July 27, 2016

After a day of rain on Sunday we have had two beautiful mornings and afternoons marked by amazing clouds of all kinds in every direction and thunder echoing through the valley, but no more rain. Monday morning I finished by second view of Castelvecchio from the north side. I bet that not a single landscape painter in Vermont had a woman bring them expresso on a little tray along with a piece of Italian cake. It is a sweet life! I enjoyed coffee and cookies with this woman once before when I was painting near the same spot. This time her daughter, husband and three month old grand baby were visiting. The daughter and husband speak English, so we exchanged some pleasantries. Then the daughter said, in English, that her mother was driving her crazy with her endless advice. I said that that was her job, but it really bugged me that she used a language that her mom does not speak to criticize her mom right to her face. It seems even worse than talking behind someone’s back. I decided that the daughter would probably not be able to understand this until she is giving advice to her daughter about her grand baby. I wowed to give no advice to Jessie and Gina. This will be easy, because they are smarter than me. 

Yesterday Morning: view of Castel di Ieri from Gagliano.

And then there is the Ginziana. This is a liquor made from a wild, endangered radish. No one is supposed to make it and everyone does. At the start of the summer we had two bottles by two different people. These were given to us as gifts right before we left. (it keeps forever) We managed to finish one, but still have most of the second. In the last two days we have received two more bottles of Ginziana. Pretty soon there is going to be a raid on our house. 

Late morning painting started here. This is the place I had never noticed. It is pretty big and obvious. 

There is a man here who is a breakfast friend of mine. We have said good morning and possibly some other things each morning I am in Italy for the last six years. I did his portrait and this summer gave him a pastel. (hence one bottle of ginziana.) A few years ago I noticed that he seemed like he was recovering from a terrible illness. He had a cane and looked awful and had resumed or started smoking. I thought he had discovered he had some dreadful disease and that he might as well smoke. Yesterday, I found out that his daughter died that summer. Today I decided to speak to him about it and found out that it is the third anniversary tomorrow. This is a terrible disease that one cannot recover from. I honor the memory of his daughter, Suzanna, and all the lost children. 

Today, I really wanted to paint landscape and not more buildings. After market, we called up Irish Dude to see if he would drive us up to Gagliano to paint. He would and so we did. The light was so glaring and so strong that all the colors looked gray. I worked away at my pastel and was shocked that it took over two hours. (no drawing) I started walking up the road to my friend’s house and the place Jim was painting. This is a town I have painted in EVERY summer I have been here, but today was the first time I saw the view that is opposite the view over the valley. I had never looked above the brim of my hat before, but there it was, the church tower with the Sirentes soaring behind. The great clouds had started to build up so I started a new painting. It was getting toward lunch time and I did not want to interrupt our friend’s lunch so I took a photo and packed it in. At the house his wife asked us in and invited us to lunch. (ha, Vermont landscape painters) We said no no we could not impose and next thing we knew we were eating lunch. “No” is not a word in the Italian language when it comes to food. She blended feta cheese, boiled eggs, mayo and mustard to make a creamy sauce. Then she spread it on endive leaves. With it we had chopped tomatoes on toasted bread and apricots. So delicious and so nice to be treated so well!  This afternoon I re-did the portrait of the mayor’s wife. I still don’t think it looks like her, but I have put my watercolors in the cabinet and I am done. Twenty eight portraits. Two dogs, three kids, too many people smiling and lots of fun, because I listened to books on Audible the whole time. 

Looking normal.

Tonight the neighbors are coming to dinner for onion rings and some other stuff that is not the important part of the meal. They are coming over in about 30 minutes at 8:30. The sun has set and the melon colored glow is lighting the sky. The clouds are flat and not dramatic and there has been no rain. 

Last portrait!! Carmen