Thursday 22 January 2015

Love at first sight...

This has to be the most incredible door knocker I have ever seen - I fell instantly in love.

I went on a mission this year to find as many different door knockers I could find... because they all seem to tell their own story and are all so interesting.

The other thing that makes them such conversational pieces is that the doors open up onto the roads so you don't see many doors without them.  Where I come from you have to get through high walls and gates before you would see anyone's door knocker.

I hope that one day I will be able to find one as beautiful as this.  She captivated my heart.  I'm planning on doing a series in drawing or painting of all the different door knockers I found.  Even if just for me.


Monday... first day in class

I woke up early again.  Sleep has been eluding me.
I was feeling so nervous about being in class.
I headed down to get a small coffee and for a walk around the Monastery gardens.
To sit quietly and draw a little.  Take pictures and just collect myself.

After breakfast - we headed into the Studio.
Sweet Lorraine and Renee kept a seat for me next to them... this helped my nerves a little.
We all headed up to distribute our gifts for each other.

This is what my beautiful desk looked like.
I'm blown away by everyones generosity to each other
Such beauty.

Our first mandate and assignment was to take our Journals and head out into the streets and sketch what we saw.... what???  Oh my goodness my nerves.
My hands couldn't stop shaking... not sure why I was so nervous.


 

I love what I found... 

I felt so overwhelmed at first that I wouldn't be able to find anything, let alone sketch anything - sometimes I hate what fear places in us.  But once I calmed myself down, I found such beauty and I loved this assignment most of all.  I know this is something I want to grow in - being able to capture moments through sketch that can be later turned into paintings.  It's a skill all on it's own.


I found a bench down a little alley and I sat for quite a while sketching - I seriously loved it.
I know I want to do this more.  Graphite work is so therapeutic.
What a beautiful start to a creative week.

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Beautiful Blue Bar love...

I'm saying this again...
This was our home away from home

Because we arrived a day early we had a free day in Orvieto...
Renee, Dot and I headed out to do some shopping and lunch...
After that...  I headed to the Blue Bar for coffee and connection!
I hadn't had a decent coffee or chat to my peeps...
what was better than sitting out here getting my fix.
While I was there chatting to Digz... Beautiful Lorraine and Ted arrived.
I almost squealed with delight - ahhhh it brought tears to my eyes.
The whole afternoon - people started arriving... and it started to feel real.

With all the train strikes and different ordeals - people were arriving with their epic travel stories...
but miraculously just about everyone had arrived.
We all headed out for our first dinner together.

Photo Credit - Kristy Steiner
Beautiful Blue Bar - Wifi Junkies
And that's putting it nicely.

After dinner - spirits were up and then we all heading to the Blue Bar for our fix.
This became an internal joke between all of us and Ted aptly gave us the perfect name...
But I'm not going to mention it here.... ahhh I loved all the joking.  
When you have little people, it's amazing how important connection is.

Waking early to find quiet...

Monastery gardens... 

Finding peace in quiet places...

Part of me isn't sure if I will ever get the chance to do this again.
To come to this beautiful world... It feels so extravagant and lavish.
So I just knew that this tripI would be deliberate, intentional and on purpose.
I missed so much the first time around and I knew this time I wasn't gonna miss a single thing.
At times, even sleep felt like unnecessary...
And I didn't want to waste time doing such a silly thing.