Sunday, September 16, 2007

Tuscany, Italy - Grape Harvest and Olive Trees



Today I painted all day until 16:00. I had to stop because I did not have the right color blue, nor did I have 'il colore giallo' [yellow] to warm up the blue that I bought yesterday. And of course, this being Sunday ['Domenica'], the art supply stores are not open. Sigh . . .
But I love painting alone in my room, with sounds of the life in the piazza below. Today, there was a small family putting on a puppet show for tips. After having the experience of being a madonnara for a day, I appreciate more the work done by street entertainers.

Yesterday, I took the train for the short trip to Sesto Fiorentina to visit my friend Hafiza. We walked to some nearby olive and grape plots. Although the light was too harsh for good photos, I am including one here of some of the olive trees. Do they not look like dancing spirits to you?
And as Hafiza, an artist friend who loves drawing and making lithographs, pointed out: gone are the days of the romantic harvesting grape images. Today, they use plastic buckets, tractors, and today's [relatively] boring clothing.

1 comment:

Theresa Taylor Bayer said...

Hi Kelly,
Love your blog and the dancing olive trees. Hope to see the painting you did while listening to the puppet show. Never figured you for a sidewalk artist--how long did your blue madonna last? I'm back home from Ukraine & Poland and ready to do some art--and blogging.
Ciao bella,
Theresa