Sunday, May 31, 2009

the last weekend in may: perfectly lazy

le weekend:

this weekend i enjoyed the first watermelon of the summer, a four of watermelon for four euros... worth it!

I spent most of friday reading, it was lovely, and I almost finished an amazing book that everyone should read. it a story of one man making a difference in the world, Greg Mortenson's transformation from mountain climber to humanitarian-- building school for girls in remote villages in Pakistan, it is about how he became beloved by these people, became one of them, about the roles he also played back home as husband and father, and raising support for the organization.
anywho.....i rattle endless how his story has inspired me and strengthened in me a heart of the middle east, an interest in their culture and the religious sects that separate them.

all in all..... read it.

I went to lake bolsena saturday...it was a lot of fun, not a big sandy beach, actually a small rocky one, but we still had a lot of fun playing frisbee, kicking a ball around/ volley back and forth. a lot of time spent laying around, had a picnic lunch, walked to get some ice cream and cokes, read a bit, mostly just talked, swam to a ridiculously far away buoy...


headed back to the monastery, on the way we stopped at this little rest area that had an amazing view of orvieto, so of course we stopped to pose and photography and just soak it all in


that night i made crepes again....they are one of my new favorite food groups! i am so glad to be going to Paris and eat the original crepes!!!

then there was an sort of weird medieval horse racing games involving reaching up grabbing flags and throwing them into buckets in piazza del popolo, it was pretty amazing, everything was open, vendor dressed in period costume and it seemed the whole town showed up for it.

after a while i wandered by myself taking some night shots using film.

Today has been the perfect lazy rainy sunday one could ever ask for! the morning spent partly chatting in the kitchen over delicious biscotti cookies and reading and writing before the Pentecost activates...
involving sending a dove in tube flying along a cable from a tower to the duomo, it was a very big ordeal and involved elaborate costumes. then back to the monastery with take out from Charlie’s--pear and gorgonzola pizza!

back to norah jones and my travel wiring piece...

sooooo there was weekend. i rather liked it

ciao

oh and again…pictures to come…

civita

welcome to civita!


“wow, I think I have seen it all, how long has it been, thirty minutes, what do you want to do for the next few hours…” emily said something to this affect when we realized how tiny it was….haha! but it was beautiful welcom to civita!

the walk up the bridge into civita
emily...
view from a rock
lauren, it was sort of windy, haha!

more pictures and captions to come...

first two weeks of travel writing

i know i haven't blogged since this last class started...
but i love it, i am just writing sketches about orvieto, places people.
i think it is the best closure for my time here. which doesn't seem real that i only have two short weeks left in orvieto.
I went out for jakes and laurens birthday and that was a lot of fun, we got gelato after and I had peasca (peach) and yogurt and it was delicious! We just layed on the steps of the duomo and talk and ate for a long time, laying looking up at its massiveness
Made crepes for the first time with lauren…we might of had six each...I love crepe!


Kiwi gelato is pretty amazing…

I suppose that is all for now… i will try to write a little more detailed later...

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

slow down baby you're moving too fast

painting has concluded. and i have started travel writing has begun
i feel like i am easing into a very reflective, contemplative state. i don't feel the desire for grand adventures, i feel in need of rest, in need of solitude.

i feel myself slip into a new pace. i hope this last month proves to be slower, that writing allows me a new way to sit and reflect and to discover how i fit into this place. I am ready to slow down...

I am ready to be, not do. if that makes sense....anywho......

i will post pictures from some place in rome soon...ish....

Friday, May 8, 2009

roma zoo!!!!

amazing trip!
started by me of course almost missing it by being woken up five minutes before we were leaving on the 6:50am train...

we left early so we could go to Caravaggio's matt cycle which we missed the first time because of restorations....

but first stop was at matt's favorite/the best coffee and croissant (and one of the least expensive) in rome! cafe farnese

then to campeo di fiore--my favorite saturday morning market! let me just saw the red pears there are amazing!
to the best bakery! such amazing bread and pizza! i love it! i can't remember the name...i will look it up later...

then the stop at the black hole to the programs finances....the art store....Ditta G. Poggi
which, and art store is truly one of the most dangerous stores to go into...i had to exercise extreme restraint! but i can't wait to stop back in!

sorry....i realize there are no pictures...i am going back to these place...so i will post pictures of them later

then to the paintings we left at that early hour for--the St. Matthew Cycles!

i used to not think i was a croissant person....but my mind is changed! haha!
and since starting portraitpaint, i feel like, just as i did in drawing, a heighten ability to see...an expanded vocabulary in which to both create and look at art--the use of color--the choices our eyes make, the building up of an image--sculpting it in a way, the proportions and the choices in distortion, the light and color of the skin in context with what is around it.... the choice of the artist, what that says about them, about the subject...
i am enjoying looking at art more and more as i learn more about creating it!

both painting and drawing are teach me what it is to really see and observe...to sit with something and begin to understand both it and something about yourself in the process...teaching me to look deeper than a snapshot... it amazing to start looking around with a heightened sense! i am beginning to see all sorts of things i never saw before!

"the calling of st. matthew" is one of my favorites of caravaggio! i remember studying it in art history, memorizing that flash card! haha!


ok...so that was the morning......here is the afternoon....

from there a long and lovely walk to the Borghsee (sorry i know that is spelled wrong) Gardens which are right next to the zoo to hang out and have a picnic before the zoo...

roanin eating pringles....

the yummy bread (white pizza--bread with oil, salt, and pepper yum!) from the bakery
matt cutting up the tomatoes...i am techincally just out of this picture slicing the cheese to go with the tomatoes and bread
us after the eating, hanging out
playing airplane with roanin :)

after clean up and getting yelled at for picnicing in the "dog area" of the park byan angrey italian woman we head back up to the path and to the zoo!

ok so, the zoo....i love zoos! but, in all honestly the roma zoo was a little disappointing...the zoo was nice, nice cafe, nice walking paths, but not nice was the variety/selection of animals and more so the animal habitats :(

but it was still fun, and they had giraffe's :)
really cute monkey
elephants...my second favorite animal
it was a great day... lots of walking, gorgeous weather.....well except for the twenty minutes it downpoured while we were in the zoo! haha! but we were close to an arch, so we didn't get too wet

random scenes concerning random things

roma overnight:
me sitting drawing....
insearch of a spot:
lauren's sexy legs while i was contemplating a spot to draw

searching for a spot, and it was found at last....the spot i would spend my life drawing...well at least the last week of drawing last month.....

florence freebee:
shadow games
roma zoo:
feet....i don't like feet, but i love feet pictures....strange