ILLUMINATION, watercolor

Illumination, 11x15 inches,  watercolor

This is a view of St. Francis of Assisi Church from a vintage point on the road. Inside, the walls are covered with paintings by Giotto and his students.

Reading about Dante, in DANTE, A LIFE, by R.W.B. Lewis, I find that once during a walk with his friend Latini, he predicted the future for him. Later Dante put this conversation in his COMEDIA,  like this: "If you follow your star, you cannot fail to reach a glorious port, if I discern rightly, in the fair life." Francis of Assisi, Dante, and anybody who ever was successful, followed his/her star. So should we, and we will reach our port.

UMBRIA, ITALY, watercolor

Umbria, Italy, watercolor 6x9 in.

Walking around Assisi, in the province of Perugia, in Umbria, we often see grapevines attached to a wall, a building, and even to another tree for support.

Reading DANTE, A LIFE, by R.W.B. Lewis, I've just learned that when the first gold florin was minted in 1552, it became almost instantly the basic monetary measure in Europe. Its originality consisted in that instead of being engraved with the pope or the emperor, as it had been the custom, it had the symbols of the city of Florence (thus "florin"), St. Giovanni on one side, and the lily on the other, the city's secular emblem.

GINESTRA, watercolor

Ginestra, watercolor, 6x9 in.

I recently read THE BOY WHO FELL TO EARTH,  by Kathy Lette. It was funny, heartbreaking, witty and wise. I recommend it very much. I particularly recommend you to read it, if you have a child or a member of your family who is not perfect, and you love them. Living with them is difficult, living without them unthinkable. The boy in this story is autistic, Asperger Syndrome, by the name of Merlin. He reminded me of an Asperger Syndrome boy I knew years ago, he's a man now, David. Kathy Lette gives us a wonderful story of living with and loving your child, no matter what.

MEDITATION, watercolor

Meditation, 6x9 watercolor

Walking and painting at Arte Studio Ginestrelle, in Italy, one has time to meditate. Some quotations from Nobel Prize winners come to mind:
"Old age is wonderful...A pity it ends so badly."           ---François Mauriac, LITERATURE, 1952

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."                   ---William Faulkner, LITERATURE, 1949

"Why two sexes rather than three? What a source of new plots three sexes would provide for novelists, of new variations for psychologists, of new complications for lawyers."
                                                                                       ---François Jacob, MEDICINE, 1965

BONGIORNO! watercolor

Bongiorno! watercolor, 11x15 in.

While having breakfast  in Assisi, I meditate on the city's history: The first indication of a town inside the walls of Assisi date back to the 6th century B.C. The Etruscans, then the Romans, influenced the area greatly. The Goths, then the Byzantines, the Longobards had wars over it, conquering and losing the town one after the other. In the 12th C. it became an independent commune, and fights between Assisi and Perugia began....and continue up to this day! Assisi not only gave birth to the famous St. Francis (of Assisi) and St. Clare, or "Santa Chiara"in Italian, but also to artists and writers like the poet Sesto Properzio, and painters Tiberio d'Assisi and Dono Doni.

SERENITY, watercolor

Serenity, 6x9 watercolor

An old chair in the garden: Arte Studio Ginestrelle,  Assisi, region of Umbria, in Italy. The yellow flower, "ginestra", gives its name to the Residency: "ginestrelle", little ginestra. A place to meditate, read, and find your "duende", after Federico Garcia Lorca's definition of your inspiration, your passion for creation, your losing yourself in something new, exciting, inviting, the joy of discovering a connection between what's inside yourself and how to express it.

LAPLAND NATIVE, watercolor

Lapland Native, watercolor, 6x9 in.

One of my last paintings while Resident Artist in Ricklundgården,  Sweden. The deer run wild, although they belong to the Sami population. The variety of designs or growth patterns of their horns is amazing, and very beautiful.

Rosalyn Yalow, Nobel Prize in Medicine 1977, wrote: "The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning, you're not old."