Memories of Tuscany

In April we traveled to the incredibly inspirational Tuscan region of Italy. For ten days Jack, Jake and I soaked up the essence of Italy. Did you know that the "essence" of Italy comes in both red , white and bubbly? Ok, mostly Jack and I soaked up the essence.! I will say riding in a car , viewing art, medieval church s and museums only entertains a nine year old for a short while. But he was happy once we got to Rome.

On the other-hand, I loved the timelessness of the countryside . It seems that this part of Italy's economy is still agriculturally based. Each little hill town has it's own micro economy. No big box stores that force small businesses out. Consequently for us, people really did not speak much English so we had a great time entertaining the locals by trying to speak Italian with our Appalachian accents ( I am from the mountains of north Georgia and Jack is from the upstate of South Carolina). The pace of life in the hill towns was a pace we are all trying to capture here in the US. I now understand now why so many Americans want to live in the Maremma region of Italy.

The painting above "Abandoned in Manciano" is one of the many many farm houses that I just fell in love with. This particular place was abandoned so of course that drew me in even more. I love the red roof and creamy tawny facade against the green of the cypress trees that were growing all around. I just had to paint this picture large. It is 54 inches long and 48 inches tall. I hope viewing this painting will bring to you the peace and tranquility that is the Italian countryside.

Ciao!

Lisa