Portraits and People

I have been doing a lot of work this week. 

Here are some finished results with 

more to come tomorrow.

 

Today was 28c which is 82F which is a pretty handy reference point. In the morning we walked up to Castel di Ieri so Jim could see what has been fixed in town and what is currently under construction. I found this one small thing that I had not noticed before.

The park, which is shady and cool with a fountain, is also an internet hot spot. We took my computer up and it worked! It is slow and it is a hike, but still it is not a bad place to sit.



















On the way back I saw these artichoke flowers.

I bought a pack of different pastel papers to try. It included a piece of white Wallis paper. I had never considered this to be a viable alternative, because usually white paper is very difficult to cover with pastel, but it worked great. White Wallis paper has always been available. It was only the grey that has been out of stock for a year. I have worked on this painting two days now and I believe it works just as well as the grey Wallis paper. Here is my start from yesterday.

At the bottom of this steep set of stairs you maybe able to spot my easel. This stairway provides lots of painting options with shade so we will be here a while.

The road to the piazza has been closed for days because of big trucks like this one that is filled with ruble. The ruble from the second and third floor of a residence slams down a plastic shoot and into the truck. When it is full they take it away and bring it back empty. They were driving it away full just below where I was painting.

Our kitchen has a bit of a new look. We spent 40E (shock) on the piece of wood to fit in the first shelf. Then we took all the crap off the top shelf and hid it and put out our 56 plates. Our accent color is lime green.

Here are some of my friends. The young boys begged me to paint their pictures. I said I would do it. The shortest boy showed me a picture on his iPhone of the painting I did of Victorio last summer. I was pretty impressed. He was really hard to paint. He is so sweet and young. Here they all are yesterday.

And here some of them are today with their paintings.

Shoes and t-shirts

To all of you that have posted on my blog: Thank you very much. I just figured out how to read them today.

Yesterday I went with a friend to Roseta delgi Abruzzo. It is north of Pescara. We were going because of a 1/2 price shoe sale. I was confident there were shoes less that 90 km. away, but it turns out my friend had ordered them over the phone and that was why we were going so far. First we took a bus to Pratola Peligna. That only took about 20 minutes, but it was 1 hour and 20 minutes till the train arrived. This was something I knew, but my friend had not considered. It didn’t seem like that much time because it is quite a walk to the train station. Why the buses do not stop at the stations in each town is just another mystery I have yet to solve. The train was great. It was clean, fast and not bumpy. It was also not air conditioned. I was so happy I took a water bottle. The only time it was cool was when it was in the tunnel and the air sucked the curtains out and then threw them back in.

In Roseta we had fish for lunch. This was one of my fears about the trip. My friend totally boned my fish for me and took out all the parts one was not supposed to eat. I did not have to eat the eye, although she offered it to me. It was about $20 a piece. That is about the cheapest one can have lunch here. No antipasti or vino just pasta and then secondo, fish. My friend thought the shops would be open all afternoon, but they were not. Lunch lasted till 3pm so it was not too much of a wait for the shops. All the stores on the board walk were opened and they seemed to all be run by Chinese people. I had learned how to say hello in Chinese in pre-school so I was pleased with myself for remembering. 



#1 choice

Me, outside the Comic Zone after looking at shoes.

Finally the shops were open. My friend read every sign to me and talked about how good or bad the prices were. This is a totally richey tourist town. I think one of her pairs of shoes was 200E. There had been no consideration of when the train we would take to leave. I kept asking if we knew, but to no avail. There isn’t much room for others to talk. She used to be a teacher. Just saying, make your own conclusions. There was a problem with the trains so we didn’t miss anything and we did not have to blame ourselves.

We did not arrive in Pratola until after 9pm. Way later than the last bus. My friend had ME call her husband and tell him about the train problem. I am wondering if this is not the first time. Meanwhile Jim and her husband had been making onion rings and dinner. He had to leave to pick us up in Pratola. First he had to take the old car home and get the new car. He was waiting when we arrived. We had to get gas. After hours you put in your money and get a receipt which you put in the gas pump and then you get your gas. The gas pump he had picked was broken so he lost his money until the next day. Luckily I had money, which he paid me back after he returned his good car to its garage and came back with the old car. I am a little more concerned about the 40E I loaned my friend that I am not supposed to tell him about. Will I get it back? Stay tuned. Jim’s dinner was served two hours late. It was still good. Onion rings, french fries, salad and arrostocini. I did not have an agenda for the day so it was all fine, but if I had had something that I wanted to do, I might have been frustrated. It was a little embarrassing in the stores. If you want to know more you can email me. It is quite the sad story.

I did look at shoes and tried one pair on. I could not even take a step in those heels. there were no white shoes, only baize. I was looking at blue shoes. Mostly I was trying to hide. Here are some possibilities.

Today was market day again and there was an abundance of t-shirts.

Live young and be free simplicity

Hey, SP where is this No. 1 Paris Boutique?

No translation according to Google.

Taglia means cut like in a hair cut. In this case I think it means if your clothes are cut small: you are the essence of thin. If your clothes are cut medium then I am fine with a little bit of everything. If you wear large then you know, "I''m in the flesh and I eat all the things listed, meat, fish, desert, whatever

Probably self explanatory. Random words put together. Hopefully I will have something more edifying to post tomorrow.

Fridge

It already feels like it might be a warmer day. I was painting at 7a.m. and I was wearing my sweat shirt and jeans, but I wasn’t cold like I have been. My metal easel has been an ice cube.

Everyday I pass the catacomb of the unknown refrigerator garnished by Bethlehem Bells. In its little cave it waits for someone to take it to recycling so it can be reincarnated as a car or modern appliance. The thoughtless disposal of the little fridge, so faithful, so helpful until it failed or went out of style, has ruined its hope for enlightenment.

Along the path is a wildflower I have not seen. The wildflowers have never lingered this long into the summer before. By now the are squelched by the heat, but this year they are still blooming. The poppies seem done, but everything else is exuberant.

After first and second breakfast things went down hill for me. I went to work on the painting of the mayor’s house under the bridge take #2. I had corrected the drawing the night before after I had sprayed the painting. It was Wallis paper so it was not a problem to make the drastic changes I had envisioned. I was there a little earlier so there was some extra light sneaking in that made the painting more interesting. In the end I left feeling unhappy. I did not want to spray the whole thing again and basically start over so I  called it quits.

While I was painting quite a few other things went on a round me. A man I know came to get his tractor out of his garage, but before he did that he spent a long time gunny the engine of a weed wacker. Finally that was loaded on the tractor and a delivery was attempted. After not too long he was back and there was some more engine revving. A guy I see all the time and who has become a little scary to me, arrived to pick up the weed wacker. The tractor was reinstalled in the garage and that was that. (I like the tractor man and painted his house last summer)

Meanwhile just as the tractor was about to leave suddenly two cats came up the stairs and ran under the wheels up the alley. Why would they do that I wondered. (you are going to be happy I didn’t take this picture) The question was answered when one cat returned with a chicken, who had just been beheaded, head in its mouth. It is not just the head, but rather the entire neck as well. I was happy there was no blood dripping down. The second cat was running down the alley trying to catch up with the chicken head. This combined with the, at times, strong scent of sewer, the man hacking up after a night of sleeping on cigarette lungs and the burning brush down the road were making me feel quite sick. So sick that I was thinking how nice it would be to go to Big Lots. A sweet lady came by and we had a pleasant conversation in which she told me where she lived and I told her where I lived and she invited me to come over for coffee sometime. Although I was proud of how well I could speak and also understand her, it made me long for a clerk at Big Lots who spoke English.

It is unclear who finished who here, but this painting is over for me. (12 x 16 version)

Tomorrow I am going shopping with a friend. At least I think I am. Everything from this point on is pure speculation. I believe we are taking a free bus, that is running through the park for tourists, to Pratola. From there we will be taking a train, which is not free, to somewhere that shoes are on sale. She wants to buy three pairs, red, beige and something else. It will be a day for just the women, no men. My plan is to wait at the bus stop across the street and if she comes I will get on the bus otherwise I will go home. I am afraid there is something wrong with my friend. She does not seem able to stop talking.  It takes terrific energy to listen to her, because almost all the words she knows in English are words I know in Italian. She says those words in English, waits for affirmation, and leaves me out to dry on the Italian part. The good thing is she doesn’t give up, the bad thing is that what is finally communicated does not matter much. Oh, and lunch might be involved.

After painting we took a walk on the road to Gagliano. I just had to go for a walk and burn off some of the fidgets. I just hope my painting looks better after pizza. Most things do.

Market day again

Here is the score from today’s market. Food prices have gone up here. Pizza for three days, 5E, chicken for three meals including chicken soup, 7E, all the fruits and veggies about 15E, chess 9.40E. We got the garlic for free which was great because we really needed garlic. I am including a picture of all the garlic we already have. It would have been great to get something else free instead. We had asked for 1/2 a kilo of green beans, but I am pretty sure we have about 4 pounds of them. They are delicious and they are grown in this valley. We buy something from almost all the vendors to spread our support around.

The road up to the piazza has been closed because of work on this house. They are tearing out all the old stucco and they send it roaring down a chute into a large truck. This truck is driven away fully loaded multiple times a day. It completely blocks the road so even people have to go around. I want to go around believe me. The sound of all the rubble coming down is like a mini earthquake. Even painting near there gives me a little jump each time some more stuff crashes into the house. Today they started using the concrete mixer that you see to the left. It is electric and mixes all the time. Then bucket loads are hauled up with a winch to the upper floors to re-stucco the walls. What a job.  The company is Impreza DeAngelis. They must be very happy with all the earthquake work they have to complete. It is exciting to see.

Jim and I are painting just around the corner from the construction. The house under the bridge is the mayor’s house and he would like me to paint it for him. I just can’t get it drawn correctly. (faithful readers will know this is my second shot at it). I have been measuring and being very careful. My next ploy was to put the photo of the painting and of the scene side by side in a document on my computer. I inserted a horizontal line and used it to compare things, like the height of the doors, between the painting and the scene. I found that the doors under the arch are too small, that things don’t line up across the alley, and some other stuff that is too horrible to even mention. Maybe I will resort to drawing it from a gridded photo and then painting it on site. Well, tomorrow is another day.

Here is a picture of me sitting by a very yellow wall working on this morning’s painting.

 






















It was so exciting to get two pieces of mail that Jim is back to checking the box everyday. There is still time to write.

Hard at work or hardly working?

I got out to paint at 7 a.m. today, but the light wasn't good at all. There was no contrast. I started a new painting in the same spot of the mountains. That went ok and it now has an acceptable undercoat of color. Then the sun came out and I switched back to painting number one. That lasted about 15 minutes and I got ready to switch back to painting number 2 only to see that clouds had rolled over the mountains. I did think about adding them, but I had done a lot of work on the ridge line, although it is still inaccurate. So the clouds did not get added.

Painting number 1

Painting number 2 done before the clouds appeared. There was a moment of sunlight on the ridge. 

And here is painting number 3. The sun was pretty strong for a while, but I am not sure this is finished or not. I am having a hard time being happy about my work. I did the landscape on Canson Touch, and I liked it better than before. It seems like the strokes show up more. The colorfix is great for doing a few layers and getting the texture of the building, but then I have to spray. A hard drawing line blurs the color. Ho hum. 

In the meantime it is getting to that dangerous time of summer: runaway zucchinis. Several have made their way to our house along with many fresh eggs.

The pot to the left of the giant zucchini is a vinegar maker. We have added quite a bit of dubious wine to it, but have yet to try the vineger. We don't know how long it is supposed to take so it is a kitchen science experiment.

And lastly here is the wheat someone picked for me yesterday. I have artistically drapped it across our winnower that we found in the cave. (sorry, do not know if that is the correct word)

Grano a mano

When the future seems grim and it feels like too many tipping points have been reached and left behind that’s the time you realize that Castelvecchio is the place you want to be. There is a clean water supply from the old Roman Fountains and today we saw people that still know how to harvest wheat by hand. Remember this for when the gas runs out.

We heard their was going to be a pasta making contest at 9 a.m. at the pizza place. We took our painting equipment just in case the rumors were unfounded, but instead it turned out it was a harvesting by hand competition. The field had been marked off in equally wide stops of about six feet and 25 feet long. There was room for ten teams. When we first arrived their were two old guys harvesting grain for about six camera people all with big lenses. Since the event was sponsored by Old Holland tractors maybe one of our guys will become an ad. I guess New Holland is not worried about the competition from a few people harvesting by hand.

There were only three teams. A husband and wife assisted by the father of one of them and possibly a grandson. There was the old guy team and a team made up of teenagers with an experienced wheat baler behind them. It was a neck and neck race. Sickles were flashing in the sun and hands with fingers covered by pieces of bamboo rose up and down. Behind came the bailers. they would grab a handful of grain and twist it into a knot. Next the wheat was laid down on top of the knot with all the seed heads facing in the same direction. Then the ends of the knotted piece were wrapped around and tied making a sheaf of wheat. These sheaves followed the harvesters down the row.

 If you thought a wand in your back pocket was dangerous then look at this. The scythes are super sharp and had been sharpened with dry stones only moments before. They are worn from a metal hook attached to your belt. 

 The man in the white shirt has his arm around his friend. You can see the bamboo finger protectors on his left hand.

Mint grows in with the wheat making every swing of the sickle followed by the sweat scent of mint. The smell of Italy one woman told me. When everyone had reached the top of the row, they worked going up hill so they did not have to bend over so far, the reapers went back and gathered anything they had missed leaving a wheat free zone. Nothing was wasted. These bits were added to the sheaves which were piled together: one for each row. Finally the judging. each team had a long list of criteria by which they were judged. Although they were announced I am just guessing as to what they were.
1. speed
2. cleanness of the field
3. quality of the bundles

And the winners were: the husband and wife team. Second was the old guys and third were the youngsters, although I suspect that each team won in some category of the judging.

A woman told me what the traditional field lunch was: bread with a sauce made of fresh tomatoes and thyme, a frattato of zucchini, onions and eggs, and wine mixed with water and lemon so no one would cut off their fingers. This food was prepared by the young people of Castelvecchio including our neighbor’s daughter. It was so delicious: field food. We had our lunch there. After all it is hard work taking 75 pictures while competing with at least ten other photographs all with longer lenses.

The minute Jim sat down by a bale of straw people rushed to take his picture. Me included.

Our inestimable neighbors and a guy that had a sharp scythe and insisted on being in the photo.


As if that wasn’t enough excitement for a day: we got mail! Thanks to Gregor and Josefin for the card from Venice.

AND there might be something else tonight in the piazza at 5pm having to do with the grain event. What really amazes me is that the students are here from America, but they weren’t there and neither were any of the tourists from Denmark. Jim and I were the only ones who stumbled on to this event. In fairness it was not well advertised and the date was changed due to the lateness of the harvest, but it was like being in a Brugel painting except for the cameras with giant lenses.