Friends for 46 YEARS!!!!!

Wow! One of the best things about maintaining friendships: It's never hard to find something to talk about, and always fun to find a new restaurant in Portland and it WAS EXCELLENT!

The countdown: one week to go!

So, now I've been at Gretta's house for over a week, and she's recovering nicely.

I'll leave my seaweed, katsuobushi and miso here so she can practice making HOME MADE miso soup. Which her son Leo really likes!

Got a new camera yesterday a Nilon Coolpix, the battery is charging now, and soon I can start taking NEW pictures.

Already missing ping pong!

My dear friends, Peter, whom we call the Old Lion when it comes to ping pong, and Jean-Luc, the Young Tiger, how I will miss you and our great play!

Norm and Brenda will keep the table used and maybe even some neighbors will be over to use it too.

Such a lovely young woman-Melanie

OK, this is a year ago with Melanie when we finished her portrait, also Adrian my neighbor & friend bought this bamboo painting.....he likes it! This picture does not depict the actual colors, it's more pink and read.

Portrait of Craig

John Singer Sargent said: "Every time I paint a portrait, I loose a friend." In my case with Craig, I gained a friend. There is just something very intimate about painting someone sitting a few feet away. The interesting part for the subject is to see the painting change and welcome the interpretation by the artist. The hard part for the artist is to keep going until satisfied, not with just a likeness, but with some expression that can be understood as compelling or at least interesting!

My backyard deck, late summer

OK, so now I'm at Gretta's house....left my beautiful back yard, so it feels that I am just a bit closer to San Ginesio!

The Bamboo

This will be the size to paint in San Ginesio...............different motifs though

Where is San Ginesio?

Everyone wants to know: where is San Ginesio?
I fly from Portland to Frankfut, to Munich, change airlines to Il Dolomiti to Ancona. From there, I believe it is about a one hour drive southwest to San Ginesio, which is underlined on the map. To the west is Assisi, Perugia, you get the idea. Macerata is probably the Eugene sized town where I'll go art supply shopping.

Another little 10 minute paintig of Maria

And they flew out the door, 19 paintings liberated to the neighborhood/friends network.


This one is still here , but Maria has her portrait.

Urban scene Portland

Oh my goodness, I had absolutely no recollection of this painting! Hum, wonder where it went?

Pearl District, Portland OR

I painted this last summer, so it is not on my website...........wonder how my San Ginesio painting will compare?
Right now, I'm so tired I can hardly see straight AND I'm trying to finish my last big painting.

David & Claudia

OK, so the stress level is escalating, but help is on the way......still moving furniture, cleaning, deciding what to take with me.
This painting of David and Claudia is from two summers ago.

The Ten minute painting of Maria

I'm really in the getting ready stage: furniture moving, suitcases in the empty bedroom, Jane here to measure and imagine herself in this space. And people will start coming to find paintings to adopt. This one, of Maria at Costello's was accomplished in just 10 minutes, but we had already warmed up with a few other paintings. She can take this home.

Leaving Portland and HOME

OK, my first time to blog......I'm going to DO this for EVERYONE, so you'll be able to keep up on my 8 months in San Ginesio, Italy. More later, G