Watercolors by Mimi Torchia Boothby » painting

The Cookie Lady

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:33:41 +0000

With so much going wrong these days in the world, the state, the city, a small thing going right is our local Georgetown Farmer’s Market. It is in its infancy, its very first season, and lots of new merchants and farmers are setting up their stalls and trying their luck at open market each Saturday from 10 until 3. I have been delighted with some of the new vendors, we had Indian food featuring fresh Naan, Argentinian Empanadas, Vegan chocolate cake, a northern Italian selling pasta made from chestnuts, a southern Italian selling eggplant casserole, and lots of organic farms selling gorgeous fruits and vegetables. Some of them seem to have already given up on our small market, I haven’t seen them come back after the first few Saturdays. So it seems I have a huge emotional investment in this market succeeding. This past Saturday, there was a cookie seller. And the woman who ran the booth called herself “The Cookie Lady.” There she was, the kind of woman who clearly could do anything if she wanted, surrounded by all kinds of wonderful concoctions – her creations. We asked for samples. Each tidbit we sampled we ended up buying a batch. Her stuff was good. She was sassy and confident. We’ll be back! (I hope she comes back too) This is a watercolor on 9 x12″ arches paper and it is for sale. Photo reference by Donald Boothby.

By the big barn

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:06:21 +0000

From the number of dilapidated huge barns that we see on our bike rides, western Washington state used to be a big dairy producer. Every one of these barns shows pride, industry and independence to me. Some of them are unique.
This is another painting based on my husband’s collection of photographs. We rode by this barn on our tandem and had to stop to gaze at it. I confess that it is actually more decrepit in person than it appears here.

Meet one of my neighbors

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:39:00 +0000

I live in South East Seattle, and we are understandably very proud of the goodness in our neighborhood.
I’ve recently gone on a couple of neighborhood tours, and discovered that right down the street from my house a little shop where they do alterations and clothing repairs called New Holly Gift Shop & Alterations. I’d been past it hundreds of times but never looked inside. Well, the shop was on the tour, and they interviewed the seamstress, whose name is Phuong. She came out, all smiles, I was certain that she’d be shy, but she was not. When asked why she liked her job; her quick response was “I like my job because I get great satisfaction out of seeing how pleased people are when they see my work.” We’ve been back to that store twice now, she does great work!

Giuseppina – incredible lady

mimitorchia — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:47:38 +0000

When my grandmother, Lucy Melino Fressola died, she left each of her descendants; children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren some money. With part of mine, I took my entire family to Italy; my husband, my two young adult sons, and I. We decided that it was about time to go visit my grandmother’s home town, Sant’Agata di Puglia, one of many picturesque hilltop towns in Southern Italy.

There was one little lady who still lived there that remembered my grandmother, her name was Giuseppina. She was short and spry with twinkly eyes. She welcomed us to her town with smiles and told us how she was the oldest of 8 children and how they had absolutely nothing. She was not able to go to school because she had to work instead and never learned to read. She eventually married my grandmother’s cousin, Saverio Fabbiano. They bought a house with the sweat off their backs and raised their children in this pristine little village. She radiated joy as she reminisced my grandmother’s last visit. It seems that the day my grandmother arrived, Giuseppina’s daughter had a baby. I later met that baby, a woman close to my age.

There was nowhere to park our car near her home or near our hotel, so this 80 something year old woman led us around on foot, we had to work to keep up with her. Every one of us has a story about our time in Sant’Agata di Puglia, but each of us remembers this smiling old woman who shared her town with us.

It’s all about Nick

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:13:44 +0000

Nick

I work for a large aerospace corporation. Every year they recruit promising bright engineers from all over the world. I have watched them come and go for 30 years now. It’s always interesting to see which ones will leave after a year of Seattle’s traffic, housing prices, and weather; and which ones turn into permanent Seattle residents. Nick gave some warning signs early on when he complained about the weather; still I hoped he’d stick around, he has a lot to offer, he’s bright, and did not have the typical engineer personality. Unfortunately, Nick and his lovely wife did decide to leave; their family ties were too strong, they went back home to a place called Yadkinville, if you can believe it. He was gracious enough to allow me to paint his portrait. The background is part of the skyline view from Alki Beach, where they made their home in Seattle.

He sure can play that guitar

admin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:11:00 +0000

I was entranced by 1935 photo of a young man playing his guitar. I thought it would be fun to paint him. I tried it once and was very unhappy with how it came out. So I waited until after I attended a wonderful watercolor workshop by Ted Nuttall and tried again. This time, it came out the way I like. He’s playing a G chord. In my life music has always been a big element. This painting is an attempt to express those feelings.

The second of this series, I called the Red Hots, I wish I knew their real name. It’s from a 1938 photo taken by Russell Lee for the Farm Administration. Apparently, the photo was taken in the town where Tabasco hot sauce was made