"it takes generosity to discover the whole through
others. If you realize you are only a
violin, you can open yourself up to the
world by playing your role in the concert." -jacques yves Cousteau
I always think it is funny that people believe they were Vincent
Van Gogh in a former life, or St. Francis of Assisi. In fact I was probably just the lamplighter
or street sweeper, a nun or a shopkeeper.
We couldn’t all be that person we so admire. And so it goes, that it takes every little
person to make up the living body of nature.
I was out painting at 7:30 Sunday
morning: mimosa against a grey sky. I rarely am around to see mimosa in bloom. We
have no mimosa in the Appenines, but in Stimigliano, just above the valley of
the Tiber it is in riotous flower. I
couldn’t identify mimosa in the off-season.
It is spring both in Stimigliano
and Rocca Malatina. Up north, the
cherries are already flowering, nearly a month ahead of time. In Stimigliano, little bursts of white blooms
juxtaposition the just-planted wheat fields.
In both places, the brilliant coral-colored quince blossoms are
exceptional. Birds are singing before 6
AM.
This time of year pushes plein-air
painting on me once again. Every year I
think, oh, it’s a little too cold, or I can’t stand outside that long, but I am
compelled to record what is happening around me. And somehow I find the energy, the
strength. Renewal.
This Sunday we celebrated my
nephew’s 21st birthday – he’s studying philosophy (and food) in
Perugia. On Sunday (my usual artnotes
day) we went to Lake Trasimeno and ate fresh water fish at the Trattoria del
Pescatore: pike, bass and carp. It was a rare treat, both to celebrate youth
and to enjoy the lake with all of our five senses.
As I gather gather together the
square pictures twenty-six artists are painting for our mystery art composition,
I feel like a conductor of an orchestra.
I like being part of the picture team (at least one square will me mine,
another Blair’s). I feel the time has
come for all of us to pull together and welcome spring on planet earth this
year. Spring is the new year, the season
of rebirth.
