It seems that my feet are seldom on the ground. I think I would travel all the time if I had the stamina, budget and didn’t want to spend every possible free moment with my sweet grandchildren. I really do feel very fortunate to have them in my life.
Late in 2018 I did travel to Italy with my fellow Italian classmates. It was a very special trip as it was the last one to be organized by our Italian teacher. We spent two weeks in Umbria including 4 days in Spoleto and two weeks in in Perugia, both magical towns. Then just last October I returned to Italy for two weeks with my two wonderful Canadian friends. We spent 4 days with family friends in Abruzzo.
What a great experience with the opportunity to get a better understanding of Italian family life and work. We then traveled around Umbria a few days before meeting up with friends in Orvieto. That part of the trip was organized by The Blue Walk. Check them out. We were a small group of travelers and had many rich experiences. After five days, four of us left for a week in Barcelona to join The Blue Walk and study with the artist Lapin. Wow, what a great time we had. Lapin took us to some of his favorite sites and restaurants in Barcelona, sketching every moment, including while riding on the metro. We then went to the spectacular Costa Brava where we continued our lessons. painting things with keen observation and new skills.
Tom joined me for one last week in Barcelona where we visited many amazing Gaudì sites, rode on the Hop on Hop Off bus many times, visited museums and had some amazing meals. The people watching was especially fun. It took me another month to recover from the travels but I have many lovely memories to carry in my heart. I have probably left off all kinds of significant events, but it is a new year and time to move on. Happy New Year, 2020!
I should note the sketch above was done at the Rome airport while waiting for my Canadian friends to arrive. The colorful mixed media page was done in a recent Sketchbook Skool class. We had four incredible teachers that each had so much rich material to offer!
