“MY ROME ADVENTURE”

TRIP: “An act of going to a place and returning; a journey or excursion, especially for pleasure” .
Merriam Webster

“MY ROME ADVENTURE”

 

The year: 1962. I was 14 years old... About 56-57 years ago.... I lived in Santiago, Chile, then.  One Sunday afternoon I went to a nearby theater and saw a movie called “ROME ADVENTURE”. It starred Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue and other wonderful actors and actresses...  the plot goes like this:
   “ Prudence (Suzanne Pleshette), a feisty but romantic-minded young librarian at an all-female school in New England, resigns from her job after getting disciplined for recommending a banned book to one of her students. Impulsively deciding to summer in Rome, she's romanced by the smooth Roberto (Rossano Brazzi) and becomes friends with American architect Don (Troy Donahue), who is trying to extricate himself from a failed relationship with the emotionally needy Lyda (Angie Dickinson).”

The movie was great. I love a romantic story, and this had lots of romance. But what changed my life, was not the wonderful “Penelope” and her free thinking ideas... although I have always identified as a free thinker.   It was the place. Rome. I was smitten by the views on that movie, which I ended going to see several times....I thought... Someday... someday, I will go there....   Someday never came, decades passed... but secretly, I kept dreaming.... I was poor, then “we” were poor and a leisure trip to Europe was not an option...

I turned 70 and thought that, perhaps, I could make it work so I could wake up in Rome on my birthday.  But that did not materialize.  Time continued to move. When you are older, time starts to move very fast.

Finally, a year ago, I decided that I would work hard, late nights, long days.... and I would take me to Italy. 

Fast forward 57 years... in a few weeks I will depart for Rome. I will meet my first born, that lives in Southern Chile and my 10 yr. old granddaughter.... We will live my dream for 10 days. Will tour The Vatican, The Coliseum, will throw a handful of coin in the Trevi Fountain.....I know there will be tears shed... a lifetime has gone through since I saw that movie.... I will sing “Al Di La” , which translates to “Beyond”, like Domenico Modugno sung in the movie.... We will go to Salerno and attend mass at a 950 year old Cathedral... and take a peek at the Amalfi Coast... we must, my daughter is a Marine biologist... she must examine the ocean...

But most of all, I will fulfill a life long dream.... What will I plan for in the future?  Rome has been in the center of my daydreaming for so many decades... 

So... in a few weeks I will blog from Rome.... 

In the meantime, my beautiful and dramatic Odilia, from Black Swan continues to evolve...I am loving her more and more.... It will be a few hundred hours of work when I finish.... but she will be so lovely....

I hope you fullfill your dreams... or, at least, a few of them... whatever they may be....

Fiber Art....

(Fiber art:
Fiber art refers to fine art whose materials consist of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn.  It focuses on the materials and on the manual layout on the part of the artist as part of the work’s significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility... (Wikipedia)
“A description that is a mouthful of words, but so true...”

In the past few years, I have discovered that I could mix my love for painting, knitting, quilting, beading, embroidering, allowing me to create art that encompasses all of these, at once.

I have created many art pieces that utilize these disciplines. Usually with representations that were truer in color. But I was challenged, and intrigued,  by an upcoming show,  called “Black and White and Beyond” Quilt Show, which will take place  at the Pacific Park Gallery in Coos Bay, Oregon, in November 2019.

It takes many months to think, decide, create and implement a
design. 
The show requires that the “primary colors be black and white, with other colors as secondary in the item”. 

I had many ideas dancing in my brain. For weeks I thought about it and finally the light went on. I had been impressed by the artistry in the movie of the Ballet “Black Swan”.  The transformation of the prima ballerina, Odilia, the intensity of her expression, her eyes, and moves.... could  I capture that with pieces of fabric, thread and thread painting?  I certainly had to try.
I began by making several sketches. About a week later, the idea started to emerge...

Testing....