Raindrops

It has been a full day of art classes. We started in the morning in Gagliano. We had a very beautiful spot in front of one of my student’s house. There is a little park with pine trees and it smells just like New Mexico. The church in Gagliano has a tunnel under it. You can see it in the pictures of people painting. I have so few students it is hard for me to keep myself out of their hair. I am not a watercolorist, but I have been doing some so I don’t bother people to much.

I have a black sharp pointed pen that I use to draw with. I don’t bother with pencil, because then I would spend too much time fussing. Any mistakes I make just have to be there. Then I use the watercolor on top. When the pen gets wet, it turns a very nice purple. Much nicer than I can make with my watercolors. The entire line does not disappear, but I get a nice purple edge. It has been fun and I am happy with how it has gone.

My watercolor this morning

My watercolor this afternoon

In the afternoon we went to Gole di San Venanzio. From CVS there is a steep road that leads down to Rainao. At the bottom of the steep part is Gole di San Venanzio. From Rainao one has to turn back and follow the river bottom. Finally we have our near by swimming place. Well, we would still need a car. It is like a Vermont stream. Completely cold and refreshing. The monastery and church are built over the river like a bridge. In the cliffs are caves where monks could go meditate alone. It was beautiful. We left as raindrops started falling. The sun was shinning from one part of the sky and the raindrops, which are huge, looked like shooting stars. No rainbow was the only disappointment and that it was not raining in CVS. Gole di San Venanzio was a perfect place to spend a wicked hot day. (gole means throat)

I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of my class. We will be painting all day, have a little show of our work for the families and then go out for pizza. We had class for six days plus an evening. That seems long to me when I am used to five day classes or weekends, but it turned out really well. I think people are happy. Two of the students have done more paintings this week than in their entire lives. That has to make you happy. It has been so weird for me not to be painting and to not have anything to write in my book.