Columbia Home & Lifestyle - January/February 2009 - (Page 34) Top: Paul Jackson. middle: A woman talks to a man while walking her dog in Venice, Italy. boTTom: A snapshot of a man on a gondola in Venice, Italy. You see things that you’d never see otherwise when you take the time to sketch. As Paul says, you now own that scene in a way that simply taking a photograph can never do for you. I still recall the feel of the warm sun on my back, the breeze, the sense of time falling away as I sketched the arches, columns and labyrinth of walkways. From there, we sketched our way to the Pantheon, the Tiber River and finally back to Spanish Steps, where we watched as the sun set behind the busy streets, and lights began to glow in the shop windows. A large group of cyclists rode into the square, their colorful jerseys adding to the festive scene. We broke into small groups to find dinner at one of the many little cafés in the area and later made our way back to the hotel to fall into bed after a glorious and full day in Rome. The next morning we packed our bags and took the Euro train to Florence. As I viewed the landscape flying by, I was struck by how similar it seemed to the wine country of California, except for the ancient villas on the hilltops. Arriving in Florence, we were all anxious to get started, and after checking into the hotel, we trekked over to the Santa Maria de Fiore cathedral, simply known as ”The Duomo.” This has to be one of the most elaborately decorated churches anywhere, with terra cotta tile domes, pink and green marble inlay outlining the gothic arches, stained glass windows, mosaic pictures over the doors, nooks with statues and other various adornments over every square inch. Paul challenged us to sketch this massive structure using as few lines as possible, yet have it still be identifiable as The Duomo. I found this particularly difficult, as it required figuring out what is essential to the structure while discarding the rest. So after several dismal attempts, I decided that I needed to rest my brain with some shopping. I purchased a wonderful leather jacket that I wore every day for the rest of our trip from a charming man named Mario. On the following day, we climbed the Bell Tower and I had a much more successful experience sketching the view over the dome, a view I had first seen in a Paul Jackson painting, and, now, here I was. It was hard to tear myself away. It was during our stay in Florence where Paul moved us on to painting, and there was no shortage of subject matter: the charming Ponte Vecchio bridge, sunset views of Florence from the Michelangelo overlook, reflections on the Arno River, the magnificent Duomo. And always there was cappuccino, gelato, panini, pizza, pasta and vino to keep us going from one great location to the next. On day seven, we bid farewell to Florence and took the train to Venice, an adventure waiting to happen. There are no cars in Venice,only streets for walking and canals for water taxis, vaporetti (water busses) and, of course, gondolas. From the train station, we walked the two blocks to our hotel to check in while our bags were transported by boat. We then proceeded to get lost. Venice is an incredible maze of some 3,000 streets, not all of which are shown on the map. Add to that the local penchant of moving signs around to make it even more confusing for the tourists, and it all adds up to a real life treasure hunt where dinner and your hotel room are the prize for successfully following the clues and solving the puzzle. In the process there are incredible distractions: beautiful glass, paper and leather boots in the shop windows; little cafes and gelato shops; and, something else I became very distracted with: dogs. I have always been a dog lover and apparently many Italians are too! There were dogs on leashes and dogs off 34 January/February 2009
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