Mimi Torchia Boothby

When I was young, my grandfather gave me an address so I could write to my cousins in Italy. One cousin, Patrizia, wrote back to me in English! She invited us to her home in Rome. We took her up on this offer, my mother and I traveled to her great city, and for a week Patrizia gave us the grand tour. 15 years later, she graciously shared Rome with Donald and me. Patrizia is a world traveler. She has been almost everywhere, from desert with camels and pyramids to icy places covered in snow. She was my inspiration to travel, and she continues to be. I just finished this commission today, and I think her smile is very contagious.

July is usually a pretty dry month here in Seattle, and when it does rain, it normally doesn’t even register more than a trace. But this morning, We were awakened by the noise of rain drops, and it rained for quite a while. It even thundered, once. I looked into my back yard and the scene was so dramatic, with the glowing leaves uplifting and the deep darkness behind from the canopy of big leaf maples behind. Fly away, little postcard.

It was a lot of fun to attend the graduation ceremony at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. A very close family member graduated with a PhD in Mathematics, the first PhD in my family. So many deceased relatives had to have been there, thrilled and cheering to see this happening.
Since it was in Canada, there were people wearing kilts playing bagpipe music and we all sang “O Canada”. The regalia donned by the graduates was interesting, the PhD students got to wear fancy de Medici hats, fresh out of medieval times.

A friend asked me about doing a painting of Donald on his bike and as a result, I revisited a painting that I did of Donald FOR Donald some years ago. He loved crows and he also loved being on his bike of course. The reference for this painting was from when he was riding around the Grand Canyon, one of his greatest achievements on his bike, and it truly shows his joy for living.

It was time to do another self portrait, so I dressed up as a peasant. This summer Seattle (where I live) had more tomatoes that grew and ripened than any year since I’ve been here. My ancestors grew tomatoes in Southern Italy (and my cousins still do) so this painting represents my grandmothers and their grandmothers who grew, harvested and preserved tomatoes every year.