Musings

I've had a moment of sheer serendipity that I simply must share. I've been agonizing for several months over the drab state of the dining area in our kitchen. When the house was brand new, it was fairly refreshing for everything to remain pristine; now however, the empty walls are starting to chew at my patience. Much to my chagrin I have a supportive husband, who has encouraged me several times to fill the place with my own work, rather than purchasing mass produced art at a department store. Therein lies my dilema. Aside from pencil sketching an image of his car, I've had a general creative hiatus for the last few years. There has always been some excuse, but generally my grandiose ideas have been squelched by my lack of talent and available time. Now, having been abandoned by my husband for the evening (he went dirt track racing with a friend), I found myself with nearly a whole day to occupy and nothing pressing on my agenda.

I've recently becoming fascinated by the Toscana region of Italy with all its trappings of culture and art and have been eagerly trying to imbue my kitchen with a touch of Mediterranean flair. That sparked off a desperate search using our feeble excuse for an internet connection to find some sort of subject. Since I plan to work with oil paint with which I have little experience and am fairly new to mixing color, I was hoping to find a photo that wouldn't require too much of my own invention to get the right ambiance. Unfortunately, people don't often consider proper composition when they are sightseeing with their point-and-shoot cameras and needless to say it has been a very fruitless, very exasperating search.

Now for the whole point of this rambling, I've finally stumbled upon just what I was looking for: an image of a villa on a hill overlooking rolling vinyards lined by cypress trees. It's so simple, I still can't believe it's taken me so long to settle on a reference. I just completed the underpainting and my brushes are happily soaking in turpenoid. With any luck, I'll be able to see this project through to completion.

I am a Piker

Undeniably so. It flows red in my veins, just as pure and sure as Stauffer, Wenger, Burkholder, and Martin. With no misgivings or second thoughts, I built this for myself. While you laugh, I'll be hauling water for my trees with this contraption. Possibly under the cover of darkness.

Darren, you were startled to become your father. Try this.

Yah well, it was cheap. (More proof of the Piker within.)