Rome: Sunday - June 12

Another hot day in Rome! Yesterday I was back at the art supply store Ditto G. Poggi. I love this little shop. I bought a great little squirrel mop brush which is ideal for doing a kind of calligraphic brushwork with watercolors. I also got another little travel watercolor paintbox. It is tiny and so compact. I like the idea of small gear for small paintings. It is like camping gear but for painting.

I decided I had enough of painting restaurants and headed for the Palatine. On the way there I discovered and exhibit of Corot, Sislely, Monet and some other Impressionist painters. How timely because they were plein air painters. It is always a treat to see the original art. In fact the first time I came to Italy was a year after graduating from college with my degree in Art History. I spent 8 weeks going to Paris, Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice, Pisa, and Munich studying art history. To see the original art after studying it mostly from books was a real treat.

Anyway, after that delightful detour I set off to paint in the Palatine area near the Coloseum. I had my small little Khadi(Nepalise watercolor paper that is more of an eggshell color with a lot of texture to it.) sketchbook and my small paintbox and just walked around and painted.It was nice not to be dragging so much gear around for a change. I will take a picture of the paint box and post in a forthcoming blog entry.

On the way back to the hotel I passed another museum with an Edward Hopper show. I passed it numerous times but there was always a line. Today was the last day and as I passed it there was no line so I decided to go in. The quote as you walked into the exhibit was this "All I ever wanted to do was paint light on the side of a building." by Edward Hopper. I love the quote and the show was fabulous because it showed the range of his career of work from art student to printmaker and illustrator and finally a painter. Very inspiring.