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View From My Window in Tuscany
My journey in
pastel started about 15 years ago. Before that, my focus was on
drawing from the live model, and later I experimented with
printmaking techniques: embossing, etching, monoprints and collage
etc, which grew into a mixed media experience. Desiring a more
painterly approach, I found pastel to be a wonderful link between
drawing and painting. I’m basically a studio painter but for the
past few years I’ve been attempting to unravel the mystery of plein
air.
 A
native of Montana, I received my BA in Applied Art from Montana
State University which included studies abroad in Italy and
Holland. So I was thrilled to return to Italy last October to
relive the Tuscan Experience, not as a university student but as a
real live painter. It was my wild good fortune to join Plein Air
Destinations and a wonderful group of painters, now friends
forever. Traveling with an eye toward painting compelled me to
really LOOK and experience the landscape, not as a tourist on roller
skates, but as a highly conscious observer interpreting through the
veil of my own sensibilities.
Our colorful bus driver transported us every other
day to a different hill town and yet another unique adventure. (I’m
not gonna lie, hanging around “our villa” on the opposite days
wasn’t bad either.) Everyday events and surroundings to the
Tuscans, were remarkable to us. The constant symphony of active
digital cameras filling the bus, was a testament to that. Outdoor
markets, little old ladies hobbling with canes, lines of laundry
hanging out the windows, cypress trees, umbrella trees, olive
groves, vineyards, rolling hills, cobblestone streets, centuries-old
stone buildings with images of what came before on its face, windows
filled in and others created anew. And of course, it’s all about
the LIGHT, as it changes from gold, to sienna, to ochre, to apricot
gelato #326! Be still my pounding heart! Schlepping our gear
around, setting up, and painting in harmony with the elements is not
an easy task but a rewarding one. Since
artists have the ability to remember things that didn’t happen, we
also have the ability to forget the occasional struggle of the
painting process. And we WERE in ITALY!
Time stopped at the dinner table. The Tuscan sun
went down. The conversation flowed. We dined nightly on bowls of
Italian pasta prepared every inconceivable way. We sipped Rosso and
Chianti produced from grapes grown on the villa grounds as we were
teased by aromas wafting from the kitchen. We awaited authentic
Italian entrees served up by our personal Italian chefs, our
favorite being a Norwegian from Boston and more
 Italian
than the Italians. Oh, and dessert….. every night. We burned it
all off laughing ourselves into a weak state which eventually led to
sleep, the Tuscan skylight twinkling peacefully outside our
shuttered windows.
“I want to remember every cypress tree” to quote the
author of Under The Tuscan Sun.
I SO get that. As a gift that keeps on giving, this is the trip
that keeps on traveling, as each new painting from my wealth of
photo images triggers the memories. It’s my new ambition to let the
journey continue, traveling and painting, exploring new landscapes
at home. Since I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Europe a number
of times, yet feel that I’ve never really been to America, and
considering how difficult and pricey European travel has become,
this is a good plan. Hope to see you there…or here, now then.
A
big fat thank you to Donna Trent and Jane Wallis for pulling the
whole well organized adventure off with unflappable calm, a great
sense of humor and of course, remarkable painting expertise. A
special thanks to my roommates, Jen Evenhus and Pam Fermanis,
inexhaustible comedy goldmines, both. And thank goodness for all
our friends…………
“ELEVEN BROADS ABROAD AND ONE BRO”
We’ve been warmed,
inspired and blessed by the Tuscan Sun
AIN’T IT GREAT TO BE US !!!
And back to
Washington…..
View From My Window At Home
Learn more about Pat
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