El Trenino del Renon, Alto Adige, Italy

El Trenino del Renon, Alto Adige, Italy, watercolor, 11x15 in.
This area is the birthplace of my friend Marisa, who passed away this past Saturday, January 5th.
I painted this watercolor in her memory, from photographs I took when I visited her home town of Bolzano with her, my husband, and other friends in 2006. Bolzano is in Italy, very close to the border with Austria. So close, that the town has passed from Austrian to Italian hands and back several times in the past centuries. The mountains in the background are the Dolomites.
Marisa was highly cultivated, spoke several languages, well read, intelligent, and very funny; she once quoted her mother as having said: "Everything has an end, except for the sausage, which has two."

Bolzano Morning Ride

Bolzano Morning Ride, watercolor, 4x6, not available.
Bolzano is a beautiful mountain town in the north of Italy, near Austria. I was there for a week the summer of  2006, visiting with friends. My friend Marisa was born in Bolzano, and we visited her cousins, Anna and Adriano, who treated us royally, taking us to incredible places every day. I  rented a bycicle for something like a dollar a day, and rode along the river, beautiful parks on both sides, bridges, flowers, just a dream come true. Then I sat down for a while and painted this small watercolor of my rented byke, before going back along the dreamy path and returning the byke.