places and sights we visited.

 

Lucca

 

Statue of Dante in Florence

 

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

 

Hank and Amy at Fortona

 

Cinque Terre

 

Cathy and Dave, Pisa

 

Volterra

 

Roman ruins, Volterra

 

Siena Duomo

 

Tuscany

 

Window view of Tuscany

 

Ceramic shop in Ovieta

 

Fresco, Ovieta Cathedral

 

Painting inspiration

 

 

 

Patterns

 

A Little Art and A Lot of Other Stuff

So my two months of being on my own are almost at an end, and what happened during that time was not at all what I had envisioned. Was I out in my studio painting every day? No. Was I inspired with fabulously innovative new visions for art? No. Did I sit on my patio in the warmth of a summer evening with a Margarita in one hand and a great novel in the other? Again, no.

What I did was handle life with all it's expected/unexpected, predictable/unpredictable, yet necessary events and tasks and hurdles.

As I already mentioned, there was a two week span in Vancouver helping my daughter through her post-surgery recovery. Then there was trying to get my neglected and overgrown yard in some sort of acceptable state, which was very hampered by the foul weather the Pacific Northwest has had this spring/summer. Next was handling the repairs and renovations of my mother's condominium, then staging it for sale. Also, I am attending two celebrations for my eldest granddaughter as she graduates from high school. Last, but not least, is the planning and preparations for my trip to Italy!

Where I stand now is I am on the other side (is that the far side?) of the recovery and yard crisis. One grad. celebration is over and one yet to come tomorrow. The sale of the condo is being negotiated as we speak. I hope I can report that it is SOLD by the end of this post! And the planning for the Italy trip is done, the packing is not.

Now to speak of art--I didn't have to do anything to get some local exposure, as my painting placed on a flyer created to promote the upcoming WSO Convention to be held in Eugene next spring.


I also squeaked in a few minutes in the studio to tweak my Rogue Heron before entering it in the Watercolor West competition. The painting isn't new, but I have done several sessions to solve most (I hope) of it's problems.

 

Rogue Heron 22x29, Transparent Watercolor

My husband's last update was they are 1000 miles from L.A., expecting to arrive on June 20 or 21. I will be in the middle of my trip to Tuscany where I will stay in Montecatini Terma, Florence, Cinque Terre, Siena, and Rome. There is a little sadness that he will come home to an empty house, but I expect a great reunion when I get back.

Oh. . .the art, architecture, street scenes and landscapes I will see in Italy!! With a backpack of art supplies and a camera, I hope to capture some of Italy, bring it home and turn it into paintings.

And if you were waiting to hear that my mother's property had sold--I'm still waiting for the final word.

Ciao

Home

 

After caring for my daughter during her post-surgery recovery, (she is doing very well and the cysts were benign) I returned home this week. As I drove up my driveway, I was struck that it looked like a deserted property. The grass was definitely in the meadow mode, my flower beds were weed beds, and the gray, cold rain cast a gloominess over the home-coming. The fact that Mike is still a month away from home didn't help my attitude, either.

I didn't have time to stay home and work on the yard because I had a couple of days work getting the finishing touches done on my mother's condo to have it ready to show. After hiring other folks to handle the repairs, painting, and carpet laying, my sister Janice and I did final clean up and staging of the place. Our task was to get all the "grandma" out of the place and make it look fresh and contemporary. I can't really explain the mixture of emotions as we totally eradicated any signs that our mother had lived there, while successfully creating an eye pleasing and appealing new ambiance to the place. Her mark there and consequently our connection to that place has now been erased. All that's left is the selling.

That process ended late Friday. After a dinner and beer at High Street Cafe, Janice and I parted ways. I arrived home after 10 pm and felt wiped out.

Saturday I woke up to better weather and took a good walk around our place. What I realized is, in spite of the overgrown and untended look to the lawn and garden, I live in an incredibly beautiful place. When I stepped out the door that morning, a great blue heron flew away from our front pond. That is always a magical gift to me. This following photo essay is to share and rejoice in what I do have.

 

This robin is enjoying a personal size bath tub.

 

This clematis has never looked better.

 

Earlier, when I saw leaves before blooms, I thought this dogwood had failed to bloom. As it turns out, it put forth these delicate flowers after the leaves came out.

 

These peonies are faithful bloomers...

 

as are the Dutch iris.

And eight years after her death, my sister Mary Jo's roses continue to connect me to her.

 

 

 

Life's Surprises

I expected a leisurely adjustment to my 2 months alone in Blue River. I had planned to paint and garden and eat light meals. But life has it's surprises. First I got sick, nothing serious, but it slowed me down for a few days. Just as I was getting back to normal, I got a call from Vancouver.

5/10--Meg, my daughter, had a large mass in her abdomen.
5/11--The ultrasound showed a mysterious, but probably benign cyst on, in or around her left ovary.
5/12--Two cysts were removed in emergency surgery, both in the ovary. The Dr. reported they were the size of my head, and a total weight of 2 1/2 pounds.

Needless to say, I've been up in Vancouver since Wed. night, and am here for some time as Meg recovers. At least I'm not lonely and bored.

In my art life, I have reached one of my year's goals. I left 4 paintings at Inscape Gallery in Newport, Oregon. I also had a recent sale in Hawaii.

On the negative side, I have definitely failed to produce a painting a week. Oh well, there is always the week I get home.

Mike and the crew of the Winddancer arrived in Maui today, well ahead of schedule. To follow their adventures: winddancer2010.blogspot.com

The Next Two Months

Very early yesterday morning I dropped off Mike and great-nephew, Daniel, at the Eugene Airport. That was the beginning of their travels for the next two months. They flew to L.A. to join the crew sailing to Hawaii and back. After a few days loading food, checking out the readiness of the boat, they will sail out on May 3. This is Mike's chance to live out one of his dreams and I hope it is wonderful.

In the meantime, I am here at home on my own. It isn't that I'll have trouble staying busy, it is just an internal struggle of self-discipline. It is so easy for me to spend time in lethargy, watching TV or sitting at the computer. I fear I could spend many days wasted, without working toward any art goals, pulling any weeds, or keeping up with the housework.

So today I was presented with my first full day on my own. I walked myself to the post office, 3 miles round trip, instead of driving. As I walked in the rain, I started out with irritation about the spray that hit me with each passing vehicle. But as I continued and got into the rhythm of my walk, I started opening my eyes to find many lovely things. First, the droplets on my raincoat turned incredible colors when the sun hit them. Next I saw movement in the ditch next to the road; as I looked closely I saw a hummingbird feeding on the wild bleeding heart blooms. Then I saw more blooms off the road which were the illusive calypso orchids. Soon my mind went to painting ideas. As my mind floated along, I realized that my trip was nearly over, and the overdrive I'd hit got me there and back.

After lunch I got out to the studio to work on the two paintings I'd taken to my critique group on Friday. I tried to follow my own instincts, while following my group's suggestions.

As silly as it may seem, I feel that these two acts are minor victories and a good start to being on my own.

 

Mollie, 20 x 14

Watercolor Weekend and Spring Break

Last Thursday through Sunday I was in Brookings, Oregon at the WSO spring convention. It was a great weekend of reconnecting with friends, Seeing art, doing art, and getting critiques and demonstrations from expert painter, Stephen Quiller.

A group of us from the Eugene area rented a house high up a hill, where we had a fabulous view of the Oregon Coast. Since I got there with a camera, but no memory card, I can't show you the view! It was a very fun crowd that shared not only an interest in art, but also good food, drink and lively conversation.

One of the paint-ins I participated in had a model, so I got this done in the morning session. I went back several years to an Al Stine workshop and finished it quickly with a cruciform.

 

After getting home, I decided to try to finish it in a more arterly fashion.

 

It's crazy how I could whip out this fairly nice figure in a morning, but I have agonized over the background, and I don't feel I did it any favors. However, it was destined for a drawer, so I decided to buck-up and do something with the background. I'd love to have some comments/help on this one.

The other thing I spent some studio time on was my large "Rogue Heron." After Mr. Quiller's critique, I followed his suggestions of darkening the upper right hand corner to push back the pattern pieces. I also just barely darkened the light part of the shadow under the heron. Is it improved? The changes may be hard to see due to the photos and monitors.

 

 

Rogue Heron 22 x 30

Prior to this past weekend, Mike and I took our younger granddaughters on an Eastern Oregon road trip. We saw rock gardens, painted hills and toured the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. We also dug for fossils and thunder eggs. Probably the highlight was riding horses on the Wilson Ranch Retreat near Fossil. Here are a few photos.

 

The girls at Peterson's Rock Garden.

 

Viewing the Painted HIlls. (Angelica is wearing head-gear.)

 

 

The girls on horseback.

Tomorrow I'm off to Disneyland for 3 days! It will be a quiet studio for a few days.