The Landscape Within

This morning drawing was canceled so I spent time on the classical-inspired piece and finished it! Here it is.

Il Cielo (The Sky), oil on canvas, 9-20-11

I thought a lot about my experience here today and am realizing that it’s coming to a close soon. Tomorrow will be my last day to paint something in order for it to dry on time to send the paintings home in the mail. We’re all starting to get nostalgic already, and we’ve decided that on Thursday morning we will all sit around and sketch each other and then have a group studio crawl for critiques. We are having our gallery opening on Thursday night, so it will be exciting to see the work that everybody has done!

Today we were at the cafe having our cappuccinos, and I came across a local who asked me what I paint here in Umbria. I told him I don't paint the panoramas and landscapes and he acted as if I told him I like to murder babies. I realized after witnessing his reaction that I really do enjoy the landscapes of Montecastello di Vibio, but in a different way than the landscape artists do. I find them overwhelmingly inspiring and I let their beauty penetrate my eyes. My heart then holds onto the sensation and impression that the landscape has left with me, and then they shine through in my work later. That's it.

This is a piece I started today. I need to finish the portrait part of it, but it’s halfway done. I think I can squeeze out one or two more paintings by end of tomorrow.

Me, Stessa, oil on canvas, ~20” x 16”

Tonight the other artists and I are going to have a ghetto dance party - we're going to channel the "RPpod" tonight and blast the music out of our laptop since there isn't a dance club in town....you make do with what you have :)

For now, I'll close with a picture of the sunset from my studio. If it's not obvious, I've been extremely inspired by the skies here in Umbria - so colorful, so expansive, so inspiring ;)