Author: leslie

Plein Air Project

Setting: A quaint park in the small hilltop village of Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy. Two artists sit on stone benches around a circular stone table overlooking a vast valley of rich greenery and varied earthy tones: burnt sienna, warm green, yellow ochre, cool green, raw umber, gray green…all held into place by a cloudy grey sky. It is a very warm day, but the tree lined park offers cool shade and a constant soft breeze in the late morning air of a tiny park on the edge of the village.

L and S are busy working on small watercolor blocks, layering paint in response to their surroundings coupled with many years of painterly habits that they try to embrace or reject as the pigment spreads out.

L is dressed in all blue, a dark blue sleeveless shirt and light blue striped pants that are the same value as her pink sneakers.

S is wearing a terra-cotta red and white striped shirt, light red-brown pants, brown shoes of various tones with pops of neon blue and yellow.

They both wear baseball caps.

L has on large, stylish red-pink transparent sunglasses that shade much of her face, and are shaped somewhere between and oval and a square. This whole thing was her idea.

They have just met, but L is disarming and has the personality of someone you instantly trust. Questions are asked and answered. A painting session shifts from a morning of making to a more valuable one of learning and sharing.

In the distance stands a bright blue sign that starkly contrasts its surroundings. There is a large white arrow on the sign.

Where does it point?

At first glance, it seems to be defunct, damaged, and pointing towards the ground. A utilitarian object rendered useless and absurd. But after closer contemplation, maybe it is pointing to this place, Monte Castello di Vibio, a site of great reward, a meeting place, a creative retreat where many people much alike and simultaneously very different come together to find something new, like the friendship L and S cultivated through the awkward dance of brush to paper and word to ear.

June 21, 2022

Monte Castello di Vibio Italy

The only familiar feeling while painting alongside you was that of multitasking. Having left too many projects to the last minute, I tried to do it all at once. Maybe this was good, as my focus on the task of writing postcards to my kids gave me a job to do, distracting me from feeling awkward or insecure about painting outside, painting with a partner, painting from observation. But the pleasure of getting things done didn’t touch the pleasure of trying something new. It’s been a long time since I’ve met new people, been overseas, and had to navigate everything-different-all-at-once. What a gift! Learning more about your project and practice, sharing not only that time outside but a studio space–seeing your process unfold and knowing that we would all in some way be a part of it, was the throughline of the whole Nido “experiment”. 

June 21, 2022

Monte Castello di Vibio Italy

Painting en plein air with Leslie Baum was a pleasure. 

On the day of our plein air painting date, Leslie and I met in the morning in Monte Castello di Vibio’s main square, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. We made it to a spot along the wall, knowing we would have to move as the ascended heat grew. Our initial site overlooked textured green and gold fields dotted with various crops. Our session ended in a wooded park, where our gaze shifted inward toward playground equipment and the wall.

Painting one-on-one with a new acquaintance, (now friend) felt generous, open, and revealing – relationship building. Through presence and process, I learned about Leslie and cultivated an awareness of the landscape. 

The paintings that emerged (for me) were not translations of the landscape; they were notes on the experience. Similar to my distance to and emersion in the landscape, the paintings were sensorial and observational notes on feelings, colors, patterns, light, air, and sounds. 

I am filled with gratitude for the experience.

June 16, 2022

Monte Castello di Vibio Italy

Sharing some outside time, while feeling watery, and outside of my normal flow, with company.

May 11, 2022

Garden of the Phoenix

Painting is usually a very solitary activity for me, so to share that with someone else and to talk and laugh was wonderful, especially after living through the long lonely pandemic. To just show up and everything is already ready (paints, paper, brushes, chairs) on a beautiful summer day and spend some time with someone I’ve always liked but never get to see was a gift to me in so many ways.

June 24, 2021

Humboldt Park