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."

Norwegian Epic II, at Sea

Norwegian Epic II, at Sea, watercolor, 6x12cm., available
While aboard the Norwegian Epic cruise ship, in October 2012, I painted some scenes of every day life at sea. I was going from Rome to Barcelona with my friend Mireille.

A couple of months ago, thinking of my friend Marisa, who was born in Bolzano, Italy, I read: CASANOVA IN BOLZANO, by Sandor Marai, a Hungarian writer who died in San Diego, California. I felt touched by the coincidences. I was in Budapest when I learned of him (although quite famous ), the title of his book includes "Bolzano", and he died in San Diego, where I live part of the year. I really liked the book, I found Marai very inspiring. Some quotations: "He knew that everything was of equal importance, because it is only the feelings we have about what we see that makes things seem different.".....and....."I gave everything a woman can give a man, passion and patience, children, excitement, peace, security, tenderness, freedom from care...."

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.

Bolzano: Morning Ride

Bolzano: Morning Ride, quick watercolor sketch, 4x6" (10x15cm.) available, 30 Euros or $45 US.
When I was in Bolzano, Italy,  I rented a bike for the morning, stopped in the park along the river to rest and paint  this little watercolor. Bolzano is a beautiful city north of Italy.
Bolzano: Morning Ride, acuarela rapida. 
Cuando estuve en Bolzano, Italia, alquile una bicicleta por la manana, me detuve en el parque a lo largo del rio a descansar y pintar esta acuarela. Bolzano es una ciudad bellisima al norte de Italia.