Pompeii
We wake up early and take the train out past the city limits of Napoli. We roll by palm trees and Italian vilas. Streaks of yellows, corals and greens. Mt. Vesuvious stands silently in the distance. 40 minutes later We arrive at Pompeii. The stones on the streets are old and worn. There were grooves where […]
Tramming in Napoli, Italy
Napoli, Italy These days are sweet. I wake up to the transcendent drones of Nam myoho renge kyo filtering up the spiral staircase from the downstairs living room. I walk down to the kitchen and my host joins me for coffee and biscuits when she is done chanting. We try to understand each other with hand […]
Tramsformation- Painting a City Tram in Napoli, Italy
Today I begin painting one of Napoli’s city trams! The tram is one of the few remaining vintage trams left in Napoli. Most of the ones in service now are modern and boxy. I find vintage transportation so much more beautiful than the streamlined versions of today. The tram runs on the #2 line, which […]
Pt 2 – Niki de St. Phalle’s Tarot Garden
(…Continued) Over the fence we go! And as soon as my feet land on the other side I can’t help but think that we shoulda brought the cheese that we had in the car just in case the guard dogs showed up…. but I am inside! My heart is soaring and pounding at the same time. […]
Pt 1 – Niki De St Phalle’s Tarot Garden in Tuscany
We are on the road to Tuscany to see the long awaited Tarot Garden of Niki de St. Phalle. It’s only when we are about halfway there that we check the website for hours and prices and we discover that the place closed for the winter over a month ago. WHAT?! Oh NoNoNoNONONONONOOOO! Wide eyes, […]
Over the mountain and through the woods to Pescopennataro we go
We leave Napoli and set off for Tuscany to visit Niki de St Phalle’s Tarot Garden, a magical place I’ve wanted to visit for years~ Destination point, Niki de St. Phalle’s Tarot Garden It is night, Tuscany is about 5 hours away. We will drive 1/3 of the distance and then stay the night in […]
Napoli. My first impressions
In the blue shadow of a old church I sit on a stone bench in the Center of Napoli eating my first slice of Italian pizza. They call it Portafoglio, which translates to “wallet” pizza because the crust is very thin and they fold it in half to eat it. This one came from “The […]
Last Day in Venice
Our last day in Venice was full of great art~ We visited many other pavilions at the Biennale. The Russian Pavilion was provocative, thoughtful, participatory and my absolute favorite. Vadim Zakharov’s installation, was inspired after the story of Danaë. In Greek mythology, Danaë, is the mother of the Greek hero Perseus. The god Zeus appeared to her as a […]
The Venice Biennale
Now in its 55th year, the Venice Biennale is made up of avant garde art from all over the world. With that said, understandably, the art was all over the place. I loved some of it and then some of the other art, as art can be good at doing, was perplexing and its aggravating in its own […]
The Enchantments of Venice
Wake up! Venice is in front of us! With a jolt of excitement I spring up from the back seat of the car. We have just driven four hours from Vienna to Italy. It is night and I can see the lights of Venice shimmering in orange and white on the water ahead. I am delighted […]