Italy Ceramics - 06/27 a.m.

On Friday morning June 27th, we went to visit a local potter who has been making Italian ceramics for 50 years. We usually take two vans whenever we go places and this day was not exception. However, Jason got distracted with talking and we lost the second van, which was supposed to be following us. Normally Jason and Thomas (who drives the other van) have cell phones and they communicate that way whenever we go anywhere. However, for some reason Thomas didn’t have is phone. So we went round-about Corciano trying to find the other van; but no luck. Finally, someone suggested that Jason call Judy who as in the other van; and he got through. Once we regrouped, we made it to the potter’s shop and store.

You can see purchases are lining up at the counter. Here is Amy and Sam are in the foreground, and Carolyn is behind Amy. If you’ll notice the front corner of the counter between Amy and Sam, you’ll see the cute little espresso set I bought. It has the symbol of Umbria on it. Speaking of espresso, they only have instant decaff here, so I won’t be able to enjoy one until I get home.

Anyway, everyone made their purchases and received a 15% “friend of the family” discount. Jason arranged a pottery demonstration with Mario, the artist. However, he was not at the store but was supposed to be “on his way”. While I was waiting I took some nice photos of the shop as potential material for future paintings. Mario still wasn’t there. Here’s a picture of part of the group waiting in front of the store. In this photo (starting at the bottom right and going clockwise) are Robert, Shawn, Jen; in the back row are Amy, Judy and Sam. Forty-five minutes later Mario came; he was obviously on “Italian” time. Once he got there, I took more photos. Here are a couple of Mario making a pot and (I think it is his wife) painting a dried pot the symbol of Umbria on a large pot.

Castel Vieto Hospitality - 6/25/08

We had a great time the next day at another small town that was an ancient castle called Castel Vieto. Parts of it have been renovated into a “modern” Italy home but in the old world style. There was a particularly friendly senior citizen who came out and befriended the students in class. Early in the day, she brought out espresso coffee to a couple of the guys close by and offered us the use her bathroom, which as a good thing because there were none near by. Jason was originally going to ferry us back to Corciano once during the day for that purpose. Bagno (pronounced bah-nyo, bathrooms) are few and far between in Italy. Jason told us to use that bathroom (or toilet) whenever you see one whether you have to go or not! Here is a photo of me and Jen with our hostess from Castel Vieto. She was not deterred by the language barrier. Jen and Alison spoke a bit of Italian so with that and a lot of gestures, we communicated with her. She showed us her handmade linens and doilies, and told us about her family. Now that is Italian hospitality!

It has been getting hot over the last couple days and this day it was 98 degrees with high humidity. We were all roasting and one student got over heated. I only did one painting this day because it was so hot. I've included pictures of our group critique at the peak of the heat.
Our friendly hostess came and offered us hot espresso and even in the heat, five people took up her offer! I guess the coffee was that good

I've included another photo of our hostess talking with Jason and Alison. My painting for that day is the first image in this journal entry.

Back to Corciano - 6/24/08

For our cityscape painting day, we stayed in Corciano our home base. It's a beautiful with many, many charming things to paint. Today, I had a painting breakthrough. As Carolyn (my teacher) said, all those concepts rattling around upstairs made it from my head to my brush. It was a happy day. Here it is along with the reference photo.

Painting in Todi - 6/23/08

On Monday June 23 it was back to class and painting. We painted in a town called Todi about 20 minutes from our home base in Corciano. It was another beautiful, ancient town built on a hill. This we were painting landscapes with Jason. I've included a picture of a couple of my fellow students painting. We were fortunate to have great shade most of the day from a series of large trees along this beautiful view point.

The next two images are of a painting I did along with the reference photo.

More from Italy - 6/22

It’s the weekend here and I have a bit more time to write about things we did last week. As I mentioned in my other email, Friday was a "required" field trip for the class. Since we don’t have our own transportation, Jason showed us how to take the bus. It goes into Perugia which is the biggest close-by city. This bus goes by the train station in case we want to go to Florence or another city by train on our free days. I also found out where the grocery store is so I can go on my own.

In Perugia I got some art supplies. I toned my canvas grey before coming to Italy and Jason said it should be a warm color instead. Soooo, I bought some acrylic to redo the grey tone. We visited a museum in Perugia and Jason took us on a walking tour of some interesting sights. They actually built new cities upon the old so there are places where the Etruscan architecture shows through. He also took us through some underground tunnels that were from medieval times where the army was housed. He walked our legs off that day.

Here’s a picture in Perugia of the Etruscan city gate, our first stop on the marathon walking tour of the city directed by Jason. This dates back to B.C. times. I’m not sure how far back. The Romans built on top it and you’ll also see where some of it has been restored at the top. That’s Jason in the bottom right.

The sun was really intense in Perugia. I decided to leave early to grocery shop on my way home. I timed it just right, so that I got on the same bus that Jason and the class were coming home on. The bus was packed and everyone from the class cheered after I got on the bus with my groceries. Jason said he was "a proud parent" that I figured it out; Carolyn countered, "now, don’t take it that far!" It was sooo funny…we were laughing so loud. The people on the bus didn’t know what to think; that certainly doesn’t happen every day. It gave them an interesting ride home with those loud, rowdy Americans!

Jason is here with his wife and kids. His mother also came for a few weeks to help with the kids until the "nanny" arrives in July. She will take my room when she gets here and I will move to an apartment just across the lawn from the villa I’m currently in. I’ll still be close to the gals I’m with now and to Jason. The villa we are in is built on a hill and has three stories with an apartment on each story. Jason and his family live in the apartment on the first floor, our Italian hosts live on the middle floor and us six girls live on the top floor. This villa is the central meeting "hub" for the class.

There are some really nice people in the group of students and faculty. It’s a typical mix of partiers and non-partiers and those in between. And, the partiers party hard! The artistic talent/experience ranges from never painted at all to intermediate painters. And get this: one student wore a dress and low-heel flip-flops on her first day of painting. She asked Jason if he had an apron. He suggested that she paint in clothes she didn’t mind getting paint on.

Our apartment is nice. It is simply furnished – think Scandinavian – but comfortable. The kitchen is VERY small; the frig is about a third the size of what we have; it has a four-burner gas stove that you have to light with a match. There is literally about 3.5 feet of counter space. The drainer for dishes in built in to the cabinet above the sink so that it drips into the sink. The drainer is a really cool design. You open the cupboard, wash the dishes; put them in the drainer above then close the cabinet door… the dishes are instantly out of sight! We have a beautiful veranda facing west the whole length of the house that has a fabulous view; although it is hot in the evening.

This is the front of the villa that shows the top two stories: notice that Sam (Samantha) waving from our kitchen door. All the doors and windows on homes here shutters. The daily ritual here is they open them in the morning when it’s cool and close them in the afternoon when it’s hot. It is hot here, usually around 90 with 65% humidity, but not as hot as you’ve been having recently in CA. The villa also has a pool on a lower level.

Here’s a view of the villa where Jason and his family are staying. This one shows all three stories from below. They have no clothes dryers here so you see sheets hanging from the second floor. This villa was build in 1993 so it is relatively new.

As you can see, this is a very nice place.

First Week in Italy - 6/15 - 20

Hello everyone,

I got to Corciano, Italy at 11:00pm on Monday. It was a VERY long trip and I got a headache a short way into the flight. I didn’t sleep much on the plane; nor did I sleep well the first night. My first 24 hours were after getting to Corciano were pretty rough. I was overwhelmed from exhaustion, from being in a different country, and I still had a headache. Fortunately, I slept well the second night and woke up feeling much better.

Once I got out, I found Corciano a quaint 14th century walled town. It is an amazing little town like you see in movies of that era with a slightly modern flavor. It is about half way between Florence and Rome in the heart of Umbria; and next to Tuscany. This will be our home base for the summer.

Tuesday was mostly a free day to get acclimated except for going to the grocery store and the Welcome dinner in the evening. We had our first class was on Wednesday. It was a just warm-up day to get people familiar with the equipment. Here’s a picture of some students painting. Carolyn Meyer, our teacher, is in the front left.

Next is a photo of the subject of one of my paintings; I didn’t have time to finish it so I did not include a photo of the painting. My first-day paintings were pretty must just practice; that was fortunate since my paintings were pitiful that day.

Next is a photo from my bedroom window as the sun was setting. The landscape here is pretty much like the Bay Area except they get more rain later into the spring so the hills are still green. The views from our villa are fabulous.

Thursday we had our second day of class with Jason Bowen. We painted at another overlook spot close to Corciano. Friday was a mandatory class field trip to Perugia by bus. Jason wanted to show us how to get around the area, how to get to the train station and took us on a short walking tour around the center. We went to a museum and saw some other sites of interest. We walked almost the whole time we were there. Everyone was pooped by the time we got back home. Saturday (today) and Sunday are free days for us to do whatever we’d like. I did some sketching this morning and I’ll take it easy the rest of the day.

That’s all from Italy for now.
Barbara