More of Italy

Some things from my handmade sketchbook. A quick painting of the back of the farmhouse showing the big window/doors of our kitchen and alcune patate italiane. watercolor and grocery receipt on arches 90lb. hotpress.

Yes, it's horridly smokey here

The very smoky view from my studio looking at the Vergudos toward downtown LA. Too smoky to continue to paint in my studio. I'm lucky to be able to come into a tighter less smokey house. We are asked to conserve power, so no air conditioner on. Again, I'm lucky to have some very cold chardonnay in the frig.
Watercolor on arches. 2x3".

Montefollonico

I loved walking up to the village in time to see the bells ringing at the local church which was recorded (and built previously) in the year, 1260. This is the view from the farm.

Our traveling instruments

The traveling instruments on the terrace of amazing views.

Olive sprigs

Some olive trees on the organic farm where I stayed in Montefollonico, Italy and a page from my sketchbook. The wonderful people who own the farm saw this watercolor and wanted it for the olive oil label. So, I painted a few sprigs like this so they could pick which one they wanted.

chestnuts

Chestnuts in Rome. Ottobre.
(Italy). Walking back to the farm from the village, I found these horse chestnuts which are very beautiful. I put them in my sketchbook.

espresso

Everyone had one of these in Boulder CO where I used to live years ago, but I forgot about them and was reintroduced to it in Italy. I brought back a portion of my espresso and hope I can find more in LA, when I run out. The fresh Italian whole milk I heated up to add was incredible, as was where I sat to drink it.

View from patio

Later quick sketch of the same view. Late afternoon. Am I drinking wine while painting? Don't remember. Was trying to hurry for some reason though. My friend, Lisa, did a much better painting of the same view but she DOESN'T HAVE A BLOG!! (yet).
This is an early morning view of Montepulciano from our patio. It's the far hilltop. Only an hour and a half walk away. Foreground are some of the olive trees. I'm standing on the patio taking the shot while my espresso is percolating.