Inspired by Italy

For the past several years, I have been traveling to Italy, first as a tourist, then with a group of fellow artists. Tuscany is my home base while in Italy, and the beauty of the region comes through in the towns as well as in the landscape. After an initial attraction to the postcard quality of golden hills and cypress trees, I became entranced by the villages themselves.

For the most part, the pieces here are inspired by walls. Buildings several centuries in age show evidence of alterations over the years, as windows became smaller, or their shapes become more “modern”.

In Venice, I became intrigued by the gentle decay of the old buildings, and inspired by the graffiti messages on them. Not the “tags” like we see so often in this country, but actual messages to friends, directions to hard to find businesses, and even poems and drawings. In Florence, the marks became more aggressive. The effects of time are not as subtle as in Venice, and the graffiti is bolder. And in Rome, my obsession with the Colosseum led to a discovery of the arch, which, once I took an interest in the form, I began to notice everywhere I traveled.