Sunday was quite dreary all day. It rained non-stop from the time I woke up. I am just glad that we had a rain-free day in Florence. Even though I never actually left our building, I made myself be productive all day long. I painted for hours and hours and I am excited about how my newest painting is turning out. I am juxtaposing a pepper with my own limbs (legs and feet) in a fresh color palette and composition. I especially like the juxtaposition because it truly makes one doubt whether or not the other form is in fact a vegetable at all. After painting, I met with one of my friends who is writing a children’s book for her creative writing class. We came up with the idea of doing a collaborative project, where I illustrate her story and make it into a book. It is the first project idea that I am enthusiastic about for my final project, although it is completely different from anything I was considering before. Her story personifies colors, kind of like the children’s book, “Little Blue and Little Yellow.” I am not sure what medium well best suit this illustration endeavor, but I began sketching with markers and ink. I am very curious to see where this project will go. For the final hours before dinner, I literally hand-washed all my clothes. I laid them on the heaters throughout my room and the rest of the entire upper story of our building to dry. For dinner that evening, I went with my usual dinner group to explore a new restaurant. We had one in mind that we pass each day; it had caught our eye with its beautiful pots of flowers all along the outside. However, when we walked in, the owner turned us down. I am pretty sure he said we could not eat there if we did not have a reservation because they were full. However, the restaurant looked quite empty to me…regardless, we kept on walking and found another restaurant a little further on that was entirely adorable and quaint from top to bottom, complete with a stone fire place and very low wooden ceilings. I was worried I was going to bump my head as we climbed the creaky staircase to eat on the balcony area. I ordered the ribolita, which is an extremely hearty and thick vegetable soup. It is so thick because it is filled with hunks of bread soaking in the soup. It is actually known as “poor-man’s soup” because one can get such a filling meal with such simple ingredients. We had one slight faux-pas at this restaurant. As a couple sat down at the table next to us, we noticed that the woman had a ridiculously huge clip of fake hair on her head that looked completely obnoxious. We were talking about how awful it looked until we realized the couple was speaking English to each other…so who knows how of our conversation they heard. Oh well. The servers here were particularly friendly and gave us a huge discount on our bill. Yay for saving money! Despite the rain, this was another delightful end to my week.
Even though it was still raining on Monday, I went on a fantastic rain before lunch. In painting, I decided to make one more huge larger than life-size canvas for my last painting of the semester. It was slightly sad taking my first gigantic painting off the stretcher bars, but hopefully another wonderful painting will come out in the process. I am growing more and more wary at the thought of having to ship all the paintings home. It is going to be the most tedious process ever…but I do not have to officially think about for another week or two. Monday late afternoon, Jeanette and I explored as many shops as we could around Cortona because neither of us had been inside most of them. Although Cortona was still extremely crowded because Monday is still considered Easter, we were still able to wander through the abundance of leather shops, jewelry stores, ceramic stores, shoe stores, and clothing boutiques. The ceramic stores here are my favorite; ceramics are very popular in many parts of Italy, so these types of stores are very prevalent in all the towns we visit. However, none of them were as quaint as the ones in Cortona. I fell in love with the little bowls and teacups and salt and pepper shakers and honey jars…Jeanette and I were both frustrated by the large amount of American voices we heard, all tourists. It is because we feel very possessive over Cortona now. It is such a special place, and we do not want to share it with those that do not fully appreciate it. Or at least, that is how I feel. After also falling in love with several pairs of sandals, scarves, and delicious smelling perfumes, we made our way to dinner. (We had spinach as our side course! Yes!)
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