VILLAS

This is the view we had while sitting on a comfortable park bench on the shoreline of Lake Maggiorie. Can you imagine your sweetheart building you a beautiful Italian villa on an island in a lake? Pretty cool. Some of us had to paint it, postcard size, and some of us had to shop.

This is 'Bella,' which means 'beautiful' in Italian. Later, when I was painting in another location, various people would stop by, peek at my work, and say, "Bella' or 'Complimetre." I always said "Grazie," and smiled. I love trying to communicate in a foriegn country, and it's so surprising how really easy it is to do.

A few days later, an artist/art teacher from Florida bought this little painting. Since I greeted her in Italian, she must have thought I was Italian as she pulled a travel palette out of her purse to show me that she also watercolored. When I exclaimed in English, "You're an artist, too," she surprisingly replied, "Oh, you're American, too." We laughed.

"BELLA" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico 7 x 5" COLLECTED