My Italy
Let me tell you about it so far…
Today marks my fifth day in Orvieto, Italy. We leave tomorrow for Rome. On the way we will make a few stops. The trip so far has been very interesting and full of amazing architecture, ruins, underground tombs and caves, and even laundry. One wishes that the mundane and “must do things” did not make an appearance in our lives during these trips, but no such joy. Laundry must be done.
Our study abroad trips are designed to accommodate as many students as we can. That includes non majors needing their GenEds or students minoring in Fine Arts or Art History. It makes for an interesting and diverse group of students who interestingly enough, have taken well to each other. They are constantly planning things on the chat group and keep tabs on each other. It makes for a less worrisome trip from my perspective.
One of the classes I am teaching is Mixed Media Travel Sketchbook. I decided to partake of the sketching experience and while at it, take time to sit down, draw, jot things down, and do collages. What I have found interesting is that the students are all taking time to sketch. This afternoon I spent about three hours sketching in the hotel’s terrace and there were five and then later up to seven students sitting around simply sketching in silence. It was divine. They were all intently drawing different things and super focused on what they were doing. This is the power of sketching. It really has not mattered if they are artists or not, they are all immersed in it.
Orvieto is a very old town sitting on a flat summit; at the top of a volcanic tuff. It is full of wells, underground caves, old cathedrals, and very narrow cobblestone roads. The cars are small, of course. They navigate pedestrians like a par of course event. No one honks or gets angry at pedestrians. I even saw kids driving one of those toy cars in the middle of the road. A sense of communal responsibility becomes evident in small and ordinary things such as these.
During my walks and tours I have come across many beautiful signs, calligraphy, ancient scripts, and gorgeous flourishes. These are of course part of my journal. At times I wish my journal took a more organized format but I have been treating as my thinking and processing space. Thus, some pages are drawings, photos, mementos, and watercolors. I thought I would share with you my journal thus far. Just a note, Substack treats image gallery in sets of nine. As a result, there are about three galleries.
I have been admiring the signs and the old manuscripts that I have been able to see. The letters are so beautiful. I will tell you more about in another post. I have been collecting images of those and have used my sketchbook to study them a little bit.
Next Sunday, I will tell you more.
Love,
Alma
Fantastic Alma! Wow you have gotten so much in your sketchbook already!!