Travels in Italy

From June to the 9th of August, we traveled in Italy.  Our first 2 weeks were in Sicily where we were joined by our friends.  They traveled with us for about 2 weeks.  It was a really fun time.  After Sicily, we flew to Rome for 4 days and started our journey to northern Italy.  Our friends left us in Rome, we spent the night at the airport with them and then proceeded to travel north again.  This part of my sketchbook was done in the car while driving and we went from Emilia-Romagna which is a flat plain that crosses the middle of the northern part to Tuscany.  This was one day of our travels.  

We would go somewhere for 2-4 days and then decided where we wanted to go next and find a room and then go to the town.  The whole trip it was between 90-100 degrees from the moment we landed until we left 7 weeks later.  So, there were times that the air conditioned car was a welcome respite.  After I sketched the first picture, I colored in the picture with pencils that I traveled with.  The second one is also a sketch from Tuscany done in ink and acrylic.

 

The Mother Goddess

The Mother Goddess is the Divine Connection of the Earth and the Moon to the Universe.  She is the keeper of our planet and the natural satellite of our Solar System.  Before the invention of the telescope, man just knew of the Moon - a round mysterious object that people would gaze up to in the night sky and the Day Moon, as well.


The Celestial body, the Goddess holds both the Earth and the Moon both of which are connected in to each other.  The moon has a noticeable effect on the earth in the form of tides, but also affects the motion and orbit of the earth.  


This painting is the second in the series I am currently creating in the Mother Earth series.  I felt that mention of the moon important in this work.  The Goddess looks at the viewer.  Her expression is knowing.  There are stars in the picture, the constellation Orion, Leo, and the jewel of the sky Venus.  Known in ancient times as the morning star and evening star.  


The goddess is a watercolor painting.  The backround is hand rubbed acrylic metallic paints giving the painting a patina as.  The work was created after the first of the year completed today, January 5th.  I imagine the sky to be many colors so in creating the painting I've used the various colors to create this piece.