Where you wished you had your easel...

[designergigi]

Deleted by Gigi

[designergigi]

Hello,
Didn't realize there was a time limit to edit posts... I wanted to edit my first post, got called away and was out of town on busines... sigh...here goes again:

There have been times when I stumbled across a place where I really wish I 'd had my easel. Not too long ago, I was in Spain and stayed at a renovated olive oil producing farm set high on a hill overlooking Toledo. The olive groves (bedraggled though there were) were still there and the new owners struggled in the process of cleaning up the grove and getting the trees ready for spring. The Inn was a charming, whitewashed, red tiled roof former factory that had been remodeled beautifully. We stayed on the second floor and had a corner room with balcony that overlooked the charming city of Toledo.

Toledo was the former capital of Spain and is rich in history and architecture. It offers a castle and stone houses encircled by a tall wall. A river surrounds the city on two sides with hills on the other two. It was an exquisite view.

After a day or so, I decided to take a walk around the olive grove. Imagine my surprise when I met a worker who told me this particular place was used by Goya. When I looked at my books and compared my photgraphs, it certainly was true.

How I wished I had had my easel at that time...

How about you? What are your missed opportunities?

[LarrySeiler]

nearly everyday I step into the classroom...so, I work hard to make up for it in summer. OF course, other opportunities present themselves in the classroom...

how about when I was serving in Uncle Sam's navy. I had two years of college under my belt back in those days (Vietnam Era), so just enough to appreciate being in historic parts of Italy, Naples...Rome, etc; not enough though to understand fully the artistic significance. Can you imagine...sittin in a town square drinking wine with friends, eating calamare and bread sticks....perhaps not more than a city block from works of some of the worlds finest artists that have ever lived and be oblivious to it? Now...you think you missed an opportunity! What was I thinkin????

Larry

[designergigi]

Oh, but, Larry, you are making up for lost time, no?

Were you exposed to much art or art history in school or within the area where you were raised? I wasn't and it was only through the grace of God, that I was taken to an art museum when I was 14. I fell immediately in love with art and it has never left me. I wonder if I hadn't had that opportunity at that time, how long would it have been before I knew this even existed. It is so different to see art in person than in a book, as you well know.

Have you been back to Italy, Larry?

I don't think sitting in a small cafe in that lovely country is all bad, either!

I have a friend touring Vietnam right now. She says it is just beautiful there. Amazing how time changes some things and not others.

[LarrySeiler]

Originally posted by designergigi
It is so different to see art in person than in a book, as you well know.

Oh...definitely. My artist/son lives in Chicago...and I make a habit of visiting the Art Institute whenever I'm done there, or the art museum in Milwaukee....it always charges me up.

I used to feel intimidated though, not imagining my work ever being so good.

I don't want to sound arrogant. Maybe its just working hard for so many years....but, I think my work has progressed enough that now when I see the works of many artists in those museums they feel more like peers. I think I should have liked to have met some of them....taken a walk in some fields and just chat. About life. About painting.

Have you been back to Italy, Larry?

would love to, Gigi...
My wife and I were going to marry in Italy. She had her passport all ready, and we were going to marry in Rome. I bought her a diamond ring in a small cobblestone street shop that brought an immediate buzz by the owner,family and friends. When I left the shop...they all followed me out, and talked amongst themselves. I got the feeling the guy could have shut the shop down for the day. Maybe a couple days.

Unfortunately, I got pneumonia...which tends to be as common there as the common cold is here. Very damp winters. A cold that does go down to the bones. All buildings made of stone, a lot of musty mold smell to many of them. I nearly died, and was in a Naples hospital for two months. Scarred a lung, and in the end...I was sent home.

Even had a villa home on the Mediterannean Sea all picked out, ready to move into on the island of Sardinia...in the town of Palau, where you could toss a coin into the water and watch it flip end over end as it descended for 30 feet or more.

Would love to take my wife over there, and maybe redo our wedding vows. Don't see it happening in the near future though. I also am half Welsh, my mother 100%, and I've never been to Wales. I have relatives yet alive and it would be a dream to visit. I enjoy especially viewing Yorky's work as it gives me a feel oddly enough of what is home for family. A family I don't really know...but feel connected to. My wife is mostly Norwegian...and we'd like to visit there as well. Life is too short, and resources too limited. We just learn to accept divine Providence...and seek to be content with what we have.

I have a friend touring Vietnam right now. She says it is just beautiful there. Amazing how time changes some things and not others.

yes...many are going back to make peace with past ghosts. I was too young myself to be sent there, but old enough to serve at the end of the campaign. Still...I have my own ghosts of sorts from things I don't always like to talk about.

I hear the country is absolutely beautiful. I also know that Citi Corps and many investors here in the US has been and plans to put $$$billions into building south Vietnam into what they hope will be the next Hawaii-like tourist mecca.

Larry

[designergigi]

that you and your wife get back to Italy. It sounds so romantic and nice. I understand what you say about limited amounts of time and resources. I always travel off season and find some pretty great deals. In fact, the trip I took to Paris in December were on tickets that were less than 250$ US roundtrip. And, it's part of the payoff for living in a rather remote area.

I have two sisters that live outside of Chicago. Many of my summers were spent in that area. I love the Art Institute of Chicago. It is a fine museum. I'd be interested in learning of any other art museum there. too.

I understand your feelings about the connection with other artists. I think I would have thrived with the Impressionists. It was such a creative period with great friendships. Can't you imagine them sitting around drinking wine and discussing politics, nature, beauty, art...

It was years ago that I began to paint. There was a yearning in my soul that only painting satisfies. I regret not taking the time for it for the last several years and feel that I missed so much. It is one of the most precious parts of my day, now.

Thanks for taking the time to chat about this. It's nice to share a love of painting and travel with you.

[DFGray]

Hi
I wish I had my easle and colour in my youth
but here is one for you
plein air Viet Nam 1970

8 x 11
regards
Dan
three from this week
http://www.artistnation.com/members/...wthisweek.html

[Wayne Gaudon]

I agree .. wish I had an easle instead of a few other bla bla's in my youth cause I sure wasted a lot of precious moments. However,you can't go back home. I did a one month trip through4 provinces a few years ago and wasn't painting at the time .. to think of it now .. wow .. mountains, lakes, streams ,sunrise and sunsets, and the biggest thing of all .. Time.

I see what you are saying .. there are so many things you see that would make great pieces but they seem to show up at a time when you are already busy elsewhere. Must be that old Post of Gold at the end of the rainbow or Greener Grass on the other side of the hill.



Later,