Viterbo 2015 (aka The Summer I Almost Melted To Death)

I'm slowly catching up with some posts here, and I am happily enjoying the New England fall weather. As I look back to my month of July spent with Fred Lynch, his family, and the journalistic drawing students I remember just how hot it was on those Italian streets. We had over 25 consecutive days of 95˚ F and above. Now, I am... as I like to say... a delicate flower. I need 70˚ or lower! HA! While I am complaining about the weather, I'd like to shift focus on the amazing students and fellow faculty members that made this summer one of the most memorable. I count myself blessed to be able to sit, observe, and record the comings and goings of this ancient town. Viterbo is a lively, gritty city full of tiny alleys and bizarre adventure. I just needed a few months to cool off afterward! Here are a few of the scenes I was able to capture.

Viterbo 2014

Finally getting a chance to share of the images I worked on this past summer. I was lucky enough to join my colleague Fred Lynch in teaching a course in journalistic drawing in a small town just northeast of Rome. It was a fantastic trip, made all the more special by a dedicated troop of students. Visiting Assisi was also a true highlight, as well as traveling by car with the Lynch family from Viterbo to Lyon France. While is was a bit stormy in the Italian Alps, the view was still breathtaking.

The Lynches were also kind enough to take me to another neighboring medieval walled city called Vitorchiano. The views were stunning.

This chance to work in a whole new fashion awakens a deeper connection to my artistic roots. I mean, I used them everyday, but here... on the street, trying to capture a fading light, or a fleeting moment sharpens the trust in myself... not only that I can do it... but I chose the right subject matter as well.

It was a hard working, eye opening summer for sure!

Viterbo's Medieval Wall

Another of my favorite parts of Viterbo was the quiet, sun soaked road that lead you by the city's outer wall. At this place, a tower built on top of a segment loomed over the wall which historically usually extended outwards slightly so as to be able to observe the exterior of the walls on either side. It had had arrow slits, ballistae, and a place where presumably catapults and cannons could be mounted on top for extra defense. Sounds a tad cheesy, but I liked to envision the townsfolk scurrying along the top of the wall, ready to protect the livestock and people within the walls.

The sunsets here were... brace yourself... truly magical.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

When I was not feeling up to concentrating on my ink washes, I had my trusty sketchbook in hand. Viterbo has more than enough cafe chairs and fountain edges to rest upon. I think it was secretly meant for us journalistic drawers. While taking a seat and sketching the great signs, I was always torn: Diet Coke or Beer. Same price... one's much better. Now, I was able to find a decent beer in Italy. No hating, but it's not a country known for its brews. Menabrea* was quite tasty, and I highly suggest their Ambrata. I'll have a review up shortly!

*Warning: Menabrea's site is teh suxor! Right up there with my queue on Alitalia. It's not really a country born out of efficiency. Just sayin'! But damn, they got siesta right!

Urban Sketchers Feature With Fred Lynch

Fred Lynch was extremely kind to mention my stay in Italy on the Urban Sketchers blog. Urban Sketchers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel. Fred is one of the North American correspondents, and you can check out his other articles by following this link.

© Fred Lynch 2011, Door of Hell

His ink paintings are astounding, and if you ever get a chance to see one in person... they amaze even more!

Via di Paradosso is "el gorgo"!

After settling in and not being so confused by my trusty map, I found one of my favorite spots. Oddly enough, it was just around the corner from where I was living. Via di Paradosso was a longer street that elevated ever so slightly about the ancient stream bed below. It traced the edge of an olive oil bottling company, which then opened up into open fields and crowing roosters. Why I loved this street was because of the gentle distance it offered. Sometimes, I get a bit overwhelmed being IN and SURROUNDED by the city buildings. My rocky roadside wall provided just enough breathing room for me to take it all in.

That, and it was a less traveled road than most, which meant I barely got heckled by on-lookers. Me likey!!!

Parco dei Monstri, Bormarzo Italy

The Lynch family was very kind to take me to some of the nearby towns. The first we visited was Bormazo, in the province of Viterbo, in northern Lazio, Italy. The Park of the Monsters (Parco dei Mostri in Italian-language), also named Garden of Bomarzo, is a Renaissance monumental complex located in Bomarzo.

Walking through the park was like going through an ancient amusement park. The gardens were created during the 16th century. They are composed of a wooded park, located at the bottom of a valley where the castle of Orsini was erected, and populated by sculptures and small buildings divided among of the natural vegetation. During the nineteenth century and deep into the twentieth the garden became overgrown and neglected, but in the 1970s a program of restoration was implemented by the Bettini family, and today the garden, which remains private property, is a major tourist attraction. The park of Bomarzo was intended not to please, but to astonish, and like many Mannerist works of art, its symbolism is arcane : examples are a large sculpture of one of Hannibal's war elephants, which mangles a Roman legionary, or the statue of Ceres lounging on the bare ground, with a vase of verdure perched on her head.

And this was my subject matter for that afternoon.
A fun surprise was a reclining woman with a dog. I thought it looked striking similar to me and Lily.
And last but not least, I loved the smaller town of Bagnaia. You need to drive through this quaint village on the wasy to Bormarzo, and I highly recommend taking a walk through the medieval section of town. My pronunciation of these Italian words has been atrocious... so if I refer to a town called "banana", I mean this place.

Piazza San Pellegrino, Viterbo Italy

About one minute from where I was lodging, was the heart of the medieval district of Viterbo. The street are narrow, tall, and maze-like, but I loved that the inhabitants found an opportunity to plant bright flowers that radiated off the dark gray walls.

Here's a really fun link to 360˚ photo of the medieval streets.

Piazza di San Lorenzo, Viterbo Italy

One of the first days in Viterbo, I set out for the cathedral of San Lorenzo. The cathedral was, according to legend, built on the site of an Etruscan temple of Hercules and although this can not be verified, Etruscan and Roman foundations can be seen on several of the buildings which make up the Piazza di San Lorenzo where the cathedral is situated. An early medieval parish church to Saint Lawrence had formerly occupied the area before construction began on the cathedral in the late twelfth century. Even as it was constructed, the town was already spreading northwards down the hill, leaving the plaza somewhat isolated on the highest edges of town, thus restricting its attraction to the townsfolk, a disadvantage which the local bishops for years attempted to reverse by granting the cathedral special religious privileges.

The cathedral was at the height of its significance during the middle and end of the thirteenth century, when it and the attached Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo was the home of the papal throne following its flight from Rome and prior to its resettlement in Avignon. Two popes were buried in the duomo: the first was Pope Alexander IV, whose tomb was bizarrely demolished during sixteenth century renovations, and the location of his remains are now unknown = OOPS; Pope John XXI is more clearly marked despite several relocations, with a handsome tombstone originally laid over him following his death in 1277 (when his study's ceiling in the papal palace attached to the cathedral suddenly collapsed into the room below due to structural weaknesses as he slept).

It's a lovely, more quiet location in the city, and for the last two weeks of my stay, was home to an Opera festival. You could hear bellowing baritones and soaring sopranos over the Loggia's walls. A real treat.

Mama Mia!

They do in fact... say Mama Mia in Italy. I was so excited.
I'm ending out the Journalistic Drawing program in a day or two, and could not be more amazed by such an energetic, dedicated bunch of students. I will certainly offer a link when their work is posted on the Drawing Viterbo blog, this coming fall. I am honored to have served beside Fred Lynch, recalling how great his words of wisdom were when I was his student.

So, I am eagerly awaiting the return to my studio/studiomates (and big scanner!) and hopefully be able show you some of the work I made in Italy. In the meantime... pictures of Rome! Saint Peter's is... you know what... words can't describe how amazing it is inside. These pictures don't even cut it.

Ciao!


I also found a super awesome art store down one of the crooked streets in Rome. I loved the pigments!

A Good Day

Montefiascone, overlooking the city of Viterbo at sunset. Fred Lynch took a fun photo!

Buono Baffi!

That line is about the only thing I can say without thinking in Italian. Yes, it's true, I answer questions with the line, "Nice mustache".


It's been one week since coming to Viterbo with the Montserrat College of Art, and I think I am finally understanding the streets and customs of this city. Surrounded by a medieval wall, I am living in an area where most of the ancient buildings are still being inhabited. While it is fairly hot by day, the mornings and evenings are amazingly temperate and ideal to sit by window and watch the city's inhabitants "passeggiatta", the tradition of strolling the streets before dinnertime. Typically I chose my lofty viewpoint instead of participating in this slow walk, since I am one of the only ones roaming the city during sieste (1pm to 4:30pm), therefore exhausting myself by 7pm. I've been drawing/sketching/painting everyday and cannot wait to get some of these scanned. It's wonderful to be in the constant act of creation and I am grateful to get back to observational drawing.

More later, but here's the first few pictures!


Ciao!