Umbria

In Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon reminds us

that the world is full of ideas just waiting to be

remade (stolen) in another form.  

My summer play dates have given me permission to

do just that.

Remember when I wrote about the marvelous clay technique of Patti Conner-Greene and her dreamscapes?  Click here for a reminder.  Abandoning her pottery wheel briefly, she started playing with layers of design and texture, building a scene without regard to a realistic perspective.  They are beautiful pieces of art.  So, I have become a thief...herewith my confession:

My visits to Italy always result in a ton of photos featuring the beautiful patchworked countryside of olive trees, vineyards and other produce.  The rolling hills, the colors from striped plantings, the mountainous background....such classic views of Italy.  (sigh) Painting that perspective however continued to throw me a curve ball.  One day I decided to just enjoy the effort and paint as if I were in Patti's sandbox rolling out clay and stamping it with crazy texture.

Umbria, detail

I laid down texture, I played with color, I mixed up patterns and I threw caution to the wind where realistic perspective was concerned.  I wanted to capture that feeling I always had gotten of seeing the countryside as a beautiful, freeform quilt of flowing pattern.

detail 2

Of course it had to have the classic Italian cypress in the foreground.  And a low hanging sky.

Umbria, oil, 36 x 24, framed

available, Crossnore Gallery of Fine Art

Done!  Thank you Austin Kleon for permission to be a klepto and to Patti Conner-Greene, of Linville River Pottery for the inspiration.  Oh, and grazie to artist Kelly Medford whom I was traveling with when we stopped to paint at Arte Umbria for an entire week! Much inspiration came from all these folks....my gratitude is endless.

Shameless,

Cindy

The Art of Wine

This is Libby, our British chef, hard at work in the kitchen (no sign of a microwave, I snooped). She created the most amazing vegetable dishes for luncheon and provided, everyday at 4 pm, a delicious, warm from the oven, cake for tea time. I will sorely miss the 7pm dinner bell which summoned us to a  4 course dinner nightly. Big sigh. 

Lunch and dinner were accompanied by carafes of white and red wine and bottles of water, still and mineral. I preferred the white for lunch, it had a slight aroma of sherry but was fresh, thicker tasting than Chardonnay, not sweet and not oaked.  

But it was the red I really, really enjoyed. Being a fan of blends I knew immediately this would have to be such. As I was ready to pitch all my belongings and fill my case with bottles, I inquired of our host David where I could purchase it. 

I was informed I could not. To make a long story short ( do I ever?) the delish elixir is the product of a local co op where the local grapes are blended, fermented and sold by the litre to those showing up with their own assortment of jerry cans.  Poor me could never be so lucky as to take some home. David was very coy about the price, a good buy, was the most he would disclose with a sly grin. So of course I indulged every evening knowing I would never again taste such vino. And believe me, our gracious host never let the carafe become empty. 

When we visited the castle we learned a great deal about how the handsome Marquese, Lorenzo, ran their operation. My photos of his casks and stored bottles are on a camera and can't be retrieved (yet). But I did recall a few interesting notes: they pick all of their grapes by hand when ready as they can be very selective as to the ripeness ( getting the female clusters only) and do not have the trouble later of sorting out leaves and sticks. Much better flavor he insists. The oak barrels come from France and the wood they are made with greatly affects the flavor. A small barrel costs about 700 E to purchase and will hold 300 bottles. The barrel size(they use 3 different sizes) is also an influence on how the aging proceeds. Each barrel is used for 5 years and rotated. The European community forbids the addition of any sugars, wine is strictly and purely, fermented grape juice. 

During our tasting of 5 different bottles he also explained that a wine which drinks well young rarely ages well.  Many that age well he explained are quite undrinkable for the first several years. And he made a joke about people rarely disliking a very expensive bottle because, as he laughed, when one has paid a great deal for a drink one is rather determined to enjoy it. 

He explained a lot more about the grapes and the weather and so on but I was more interested in examining the round ceilings and stone walls dating back to the 14th century. It was naturally quite cool inside them. 

So that is what I learned about wines in Italy. The reds are generally less expensive than the whites (no white at the castle). And despite the wonderful elegance of the Marquese, who sent us back to the Villa laden with opened bottles, I was looking forward to my co-op carafe of locally made red for dinner. I have simple tastes!

Ciao,

Cindy

Villa Poggiolame of Arte Umbria

It's nap time (Italians don't call it a siesta) so I have a few minutes to show you the villa where I am happily ensconced this week. 

This is the back side, above. You can see the studio entrance thru the glass doors. The terrace is above and the upper window on the right is my bedroom. 

Here is a little view of my space. So lovely. Every room of course is different. I have taken wrong turns many times going from my room to the dining room or salon. Lots of long halls and many turns, all distinguished by large wooden doors which are kept closed and, to me, directionally challenged as I am, all look alike. 

I took a little walk about this morning before breakfast and caught some distance views before the rain moved in. 

I didn't need to speak italian to figure out what these signs read!

This is where our eggs come from. 

Here are the trees that are responsible for all the olive oil we are consuming as well as another view of the villa. 

I found this tree house on the property and was ready to skip class in favor of dragging up a book and pretending to be a child again. The dark clouds and approaching storms, plus a body ready for coffee, squashed that idea however. 

Rain has changed some of our plans. Obviously long range views of landscapes are not too practical. Kelly is punting well however. This morning I experimented with several others on interior landscapes. We used watercolor so as not to leave our marks and that was a huge challenge for me.

Here are my first three attempts at the same scene. There is something decent about each but no one that is error free. No worries, I have it sketched for one more pass after naps... Hopefully I can take all the right parts and get them into one piece!

More later, gotta get a rest-up, dinner out tonight and these Italians dine late!

Ciao,

Cindy

Arte Umbria: appetizer for art making

Rubbing my eyes as the sun came gently into my room, I thought for a minute I had woken up in a movie....star or bit part? Didn't matter, I snuggled deeper into the covers and looked around: old stone walls, a ceramic chandelier, tile floors, sloping beamed ceilings and, oh my, a canopy bed.  Birds were calling, I heard a rooster, and as I got up to open the shutters on my windows I looked out onto miles and miles of the gently rolling, ancient hills of Umbria.  Below I could see a stone terrace and everywhere  flowers: huge, hand-sized roses of all colors, pots and pots of geraniums, daisy pockets, waist high herbs, yellow broom with fragrance and so many others that have no name to me yet.  If this is a movie, I feel like the star!  If this is a novel then surely I must speak Italian.  If this is really a dream, well, don't wake me up.

Dinner was the best of an out-of-body experience: drinks on the terrace, conversation in small pockets inside when the winds got chilly and then a move to the dining room where, at a table for 12, a four course dinner was leisurely served as the wine and conversation flowed.  Where am I?  I had to strain to understand the language....and it was all English!  (No it was not the wine.) Those Brits sure know how to fancy up a sentence. And add to the fact that we had three from down under (which speaks in its own version of "English,"), plus 2 brave gals from Swedan with a totally different slant on the language, Kelly now speaks American-ese with an Italian accent and then me, the lone American, the only one whose language was fully comprehensible and at times that was even questionable.  We have a Catholic priest, a doctor, and international tech man, a retired college professor, a school teacher, a farmer, a shrink....it was a lively and fascinating conversation ... if one could keep up with it!

And, and......(be still my heart) we get to paint today.  Please don't wake me up.  

Ciao,

Cindy

P.s. Did I mention the on-site chef? 3 meals a day?