Molto Bizarro

Step one; the drawing and the sky.

This is as far as I could get on the color, before it became too hot. The other side of the street is in shadow and about the same value as the paper, so it will all be fine. I will make it better.

Jeneane and friends.

Today we met a woman who lives in Montpelier, not France, but Vermont. She owns the little shack in the middle of the river on rt. 12 toward Worchester. They do not live in that, but they have built a house above it. Her name is Gail, in case you know her. They really live in Boston. Almost everyone I met today is an artist or an art student. This comes of having my easel set up in the piazza. My drawing took forever. It was so complicated and I was interrupted often. I am including the stages of this pastel so you can see how it goes. It is wonderful to have charcoal again. Thank you Gregor. Jim said he did his best drawing ever today thanks to his new colors. Thanks again!

It is hot. Our friends told us that the heat comes from Africa. They said that children should not go out in the sun. There were three small earthquakes or aftershocks in L’Aguila last night, but we did not feel them. Our friends were upset by this. I do not know the names of these friends, but we see them almost everyday. Today I thought my face would break from smiling. I was sitting between the two women and they were talking to each other and then one would talk to me and then the other would tap my shoulder to get my attention and then she would talk to me and then the other would tap my shoulder and she would talk to me. I understood a little, but mostly said, “Si, si, si, si”.

I have also become great friends with the lady at the tobacco shop. She lives near where we have done a lot of pastels. She loves our work and is so nice to me. When I showed her my finished picture of the street near her house she was thrilled. It is fun to be a mini-celeb.

There has been a Danish invasion. I have seen seven today. The beauty of being here is that we are outside our culture. I never want to start complaining about this place or the people. If that happens I will leave. I do not want to be an ex-pat. My mom is concerned that our passports and money will be stolen. Our neighbor should be concerned, because he leaves his keys in his car and we are sorely tempted. He is lucky it is a Vermont beater or we would be gone. I hope you will hear from me again. We are taking the bus to Sulmona tomorrow to go to the market at Piazza Guiseppe Garibaldi. We will walk on Viale Roosevelt. That is so interesting. We do not know where the bus lets us off and I tried hard to find out, but I did do the google walk around Sulmona and now know where the market is and what to ask for. I am excited to ride the bus. It stops across the street from our house. If it stays so hot, I may just ride the bus all around the valley one day.

Jim and friends.

Pastel that the woman at the tobacco shop liked.