Take a photo…then “Imagineer” Your Own Reality!

I am not a” great photographer.  I respect photographers and know that getting the right image is about planning, timing, study, readiness, equipment and technical savvy.  These days, it’s also about editing know-how just as in the past it was also very much about dark-room know how.  Photography is art.  Photographs can be beautiful and complete as an art form. However, for me…photos are just the beginning.  That’s why I am a painter.

Yesterday I was in Siena.  A town behind a massive wall on a hill…a description which could fit many towns in Tuscany.  This one has the distinction of being the owner of St. Catherine’s head!  Oh, and her right finger too!  How grisly and medieval is that?  There she was today…what’s left of her that is.  Not to disrespect her or anything, but as far as I’m concerned, cutting off her head and putting her decaying face in a box for all to see is not necessarily respectful  When I go, close the casket and remember me as I was.  She was very important to the residents of the city and they claimed her as their own…however when she died in Rome, they kept her remains as relics and charged for seeing them or being blessed by them.  Citizens of Sienna staged a guerrilla raid on Rome and chopped off her head…and her finger (how random!) and then brought them back in a box to her home town.  And here she is to this day…

Siena is very hilly and filled with old buildings, gelato shops, lots of tourists and beautiful little vistas wherever you look.  It’s a great town to photograph and wander around, which is what we did today.  I was like a dog on the trail of a good scent…just following my nose (or in this case my eyes) from one thing to the next.  My new friend and roommate, Sally, was my partner in crime.  We stumbled upon a great site today with laundry on the line, shadows and cool architecture.  We stood there at the side of the road and drew it in our little pads…took photos and then kept on.

At one point Sally told me she had found a shopping mall.  I followed her in there and we saw lots of people but no shops.  We stumbled on some nice bathrooms, so we took advantage.  There were lots of bars to assist with mobility and pull chords for emergency on the walls…that should have been our first clue.  When we came out, we realized that there were all kinds of old people and nurses…Then it dawned on us…we had somehow found our way into a convalescent home!  We began laughing so hard and making fun of ourselves, but even so, I was taken with some of the cool faces and old people around us.  What was even more funny was that they weren’t moving too fast, so it made taking their photos easier. I didn’t feel comfortable taking obvious photos of the old folks, so Sally volunteered to stand in the vicinity of a couple of choice characters and I surreptitiously took these shots.

Finished Painting “Bubble Boys”- Watercolor/Ink on Paper

Villa Casa Nova- Chianti Watercolor/Ink on Paper