And here are some select pages from my sketchbook!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Art update!
Lately I've been stalker-ishly taking photos of people who are interesting to me, namely fancy ladies, adorable older people, and adorable children, and then later making these characters out of them. Here are the ones I've done so far (pencil on bristol):
And here are some select pages from my sketchbook!
And here are some select pages from my sketchbook!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Day trip to Assisi
I feel incredibly lucky to have had so many beautiful days all in a row. Like some universal scale is becoming unbalanced and someone on the other side of the world has had a week of miserable days while I get all the perfect ones. Because that's what today was...another perfect day, and maybe it seems like I'm making this up but I promise it's all very real.
Katy, Jamie, Molly, Astrid, and I woke up bright and early at 6am to catch a train at 7:45 to Assisi. Assisi is a little town in the Umbrian region, about 2 hours from Rome. It is most famous for St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and a bunch of other things - his basilica is one of the most famous pilgrimage sites. But besides being known for St. Francis, Assisi is a small, quiet place nestled into a mountainside overlooking the Umbrian valley, and is also the home of our dear Ezio (who was coincidentally visiting this weekend, though we never ran into him!)
We started by taking a bus from the train station up the hillside to the Basilica. By 10am it was already warm, and soon it was almost hot, I kept my jacket off most of the day, which is the best feeling. In the Basilica, we saw St. Francis' tomb and famous frescoes by Giotto. I briefly became lost from the group for a bit, only to find out that I was right around the corner from them the whole time, but it took going down the hill and back up another way to realize it. After a delicious lunch of ravioli with artichoke followed by tiramisu, we wandered to the main square of Assisi, then split up for awhile.
Katy, Jamie, and I began our ascent further up the mountain, adventuring aimlessly. This method led us through an ancient Roman tunnel converted into a parking garage, to the edge of the city where we could see all the camping and hiking trails through the forest, to an abandoned watchtower whose entrance was sadly blocked, to rebelliously hopping a barbed wire fence into a private olive grove (Katy's idea, I swear! And rather than get snagged on barbed wire, we rolled under the fence, like pros). What's funny about this though is that while the grove felt very private while we were in it, we later realized that from any vantage point in Assisi we were completely visible to anyone looking in that direction. And, there was no exit, just a large locked door that could not be climbed, and so we jumped off a wall. ADVENTURE!
Onward to the castle! So the other thing Assisi is known for is the Rocca Maggiore, a medieval castle built in 1164 AD or something like that. It was used for battles, sieges, and other cool medieval stuff. We climbed the highest tower, then traipsed through the wall, up the tower on the other side, then laid down on the walls for awhile, which we probably weren't supposed to do but Italians don't care about safety it seems, so no one stopped us. In fact, we stayed there past closing time unknowingly and the man closing up didn't even yell at us - he just very politely and kindly told us he was closing. Laying on the wall, we had a complete 360 degree view of the valley.
Molly and Astrid also found us again at the castle, so with not much time left, we headed back down to the main square for some gelato and then caught the bus back to the train station. It was another best day ever in a series of best days ever. I couldn't have asked for more - beautiful weather, places, and people.
Katy, Jamie, Molly, Astrid, and I woke up bright and early at 6am to catch a train at 7:45 to Assisi. Assisi is a little town in the Umbrian region, about 2 hours from Rome. It is most famous for St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and a bunch of other things - his basilica is one of the most famous pilgrimage sites. But besides being known for St. Francis, Assisi is a small, quiet place nestled into a mountainside overlooking the Umbrian valley, and is also the home of our dear Ezio (who was coincidentally visiting this weekend, though we never ran into him!)
We started by taking a bus from the train station up the hillside to the Basilica. By 10am it was already warm, and soon it was almost hot, I kept my jacket off most of the day, which is the best feeling. In the Basilica, we saw St. Francis' tomb and famous frescoes by Giotto. I briefly became lost from the group for a bit, only to find out that I was right around the corner from them the whole time, but it took going down the hill and back up another way to realize it. After a delicious lunch of ravioli with artichoke followed by tiramisu, we wandered to the main square of Assisi, then split up for awhile.
Katy, Jamie, and I began our ascent further up the mountain, adventuring aimlessly. This method led us through an ancient Roman tunnel converted into a parking garage, to the edge of the city where we could see all the camping and hiking trails through the forest, to an abandoned watchtower whose entrance was sadly blocked, to rebelliously hopping a barbed wire fence into a private olive grove (Katy's idea, I swear! And rather than get snagged on barbed wire, we rolled under the fence, like pros). What's funny about this though is that while the grove felt very private while we were in it, we later realized that from any vantage point in Assisi we were completely visible to anyone looking in that direction. And, there was no exit, just a large locked door that could not be climbed, and so we jumped off a wall. ADVENTURE!
Onward to the castle! So the other thing Assisi is known for is the Rocca Maggiore, a medieval castle built in 1164 AD or something like that. It was used for battles, sieges, and other cool medieval stuff. We climbed the highest tower, then traipsed through the wall, up the tower on the other side, then laid down on the walls for awhile, which we probably weren't supposed to do but Italians don't care about safety it seems, so no one stopped us. In fact, we stayed there past closing time unknowingly and the man closing up didn't even yell at us - he just very politely and kindly told us he was closing. Laying on the wall, we had a complete 360 degree view of the valley.
Molly and Astrid also found us again at the castle, so with not much time left, we headed back down to the main square for some gelato and then caught the bus back to the train station. It was another best day ever in a series of best days ever. I couldn't have asked for more - beautiful weather, places, and people.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Villa Torlonia, Palestrina, & Hadrian's Villa
The past few days in Rome have been...perfect. There is no other word. The weather is a consistent 65 degrees F and sunny. So sunny.
On Thursday we had a trip with our Italian teachers to Villa Torlonia - Mussolini's residence when he was in power. And wow, do dictators have taste. The whole estate is now a huge public park, and the actual buildings are museums. The main mansion was a bit gaudy for me - it was filled with decadent things, frescoes covering the walls, chandeliers, et cetera. Very "I am a dictator and you will be aware of this" sort of feeling, but it was still incredibly beautiful.
Our tickets also allowed us entrance into the cottage, which was the residence of a prince, and which I fell in love with. It was a house out of a fairy tale. The way it was built made no sense - windows, balconies, doors, pointy roofs everywhere. And the inside is now a museum filled with stained glass pieces. This cottage was my favorite thing in the park.
We had some more time after the cottage to wander around the area, get a cappuccino, and soak up some more sun before I had to head back to the Cenci for reviews.
Today was another incredible day. We left bright and early at 8am for an art history tour with Ezio and the whole group to Palestrina, a town about an hour outside of Rome where the ancient Temple of Fortuna was located (it no longer exists in full, but is in fragments), and to Hadrian's Villa. I don't think I've ever had this many consecutively beautiful days. We started out in Palestrina, walking up the terraces that lead up the mountain. It felt like a repeat of my trek up the Naples' hillside, except this time it was sunny and warm instead of a thunderstorm. There were scenic views at every corner, and since it's not tourist season, I felt like we were the only ones there.
Everybody!
Model of the Temple of Fortuna
Christina in front of the giant mosaic
Stopping periodically for Ezio to point out parts of the ancient temple, we made it to the top, where there is now a museum with artifacts from the area. There was the statue of Fortuna, a huge mosaic about the Nile river, one of the largest intact, and a model of what the temple looked like when it existed in full. After the museum, we headed back down the mountain and took another 40 minute bus to Hadrian's Villa.
Hadrian's Villa is a magical place. It's filled with olive groves, ethereal sunlight, fairies, and ancient things. It's basically the equivalent of Disney World for Hadrian back in 100 B.C. He didn't actually live there much, but built this like "model city" to show how bottomless his pockets were and how awesome he was as emperor. We visited an overlook tower, walked through the olive trees, saw the reflecting pool, other ruins, living quarters, the theater, and walked back through a long line of cypress trees. There are just no words or pictures that can describe how stunningly beautiful this place was. I was in awe the entire time, and I can feel myself falling more in love with Italy as the weather gets warmer.
Tomorrow I'm heading to Assisi for the day, and before Tuesday have a paper to write, a midterm to study for, and art to create (and yes, I promise I will post some art soon, I just haven't gotten around to scanning anything, shh).
Our tickets also allowed us entrance into the cottage, which was the residence of a prince, and which I fell in love with. It was a house out of a fairy tale. The way it was built made no sense - windows, balconies, doors, pointy roofs everywhere. And the inside is now a museum filled with stained glass pieces. This cottage was my favorite thing in the park.
We had some more time after the cottage to wander around the area, get a cappuccino, and soak up some more sun before I had to head back to the Cenci for reviews.
Today was another incredible day. We left bright and early at 8am for an art history tour with Ezio and the whole group to Palestrina, a town about an hour outside of Rome where the ancient Temple of Fortuna was located (it no longer exists in full, but is in fragments), and to Hadrian's Villa. I don't think I've ever had this many consecutively beautiful days. We started out in Palestrina, walking up the terraces that lead up the mountain. It felt like a repeat of my trek up the Naples' hillside, except this time it was sunny and warm instead of a thunderstorm. There were scenic views at every corner, and since it's not tourist season, I felt like we were the only ones there.
Everybody!
Model of the Temple of Fortuna
Christina in front of the giant mosaic
Stopping periodically for Ezio to point out parts of the ancient temple, we made it to the top, where there is now a museum with artifacts from the area. There was the statue of Fortuna, a huge mosaic about the Nile river, one of the largest intact, and a model of what the temple looked like when it existed in full. After the museum, we headed back down the mountain and took another 40 minute bus to Hadrian's Villa.
Hadrian's Villa is a magical place. It's filled with olive groves, ethereal sunlight, fairies, and ancient things. It's basically the equivalent of Disney World for Hadrian back in 100 B.C. He didn't actually live there much, but built this like "model city" to show how bottomless his pockets were and how awesome he was as emperor. We visited an overlook tower, walked through the olive trees, saw the reflecting pool, other ruins, living quarters, the theater, and walked back through a long line of cypress trees. There are just no words or pictures that can describe how stunningly beautiful this place was. I was in awe the entire time, and I can feel myself falling more in love with Italy as the weather gets warmer.
Tomorrow I'm heading to Assisi for the day, and before Tuesday have a paper to write, a midterm to study for, and art to create (and yes, I promise I will post some art soon, I just haven't gotten around to scanning anything, shh).
Monday, February 20, 2012
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