ROMA

I went to see a friend who is an artist and lives in the very center of Rome.  I live about 20 minutes away so I had to catch a bus and the metro.  I arrived at the Spagna, the station near the Spanish Steps, hundeds of people even thought it was around five in the afternoon.  But all so stunning.  I walked along a street and had the most amazing view looking over this beautiful city.

Sometimes I actually forget I live here and then I am suddenly jolted back to reality when I see something like this. Its hard to describe the feeling of pure joy at seeing all this history.  I love walking on the streets that millions of people have walked on for centuries.  If only the stones could talk!

When I went for a cafe in the piazza which is what I do normally the view from the night before was still imprinted on my brain.  I went for a little walk and saw these beautiful amaryllis and knew I had to paint both of them togethere.

And I am so pleased with the results.

For me as an artist Rome is filled with inspirational subjects, I am very fortunate to live in this wonderful city.

This weekend I am going to Napoli with my husband who is speaking at a book launch for a colleague.

I have been to Napoli a few times but its kind of a crazy place which I called the wild west.  When I was last there I was staying near the Piazza and the railway station and there had been a garbage collection strike which had been going on for many months.  The beautiful pizza was filled with overflowing big garbage bins which the some of the angry locals set alight every night, so the air was filled with fire and stinking garbage.  It was not that great.  We caught a bus to go to the port and were stopped just past the piazza by a road block of any people protesting and had to get of the bus, could have been very bad for us but it was ok.  My last memory looking out of the hotel before fleeing to the airport was a long line of army trucks driving past my window in the rain.

Lago di Nemi

I decided to have a little drawing/painting trip to a little place called Lake Nemi, about 40 minutes by car out of Rome.  It is so beautiful, the lake where Romans spent the summer rowing huge boats on the volcanic lake.  Its so beautiful and so uniquely different.  

I took my gorgeous dog Lucy, who also loved it!  She is a hunter of all things moving, mice, pigeons and of course her absolute favorite - Cats, not that she catches them.  There were cats everywhere, strutting up and down the tiny streets.  The cats of Italy are very fierce creatures, they live by their wits and are looked after and fed by everyone in the neighborhood and afraid of nothing!! including my dog.

The beautiful thing about the lake apart from the magnificent history, was that when you looked at it, it was different everytime, because of the sun moving across the sky.  

It has been a place where painters have gone for centuries to paint the lake.  I was very inspired and painted non-stop for five days in a row.

This painting by George Inness  1857 is one of many paintings done over the centuries of the beautiful Largo di Nemi.

Its very exciting for me as an artist to be able to go to such a historical place where so many artists have gone to paint before me.   That is one of the most incredible things about living in a country such as Italy.

Largo di Nemi I  

Largo di Nemi III