I attended a nice workshop today taught by Anne Lewis called “Crash Course In Composition” at the Gage school in Seattle. We started out cutting out black construction paper circles, we were armed with scissors, x-acto knives and glue. We felt like we were in kindergarten again, it was freeing and pleasant.
We did a bunch of compositions with the circles, then she changed the rules and had us use the scraps left over from cutting out the circles.
I picked mine all up and then dropped them into a pile and then I saw it. I adjusted the pieces here and there, and even better, I could see the wind howling and screaming, ripping leaves and bark off trees. I saw Tropical Storm Sandy, I saw Nor’easters, I saw Katrina, I saw my husband’s heroic fight against cancer. In a few moments I had made a provoking composition out of tiny scraps of paper. I liked it instantly because it helped me express my turbulent feelings about how powerless we humans really are.
All over Italy, you can find them. Retired gentleman out for their walk “Passeggiata” it is called. This is one thing that Italian culture espouses that our does not. People go on walks. Old and young, all over Italy, out for passeggiata. In some places, it is more prevalent than others; like Cefalu’ and Pozzuoli; where you can find people of every age out walking every evening.
In Sersale, three of my young Italian friends took me on a tour of the old part of town. We ran like mountain goats up and down the steep and narrow streets, many never meant for cars. At one point, we saw this man; I thought he was cute with his hands held high behind his back. One of the girls said “They all walk like that!” realizing how iconic his pose was, I snapped his picture; another scene that might be fun to paint. This 5″ x 7″ hand painted watercolor is SOLD!
Just finished a commission on a lovely brown tabby cat who lives a great life in a large walled in yard in Italy. Peter is a very friendly cat, having wiggled his way into the hearts of his people. The trick with this portrait is that it had to be opposite a portrait of their other cat, Abby. Happy unbirthday Elena!
When Donald Boothby was a very young man, he discovered gardening. He was introduced to it by his foster parents Butch and Sonna Pankey, but when he got out of the service he moved to Boise and planted a great garden full of peppers, tomatoes, corn, and sunflowers. He took pictures of his garden, and this painting that you see here today is based on his original faded photo from about 1972. When we were first married, Donald planted sunflowers every year; but here in Seattle, they didn’t do as well, and were often disappointing, so he stopped.
Sunflowers are one of the biggest flowers I’ve ever planted, in Italian, they are called “Girasole” which means “turns with the sun.” They represent harvest, abundance and light.
It is hard for me to think of gardening without remembering how excited he was about it when he was young.
This 5″ x 7″ original watercolor is for sale for $60.00. All proceeds go to endangered species conservation.
Another wonderful thing about Italy is all the statuary. Outside of a castle, there is a gate. On each side of the gate stands a bigger than life sized lion, standing guard. In case you didn’t know he was the king of beasts, he wears a crown to remind you.
I painted this with only 4 colors of paint, including the blue sky. It’s 11″ x 14″ and is ready to brighten up a wall in your home for only $150.00. All proceeds for this painting go to conservation programs for small endangered wild creatures, nearly forgotten and hemmed in by civilization on all sides.
