Mixed Media Artist

Years ago, Mike and I traveled to Italy to pick up Dani after her semester abroad.  Some of you might remember that my poor poor baby had to go study oil painting and sculpture in Italy as part of her art degree.  And of course Mike and I couldn't possibly let her travel back all on her own ;-) I took possibly 2 million pictures while we were there, and fully 1 million of those were of doors, windows, and textured walls.  Venice was captivating in a way that's like no where else on earth.  I have made quilts, other collages, digital pieces, and jewelry all inspired by Venice.  And now here is the latest...I just can't seem to shake these colors! 1. Take large pieces of tissue paper (white) and gesso both the front and the back of each.  You'll need to wait till one side dries before doing the second. 2. Print out a grayscale sketch of your inspiration photo and use it to plan a grid.  I divided up the shapes, and also used it to pla...

As I said on Tuesday, we didn’t have a single bad food experience the entire time we were in Italy, but this beautiful little restaurant that we found near the Colosseum was by far the best! Found at 195 Via Cavour, L’Archetto is charming, and the food is amazing. Look for it if you’re ever in Rome…you will not be sorry! Our server, Marco, suggested that we try the bruschetta, and we were not hard to convince. I’m so glad we did, too…it was absolutely delicious, everything that bruschetta should be, topped with fresh fresh fresh tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and just enough salt. Here’s a selection of the amazing dishes that we had over the course of our long relaxing mid-day dinner: Roasted potatoes Pasta Risotto Mussels The decor and ambiance were as enchanting as the food. Our server had a great sense of humor, and patiently waited while we struggled along with our very poor Italian, helping us out when we got stuck. He introduced us to his w...

Cheese plate I have to start by saying that we didn’t have a single bad experience with food in Rome, but several dishes stood out in my mind as exceptional!  Some of the appetizer and dessert dishes we had were so pretty. Fruit plate Many of the main dishes were items that we’ve had at restaurants here in the States, but somehow they just seemed so much better there. Was it because of the atmosphere? The fresh handmade pasta? The fresher ingredients? The wine? ;-) Probably all of the above! Sedanini alla Norcina Cannelloni di Ricotta e Spinici Gnocchi al Ragu di Carne I know I already told you about going to the Hard Rock Cafe . Sorry! We just had to do it. It’s traditional for us. After four months of fabulous pasta and fresh produce, Dani wanted a hamburger so badly that she was ready to cry! Thursday, I’m going to tell you about my very favorite place of all…a restaurant that I totally suggest you visit if you’re ever in Rome! Copyri...

Our guide at the Priscilla Catacombs was quick to inform us that they were a burial ground, not a place that the Christians met to avoid persecution. This was the only place that we took a guided tour (besides the glass factory on Murano), because the lighting is dim and the tunnels are twisty. Every year, more sections are opened, and more treasures are revealed. No pictures can be taken, but they had an excellent selection of postcards and books. There were none that showed the tunnels with all the niches dug out of the rock for burial platforms, so I found the image above on a tourist site, but there are many good postcards of the frescoes which have been uncovered in some of the larger chambers. This one is the three young Hebrew men that were thrown into the furnace in the book of Daniel. They emerged unscathed, and the King saw the figure of God walking around with them. This fresco has the oldest known image of the Virgin with her child. She is sideways on ...

I’ll share with you a tourist secret that I learned from my daughter: when you want to visit the Colosseum , go and visit Palatine Hill first. The line there is shorter, and the pass you buy will get you into the whole area. When you do make your way down to the Colosseum, you’ll be able to get in the shorter line since you've already paid :-) And Palatine Hill is well-worth the visit anyway! It’s gorgeous. You can see the ruins of all the Caesar’s houses, and there are some rooms that have just opened up for public viewing recently with frescoes on the walls. Amazing! You can’t take pictures of the rooms, but the outside area is all fair game, and very picturesque. Mike and Dani pose so you can see the scale: From one of the walls of the hill, you can look down into the Forum . We didn’t go down that day because Rome was having a heatwave, and the temperature had soared over 100F by 10am. Here’s the Forum with all the “modern” buildings in the background: ...

One of the most moving sites we visited in Vatican City was St Peter’s Basilica . Again, as a church, picture taking is limited, although it’s allowed in most areas without flash. Being extremely phobic about heights (and averse to two-hour long lines), I declined to go up into the dome. In the picture above, which I took from the floor, I’ve marked two little orange dots that you might be able to just barely make out. They are near the bottom of the shot, above the “O” in the lettering. Those dots are on top of the heads of two people who are looking out over the railing…that’s how high the thing is! There are people all the way around the dome, but you can’t see them in my photo. Dani tells me that the “O” is wider and taller than a person! I was heartbroken that my very favorite statue in the entire world now has to be kept behind bullet-proof glass, quite far from where you stand to see it. La Pieta, by Michelangelo. Some idiot took a hammer to it a number of years a...

I’m sure most people are aware that Vatican City is a little sovereign nation right in the middle of Rome! I don’t even know where to begin with telling you about our visit to the Vatican Museum …I saw pieces of art that I never in my life ever thought I’d have the chance to see in person. I was a Greek major in college, and many of the mythological heroes of antiquity are to be found in the museum, like Perseus up above. Or Laocoon and his sons after they ran afoul of Poseidon. And this one, the god of the Nile, which is enormous! There are mosaics and inlaid work that defy description And there is the huge sphere within a sphere which dominates the courtyard. It moves, by the way! I believe this last lady is a muse of some sort. Even though her thread has long since disappeared, she is binding a book! How cool is that? One of the best parts of the Vatican has to be the Sistine Chapel . It is just breathtaking. No photos are allowed, but you ca...

We traveled by train from Venice back to Orvieto to retrieve all of Dani’s stuff from the monastery. From there we took a train into Rome’s central station (Termani). That pretty well shot the day, as you can probably imagine. Bright but not too early the next morning we began our Roman adventure! Our first stop was the Borghese Museum . Since you have to make reservations (or take your chances, which I don’t recommend), we had a set time to show up, and only two hours to enjoy it. NO PHOTOGRAPHS, thank you very much! Suffice it to say that it is well worth the visit. Click on the link above, and you can see the official photos of some of the works we saw! Here are the only shots I took, of the outside: Yes, that is a pigeon! After lunch, we headed to the National Museum of Rome , housing an amazing collection of mosaics, inlaid stonework, and other treasures. You might think we’d be museumed out after that, but not when every corner you turn takes your breath away, n...