Tales of Traveling with a Group of Artists:Bathing in Holy Water, Heaven Helps when it all Goes to Hell

Some stories are worth telling again (especially those spent traveling with a group of artists).  This is a new publication of an older blog post I first wrote about in 2013.  I was in the Cinque Terre traveling with a group of artists.  I went back for a visit recently, and was reminded of this memorable moment when I was there in 2013.  I hope you enjoy hearing the story… this time I have a little update for you😉

The Cinque Terre are 5 cities along the northwestern coast of Italy near Porto Venere.
Our group spent the first day on and off the ferry and shuttling between these inaccessible hill-towns along this coast.

On our final day began in Porto Venere.  I love traveling with a group of artists but at this point I had only seen 3 of the 5 cities and I wanted to see them all, so I set out on my own and bought a ticket for the ferry.

It was a beautiful day.  Just being on the boat and able to drink in all that visual beauty of this amazing coastline was a treat.

Europe measures time in such different increments.  We look at our history and measure it in terms of wars and perhaps 50 year segments.  Here, they literally go back thousands of years.  These cities are OLD! They date back to times when there were no national governments.

For centuries, it was every man for himself, and every village for themselves.  Pirates or Saracens would regularly raid along these coasts.  Protection was gained by making it inconvenient or impossible to reach you.  As a result, families moved up into the hills and began cultivating grapes and terracing the incredibly steep slopes in order to literally carve out a safe place to live.

When you look up and down the hills, you can get some sort of appreciation for how long people have been living in these hills.  Every possible square foot seems to have been altered by human labor.  Life here must have been incredibly difficult, but life has been going on here for a long, long time.

Just walking around is a struggle…and that is with paved roads and stairs to travel.  What must it have been like to live here without any of those?  It really makes the point that my life has been so easy by comparison.

I got off the ferry in Manarola and walked uphill, and uphill again, and UP some stairs to yet another hill.  By the time I got to the church at the top of another hill, I was ready to sit and paint.

I decided to go up even a little higher on a path that led to the terraced gardens above the village in order to get an aerial view of the church square and see the buildings’ roofs a bit better.  (I love all the roofs here…so full of great shapes).

I got out my water bottle, set it beside me, got out my little 3 legged stool and quickly found that it didn’t support me very well on an incline.  Since very little ground is flat in this place, I just propped myself up as best I could with my legs and hoped I could be fast with my drawing and painting.  Comfort is not necessarily part of painting plein air!

Once I was done with my sketch it was time to paint.  I reached into my pack and pulled out my paints.  My palette had some paint which had oozed beyond the box and I did my best to clean it, and started
painting.  I used a little watercolor, a little white acrylic ink, and was trying a scraping technique I was interested
in using.  As I got going, a bit of red paint made its way onto the painting.  Where did that come from?

I looked at my hands and I had thick red paint all over my right hand! Oh no! Then I remembered that the red I used was M Graham paint, which never dries!  (Note to self- when filling a plein air palette, do not use M Graham Paints!)

Needing to clean up the mess, I reached for my water bottle, and knocked it over!!!   On flat ground that wouldn’t be a big deal, but on this incline it began to roll down the steep little path I was perched upon…it went so fast that I couldn’t move quickly enough to catch it.

It kept rolling until it fell over the side of the path and landed in a garden with a fence around it.  I tried to retrieve it, but the gate to the garden was locked!  There was my water, just out of reach…so close and yet so far.  And my hands!!  I looked like an axe murderer with red paint everywhere!! I needed water, and I needed it right away.

Anyone who has been to Europe knows that bathrooms aren’t always easily located.  (I always like to mention this when I am traveling with a group of artists) I looked around and the closest public facility was the church. I went inside and there was nobody in there.  These old churches have no bathrooms, but then I spied it… and it was like a choir of angels began to sing… the holy water fount!  A beautiful marble fount with a small plastic container of holy water in it!  Do you hear the angels yet?  I certainly did!  Yet the good catholic girl in me hesitated for a minute before dipping in…well it was at least for a short moment (I was never really that good).

I certainly couldn’t bathe in the fount, but who was I to say that God hadn’t provided this perfect provision for me in my time of need? Who was I to not take advantage of what God was providing…Right?  I looked left…looked right…and dove into my pack for some paper towels.  Dipping them into the holy water I was able to rinse the red color off my hands without staining the holy water. It took quite a few dips to get clean, but eventually I looked a little less like a serial killer.  What a relief!

Then I remembered that I had acrylic on my brush…and those of you who paint know you
can’t leave acrylic on your brushes…right?

So again, I looked left…looked right…and picked up the plastic container and carefully poured a little water into a collapsible bottle I had with me.  I spilled a bit in the transfer from container to container, but it was captured by the marble fount (that’s what it was made for, to hold holy water, right?) Still hearing the angels?  I was!

When my covert operations were over, I felt clean and relieved that my brush wouldn’t be ruined.  I may have to mention it next time I go to confession, but I felt no guilt and a whole lot cleaner!

NOTE- I revisited this site in 2017 with my Eat Paint Cook Tuscany and Cinque Terre group. It was a pilgrimage for me 😊FYI, this time there was NO HOLY WATER in the fount (maybe they heard I was back in town!) Thankfully my hands were clean and none was needed for emergency cleaning purposes.  BUT, it did make it seem as if the miracle of the holy water in 2013 was all the more miraculous!

I’ve decided plein air painting is a little like camping…it may not always go well, but when you survive the misadventures you end up with great stories and some art which records the memories.  I can’t wait to do it again! Next time maybe it can be with you! 😉

If you are interested in traveling with a group of artists I would love to have you join me on one of my Eat, Paint, Cook Tours! You can find more information here!

Rebecca Zdybel
Artist, Instructor, Art-Travel Instructor
Art Lessons
Myrtle Beach, SC
rebecca@rebeccazartist.com

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Rebecca Zdybel is an artist and instructor in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Follow her and see her work at http://rebeccazartist.com/

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