Painting in Castelvecchio

Just the usual here. Breakfast, painting, second breakfast, but then, a break in the routine. Victorio came by and took us to some different places to paint. He introduced us to the property owner so it will be no problem to go back tomorrow. He did not like that we had views of Castel di Ieri in our pictures of CVS. The two places he showed us only had CVS in them.

Victorio looking at the great view.

Jim's oil of the scene of Castel di Ieri that Victorio objected to.

Sunny day of CVS with CdI in background.

 Misty morning of same scene.

Seccinaro from Gagliano, two days ago, it was rainy a bit then as well.

After we got home I took a two hour nap listening to Harry Potter. Luckily I have read it before. The usual lunch, pizza, fruit, and salad and we set off to paint the poppy field from Via Sotto Castel. When we first got there it seemed so hot, but the clouds were building and soon we could hear thunder in the distance and then the not so distance. When it started raining the question was, is it better to start walking or stay under the trees?

Eventually we decided it was better to start walking. Jim’s painting was little so he could put it inside his plastic palette. Mine was larger so I held my beach chair with the painting underneath over my head. By the time we got home the rain had slacked off, but I still think we made the right decision. Now the sun is out and it is kind of hot and steamy. In spite of the rain I am liking the weather much more this summer. It is not nearly so hot. It has rained the last three days in the afternoon. Morning is the reliable time to paint. Generally it doesn’t rain long, and it is not raining everywhere at once. There is almost always some blue sky somewhere. Like last year I do have quite a few bug bites. I got 500 Zirtec equivalents at Costco and I am going to take one tonight.

Now we are hanging out thinking of going to fill water bottles and get on the internet. Jim is making chicken soup and pork chops for dinner. We have been eating watermelon, peaches, strawberries, cherries and apricots. The salads have been spectacular. It really feels like we never left here and that last winter was just some kind of series of weird, bad, dreams. This is the real world.