Spannocchia - Day 2

I woke up in disbelief that all that was required of me was to paint. Am I really in Italy or am I dreaming? I am overwhelmed by all there is to paint. The first thing I painted was the view out of my window. It was cold outside so I was getting a slow start and the radiator was located just under the window. It was a nice way to ease into painting and the day.

Later in the morning was on my way down to and orchard to paint when I stopped in my tracks at this lovely Tuscan farmhouse which houses guests here at Spannocchia. The weather was overcast and windy but this place was idyllic so I decided to paint it instead. The people staying there liked my painting so much they are buying it. I was not expecting this to happen!

In the afternoon the day I went to the front grounds of Spannocchia. I just had to do a painting with those tall cypress trees in it. The weather totally changed from the morning and blue sunny skies abounded casting long shadows from the cypresses across the grass.

All of a sudden I noticed three gigantic pigs walking into the grounds. They acted like they owned the place. I was not sure how to behave around large pigs with a 3:1 advantage. Could they be aggressive? I decided to take a “Dog Whisperer’ approach and act like I was in charge. I was ready for a stare-down if it came to that. Evidently the pigs were NOT supposed to be in the yard but had gotten loose. You could have fooled me. It turns out these pigs are an endangered species called cinta senese. I named them prosciutto, salame, and capocello.

The day was still not over but the weather was cooling off so I decided to switch to watercolors and painted the wall of pots and pans in the kitchen. I loved all the variety of round shapes. Believe there are plenty of interesting nooks and crannies to paint inside the house. More paintings to come.