Sicily, Part Two

Last week I began a series of posts about my trip to Sicily last March. You can read part one here.

I'll be continuing from where I left off last week, five days into the trip.

Sunrise at Campofelice di Roccella, 3/19/14. Watercolor, 8.8x5.75"

Sketches from Alimena, and the view from the park

"3/19/14 7 am

I feel a lot better this morning than yesterday.

Hung out with great company last night on the beach, a great way to end a day that started off so poorly.

I woke up to the glimpse of light in the hotel room at 5:30, it's such a peaceful way to awake.

I just painted a quick sunrise for our last morning in the Fiesta hotel, I'll have to go back in with darks later.

It's much too damp in the morning, nothing dries!
But I'm much more at peace today, I'm sitting at the ocean waiting for that painting to dry as I write this. I've been untterly humbled by this trip in countless ways.

Not only for being in Sicily as a place, seeing the incredible vistas at every turn, or the incredible humanity of the Sicilians, but of course in my art as well.

I am still learning, and have so much left to learn, so far to grow.

Being here, journaling sketching, puts me completely out of my comfort zone. And as much as it can be stressful, Jeremiah gave a moving pep talk to us all last night and just reminded us to enjoy the process. Remember that you love this, drawing, painting. It's too easily forgotten sometimes when I get wrapped up in not being as good as I want to be.

But that's just fuel for the fire.

I am excited for the rest of the trip, I'm ready to just give it my all and love it, whatever comes out of it.”

More sketches from the park at Alimena

This day was wonderful. We spent the morning and early afternoon in Mario's (our bus driver's) home town of Alimena during St. Joseph's day, which is more or less father's day. We had a picnic/barbecue at a park on the top of a mountain overlooking a great distance. It was a laid back day, and everyone was in high spirits, including myself. A huge part of being in Sicily was of course the food. I tried everything we were served (and ate some pretty strange things) but loved everything! At the barbecue Mario grilled artichokes with olive oil, salt & pepper. A must try!

Value sketch for the painting, "Masseria degli Ulivi," and sketches from the olive oil estate

“3/20/14

The olive oil estate is gorgeous. Having a day to just focus on painting and drawing is exactly what I need. When painting from life, I need to get back to basics a lot faster. When you have 30-60 minutes to paint something from life, value and larger shapes become more important. I'm still taking too long to get to the right values of dark & light. Jeremiah said to paint light, not the object. Don't forget!”

Masseria degli Ulivi, 3/20/14. Watercolor, 8.8x5.75"

We spent two days at Masseria degli Ulivi, an olive oil estate. They opened their hotel early in the season just for us, so we were the only guests! We were free to roam around the estate to just draw and paint the buildings, the olive trees, the wildflowers, anything we want. The food here was some of my favorite of the whole trip. The most delicious homemade pastas, bread, and of course olive oil!

Watercolor sketches of one of the buildings at the Masseria, and some geranium leaves

More sketches from the olive oil estate

“Late afternoon gives long shadows, golden glow. According to Jeremiah, the 'baton' sketching technique and 'painting with the pencil' loose shapes of value rather than contour lines is how Wyeth did it. It's difficult, but it makes sense. Helps when translated to paintings.

Sicily looks fascinating because of how old it is. 'Old' visually translates to nature taking over; mosses, grasses and plants growing out of stone, cracked and imperfect shapes/objects, and organic building materals; stone, wood, clay, etc.”

There was such a sense of history in Sicily, this place had clearly existed for hundreds and thousands of years. Older olive trees grew long, twisted, and heavy. Buildings were hundreds of years old, made of organic materials rather than the metal cities of modern America. Nature was allowed to grow and reclaim some of what the Sicilians built. It felt like stepping into another time, and somewhere full of magic. That feeling stuck with me after returning to the U.S. Fantastical, magical worlds that exist in the imaginations of illustrators and painters do exist in the real world. I feel like major parts of America are too stifled but humanity, too controlled. In Sicily, there was integration with the natural world. It is too separated here for my taste.

Come back to the blog next Monday for Part Three, and follow me on Facebook for more regular posts and updates on my Argonautica series!