What's Next?

What's Next? Here's a hint - it's an oil painting I did of my two boys when they were small.

As an artist and former art teacher it's just in my blood to want to not only paint and create but to share how I paint and create. So here's what's next. I'm gonna show you some step by step processes in the techniques and styles I use to create my artwork. First up, will be a step by step example of how I create a portrait in oil. Now, if you are an artist it may not be your way to paint, and if you are not an artist it might or might not be kinda interesting to see a portrait come to life but anyway you look at it, it's still Jane's Perspective.

Marseille, France and Home

It's the last official stop for the cruise before we hit Barcelona, disembark and fly home. We're in Marseille, France. Sounds romantic, huh? Actually here's the dose of reality you get when you're on a budget. The picture below is typical of the docks your cruise ship can be positioned into. Actually our ship was relatively small so it often got into ports that larger ships couldn't get into so you might actually have a better view from your ship before you get tendered in. But I wanted you to see why, if you aren't able to do a lot of walking, that you will need to take shore excursions or grab a taxi at the dock. Just walking across some of the parking lots at the dock was a little hair raising. None of the docks are made for pedestrians and none of the dock traffic tends to expect walkers on their roads. Of course, despite all that, we were walking and there's still a lot to discover in this process for example, there was a French amusement park on the dock. Though it was too early in the day to be open it was kinda neat walking through the rides and concession stands seeing everything written in French. We would grow to resent everything written in French later in the day, but I'll get to that. As we walked we discovered an old French fort and from the edge of the water we could see Notre Dame de la Garde in the background. The early morning sky created a beautiful scene to see.

The port where we docked is full of sailboats and fishing boats.

Because we were up and at 'em so early we were able to watch the fishermen as they came in with their catch of the day.

On either side of the water (cause the port is shaped like a water peninsula) are hotels, high rise homes and cafe after cafe after cafe. One just blended into the next with the only way to tell the difference was the color of awnings or tablecloths. You could have eaten your way into oblivion if you stopped at each one.

Check out the menu board in this photo. Yep, everything is in French. How quaint, but now I'm sorta needing some English somewhere. Street names, shop names, products, signs, EVERYTHING is written in French and no one seems to want to translate for you. I'm beginning to think the French don't like us.

The nicest French folks we found were at the local MacDonalds. They let me use their potty (Ed said I hit every MacDonald's potty across Europe). Though the food was a little strange (check out the photo of the MacDonalds' menu board) the bathroom was even stranger. But they let me use it so down I went into the bowels of the storage room under the store, to a unisex bathroom with, of course, no toilet seat). We had a snack of french fries (no pun intended) with their mayonnaise-type sauce and a coke with no ice. YUM.

The rest of Marseille was basically a busy city with stores lining the streets and a mall that we wandered through. Buses. street trolleys, traffic and street vendors abounded on this busy Monday.

One interesting aspect of the mall, however, was that it was built right next to some ancient ruins that I figured they were trying to raise money to "save". A couple of French men were babbling about it and they had handouts and brochures with pictures of the site and what looked like contribution forms to fill out. Beats me, it was all in French and again, no one seemed to want to translate.

I figured I'd make the best of the day and shop a little though it was all stuff I could have bought in my local mall back home. Half way through one store Ed came and got me and said we were leaving. It seems he was going to sit down outside the entrance to the store and wait for me but was rudely told he couldn't sit unless he bought something to eat. Now, get this, the mall is empty, it's too early for any meals, and there's about 50 empty chairs. BUMMER. I have to say, however that once out on the street I found some awsome 5 Euro shoes. Ed even found a jacket he sorta wanted but Marseille had just bummed him out so that he didn't want to spend anything more than he had to in this whole country. I, on the other hand, had money left from the budget but my Jane's Perspective still wouldn't let me buy anything but stuff that I just couldn't get at home so I settled on a little shop that sold French soaps and bought up a mess of different "flavors" for myself and for gifts to take home. They made delightful souvenirs. And upon leaving France, we pulled out of port as night fell and were treated to one of the most beautiful night time scenes we had seen on the whole trip.

A last meal on board with our traveling companions left us with time to pack, put our bags outside the door for pick up, and an early bed time call for we had to be up by 5AM when we were loaded on buses for the Barcelona Airport. After a change over in Amsterdam, we were home by 5:30 pm Memphis time the same day. (Dont' let that time fool you, we were still over 11 hours in flight time. Our bodies told us it was closer to midnight).

So the trip was over. We were safe and sound at home and we had money left over from our 50 Euro a day limit. That last night on the boat, I overheard a fellow say he would be glad to get home to eat some "real" pizza (insinuating that our pizza is the "right" kind of pizza - be aware that only in America do you get all that tomato sauce). Was it just a coincidence or ironic that we ate out at CiCi's pizza buffet on the way home from the airport that night?

The best thing about the trip in my opinion is the time of year we traveled (early Nov.) because we hardly ever had to stand in line, not even at the Vatican, and the weather was perfect. The worse thing about the trip in my opinion is the long flight time and uncomfortable planes. The greatest advantage we had on the trip was that we were young enough to walk as much as we did. The most lasting effect from the trip was our weight gain of over 5 pounds each. But with all the pros and cons I wouldn't trade the memories for anything. Thank you for allowing me to reminisce by sharing with you.

Lost in Monte Carlo

The information I took with me for my cruise tells me that Monte Carlo is only 1 square mile. So how hard can that be to navigate? Don't let it fool you. Monte Carlo is built on a hillside with tunnels, elevators, and escalators to get you from one street level to another only once you get out of the elevator or off of the escalator you can lose your bearings and be totally lost. Irregardless, I came home with really fond memories of Monte Carlo. . . lots more than I thought I would have since I figured it was a country/town for the rich and only the rich. I was pleasantly surprised and if I do say so, got quite a nice photograph of Monte Carlo. (Jane's Perspective thought: You CANNOT take a bad picture in Europe). See. In this next picture you can see what I mean about tunnels and walkways and elevators and escalators. They are all over the hillside. Ed's got that Monte Carlo "Where the F----- are we?" look.

The best thing about getting "lost" in Monte Carlo is that you can always find the water and thus never lose where you got off the boat. AND if you get lost really early in the morning like we did you'll find flower, fish and vegetable markets everywhere. But by noon they disappear like they were never there.

Lost again, Ed found this statue of an early race car for the Race at Monte Carlo. Since we are big Nascar, Indy, and Formula One race fans it was cool to walk the streets where the race occurs and now every year when we watch the race on tv we can point out places we walked and stood and it just brings back great memories to say we were really there. For one of my souvenirs I got a ticket holder with the Monte Carlo race logos. I put my Nascar tickets in it every year when I go to the Brickyard Race in Indy. Last year someone complimented me on it and asked where I got it. I was really tickled to answer "Oh, I got this in Monte Carlo". Cool.

One thing you'll love about Monte Carlo is the part of the French Riviera that you are on. The water is so clear it looks like the boats (excuse me, in Monte Carlo, they are all yachts) are floating on air.

And the shopping is so cool. Good thing it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed when we walked by or I'm sure I would have gone home with the Prada bag that my husband was pointing out in this photo or a set of Gucci luggage or a fur lined something or other. (Yeah, RIGHT).

Famished for lunch and almost at the end of our cruise with some money in the budget to spare, I talked Ed into lunch in an outdoor cafe right on the Riviera. I just had to take a picture of my 40 Euro chicken salad sandwich.

As if we hadn't walked enough, we found these wonderfully wide stairs and folks were all over them walking up and down so we headed up, and up, and up, and up. Even though they were relatively easy to climb they just seemed to never stop.

Low and behold at the top is the Prince's palace and a view to die for. (That's where I got the first picture in this blog of the city).

Heading back down from the palace, we found that there's an easier way to get up to the palace and that's through all of these cool little walking streets with shops and cafes lining each side. I just had to do a painting of this.

The only thing I regret about Monte Carlo is that I didn't drive a Ferrari. We still had one more city to visit and it would be the only city we would see in France so I was still holding tight to my money in case there was a "to die for" souvenir there. If I ever get a chance to go back to Monte Carlo, though, I'm gonna come off the 80 Euros it takes to drive a Ferrari through the streets of Monte Carlo. Although I missed that we did find the casinos and I can always tell my grandchildren that I gambled in Monte Carlo (even if it was only 5 Euros in a slot machine). Hey, its the principal of the thing that counts (Jane's sometimes Perspective).

Pizza in Pisa

Today was a Saturday and Ed and I took the train to Pisa. (We're old pros at this train thingy by now). My only problem was that our nice stroll across Pisa to the Leaning Tower took longer than I thought and I needed to pee really bad by the time we got there. Ed still laughs when we remember all I could think about when we got to Pisa was finding a potty. Once one was found I had to rush back to Ed before I could enter to get change for the "admission fee". (Remember to carry change for the toilets in Italy. Most charge up to 1 Euro for usage.)

Once "relieved" I came out to see a breath taking view of the Leaning Tower. No matter how many pictures you have seen, you'll still be amazed to see it in person. The gleaming white of the stone contrasting with the pristine green of the lawn is so very picturesque. Everyone takes pictures or sketches it as you can see in this painting I made from one of my photos. This piece is titled "Sketching Pisa".

Once you've seen the chapel and the grounds around the tower you can go up into the tower for something like $45 Euros. For Ed and I that was out of our budget and I wasn't too hip on climbing a crooked tower with scaffolding around it. I mean exactly when do you think this tower is going to topple over? I found out later that they don't let people go up just any time so I missed an opportunity but if it was any consolation I saw my traveling companions photos and the climb is not an easy one due to not only the height but also the wear and tear on the steps. And if you are prone to vertigo like me they say that the slant kinda "gets to you" after the first couple of hundred steps.

My perspective (Jane's Perspective) was that I was here and I was soaking up the whole atmosphere just by standing and staring at this beautiful sight. There was no need for me to pay to do more. And while I was there I was able to snap a picture of an adorable child feeding the pigeons. I, of course, had to paint that too. This is a small piece, only about 14 X 20.

Before we left the area, Ed and I had to take the obligatory "holding up the Tower of Pisa" picture.

Now it was time to stroll back to the train. There was plenty of time so we wandered the streets around the tower and found a weekend flea market. Whenever you are in a town on the weekends look for open air markets. You won't believe the bargains and the assortment of goods from which to choose. This is where you can really find a souvenir that's not a China knock off. I painted these two gentlemen who were taking a break at the market. Notice the tents that lined the streets filled with merchandise. I bought a sterling silver ring that looks like an antique and a sweater and spent 15 Euros. (The sweater was a gorgeous purple angora that a lady was selling for 5 Euros).

Around every corner were more and more flea market finds AND as if that was not enough, fruit and vegetable markets line the alleys and by ways. I painted this scene too but my painting just doesn't do justice to the color of the stands.

Now we're hungry and tired but still have time to kill before we have to take the train back to the boat so we stopped for lunch and (you guessed it) we had pizza in Pisa.

This next painting is taken from a photo I took as we sat at the outdoor cafe for our pizza. See why I loved this town so much? Everywhere was something of beauty and Italian flavor. What a fabulous day for our last day in Italy.

Gateway to Florence

Livorno is the dock for traveling to Florence and Pisa, sort of the gateway from your cruise ship to these two cities. We awoke on day one of a two day stopover in Livorno with intentions of joining our traveling companions, renting a van of some sort and traveling to Florence. Finding the van much too small for the 7 of us Ed and I opted (with our newfound confidence in the rail system in Italy due to the ease of travel to Rome) to find the train station and go it on our own. We walked the streets of Livorno (a straight shot from the dock to the train station) finding this McDonald's to be our halfway point from dock to train. If you really want to eat economically in Europe, there's a McDonald's or Burger King in almost every major town, not that you'll get the real flavor of the food of that city by eating there, but it's kinda neat to see the slight European differences in their menu and in our case we knew there were extravagant meals back aboard the cruise ship at night. No need to stuff ourselves before we walked. As we passed the shops of Livorno we saw some interesting items in the windows and in the street vendors shops but at the time we were too busy hoofing it to the train station to shop. After the trip was over that was one of our regrets. The prices and selection had we wanted to shop was excellent in Livorno. We'd spend more time and money there should we return. The shops seemed to be geared more for the locals and the local economy than to the tourists.

Once we arrived at the train station we bought a ticket to Pisa with the intention of changing trains there to get to Florence. There was really no need. You can go straight to Florence but even with that mistake and an hour long wait for the train to Florence from Pisa, we arrived in plenty of time to walk the streets of Florence. Here you see some fellow Americans during that hour long wait puzzling over the maps in preparation for their journeys.

Once aboard the trains you'll find them very accommodating with tiny but useful restrooms, clean but not spic and span seats and train cabins, possibly because everybody and their dogs uses the trains. (See the picture below). They are convenient, mostly on time, and make for easy traveling. Plus it's a great way to meet the locals. We found everyone from the train station attendant to the daily commuter to be most friendly and helpful. And never once did I fear for my life like I might on regular American public transport.

In Florence, not only will you find shopping (that we actually avoided like the plague - remember we were on a strict budget) but you'll find the town to be bursting to overflowing with art and artists. On almost every street you'll find either an art gallery, art supply store, or street artist like the one I painted in the piece below. This is another of the pieces that I have in the April show at Gallery 56. I had two paintings of street artists in Florence in my show and they both sold.

Everywhere in Florence things are old, old, old. And whats so really cool is imagining the generations of peoples that have walked these same streets, people like Michaelangelo, Botticelli, Da Vinci. Imagine, as my husband is doing right here, that their hands may have touched the same railings and doors that you can just walk right up to and touch yourself hundreds of years later.

One of the oddest things about all of Europe is the graffiti on the walls. Though the walls themselves may be thousands of years old, every now and then there's an odd spot of spray paint. This picture of an art gallery has an odd patch of graffiti that pointed directly to my husband. The shops behind him were very upscale art and antique shops.

Since I really wasn't looking for the shopping in Florence (due to the valuation of the dollar we could get cheaper leather jackets and stuff in America than in Europe) I explored the outskirts of Florence on the map (still within walking distance) and found that with some winding up and down the narrow streets of Florence, I could actually find the home of Michaelangelo. For me as an artist, this meant way more to me than any leather jacket or purse.

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With plenty of time to stroll the streets we found fascinating people, places and things and always there was an atmosphere of "love" in the air, whether person to person, person to city, or person to art. I painted two such lovers in this piece I titled "Amore II". Enjoy.

Ah, Roma

It's day 6 of the cruise and we dock in Civitavecchia which is about an hour from Rome. Now we weren't budgeting shore excursions into our trip. I was relying on internet info and our courage to get around Europe on our own whenever and wherever possible. This time there was going to be a lot to see and very little time for mistakes. We docked at 6am and had to be back on board by 8pm. And this was Rome for goodness sake. You could spend a whole week in Rome. How were we supposed to see everything? Well, here's Jane's Perspective again. There was no way to see it all so we were determined to just see what we could, savor the moments and make promises to return.

First order of business, was getting to Rome without paying for a shore excursion. Online at PortReview.com I found the port of Civitavecchia with detailed (color pictures and everything) of exactly what the port looked like, how to get out of the dock area to the street area, how to get to the train station (with pictures of what the building would look like) and exactly what ticket to buy. Our train tickets for 2 people was 1.80 Euros and we got to Rome way ahead of the tour buses from the ship.

Ready for traction, we took off in our tennis shoes and it was a good thing too. This is an example of many of the sidewalks in Rome. We saw Roman women in extremely high heeled boots clicking along these uneven stones without a flinch. I would have broken my neck so gladly the tennis shoes did me just fine. We hit the ground running once we got out of the train. Even though I knew I couldn't see everything in one day I was determined to see at least two things, the Sistine Chapel and the Coliseum. They were at opposite ends of town but I had maps and we were going to try. Our first snag came when we took a wrong turn to get into the entrance to the Vatican. We practically ran around an entire block before we found the entrance. Once there we had been told that the line to get in could take as long as a couple of hours. BUT because our cruise had been scheduled for early November we practically walked right in.

There are so many wonderful things to see in the Vatican and again you could take a whole day just wandering through the beautiful rooms there but I knew I had to limit my viewing if we were to get across town to the Coliseum and back to the boat by departure time. SO I found signs that led to "The Sistine Chapel" and followed them hurried through room after room of gorgeous tapestries, ancient maps, statues, and artwork covering the walls, halls, floors and ceilings. At each one my husband (not one for knowing what great work of art is what) would stop and admire and say "Is this it?". "Nope", I would answer and grab his arm to head down the next hall following the next sign to "The Sistine Chapel". The picture below is just one of the many rooms we "flew" through.

Then all of a sudden we were there. "The Sistine Chapel" was right through the next door. We stopped, I took a breath (for I knew I was about to have my breath taken away) and we walked through. No need to tell me not to take a photo. I was too much in awe to do much but walk around admiring what I had studied so long in art school. What was truly amazing was the lack of crowds. I had been told that they pack you in like sardines and shuffle you in and out. Not so when we were there. We actually sat, leaning against the walls that Michelangelo himself had touched and took in every detail at our leisure.

Having reached the chapel so much sooner than we thought we would, we had time to wander through the Vatican just a little more so we wound our way down halls and passageways only to find ourselves winding down a huge spiral staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase was the exit. HUH? What happened to the rest of the building? Not knowing what it would take to wind our way back into the Vatican, we chose to go ahead and start our trek across town to the coliseum. Who knew how long that would take? I had a rough estimate but that was all it was, a rough estimate of a foreign town with a color coded map.

Before we left the area, however I ran across a site that I photographed and later painted with palette knife. It was a monk, leaning on a railing between two columns, looking out over the Vatican.

I used this painting as one of the starting points to the creation of 28 pieces for a one man art show in Memphis for April 2010 and decided to "give it back". My Jane's Perspective always tells me to give back to the people and the community that supports my artwork so this piece will be silent auctioned during the show with all proceeds going to MIFA's food bank program.

Leaving the Vatican and heading across town we found the beauty of Rome to be slightly marred here and there by the beggers in the streets. What I found particularly heart breaking was the position of the beggers, often children or women, who would actually prostrate themselves on the streets, hands outstetched with donation cups in hand. If you go, please be mentally prepared for this.

But the beauty of Rome is still never ending. As we kept a good pace up following our map to the Coliseum, at every opening between the buildings we found beautiful artwork. Paintings and statues adorn even the smallest niche or courtyard. This picture is just one of many that led to nothing more than an parking garage.

As we walked closer to the Roman Forum we were feeling not only the mystery of the ancients who walked it before us but also the hustle and bustle of a vibrant active city. Ruins of the ancient city surrounded us until "gasp" there it was in all it's glory - The Coliseum. And to our utter amazement, the rain that threatened our day not only stayed away but created a fabulous cloud formation that inspired the focal piece of my art show. The colors in this painting that I titled "Clouds over Rome" are just as we found them with the sun peaking through to add even more beauty to the day.

Amazingly we strolled through the Coliseum and wandered our way leisurely back to the train station with time to spare, feeling successful, fulfilled, and pleasantly exhausted for what we saw, not what we might have missed.

Pleasent change in Plans

Under our door after supper was a notice that due to stormy weather, our next port of call would not be Amalfi as planned but would be Sorento. OK, so now I knew why I went to bed woozy, we were basically in a storm at sea. So now all the prep time I made exploring via the Internet, Amalfi and the surrounding area, all the times I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" to see its' neighboring city Positano, I was not going to see either town. What the heck did Sorento have to offer?

Low and behold Sorrento is close to Pompei, a place my husband and I have always found fascinating, and low and behold, they had an excursion that would visit the city of Pompei. We found that here was one excursion we had to take advantage of. AND it wasn't very expensive. Under 60 Euros each, we signed on. Though this was over our budget for the day, the last two days plus the first day at sea we came up way under our budget so the money was available.

Sorrento had to be tendered into. In other words you had to take a small boat from the ship to the town as there was no dock at Sorrento. I painted Sorrento from the photo of the scene from the tender boat. And truly the colors are just as I remembered them. A storm was gathering which created the beautiful cloud formations and cast awesome shadows on the cliffs of the town. Once we boarded our bus to Pompei we found that in Europe, the biggest car wins. Streets were just as tight as Messina, maybe tighter with all the cars parked at either side of the narrow roads. If you met a bus such as we were in, you backed into the closest "hole" to let us pass and thus we made our way to the ancient city of Pompei. And yes, they let you see the dead people.

Most of our time was spent as a tour group waiting for the older folks to walk along the uneven roads of Pompei. Our tour guide was constantly encouraging faster walking so that we could see more of what turned out to be a huge city with markets and it's own coliseum. AND he was hurrying us along because the clouds were gathering heavier and rain was threatening.

As the rain finally began to pour we all found shelter in a Pompei bath house across from the "house of ill repute" complete with a carved penis over the door. We spent the rest of our tour in the bath house but it was really neat to see the carvings and paintings on the wall and have time to savor the thoughts of the ancient Pompeians basking in this luxury.

The worse thing about Pompei is that I let my camera battery die so all I could do was enjoy and try to burn the images of this fascinating city plus the highlights of the streets on Sorrento on my brain instead of on my digital "film". But I did get one more photo of some columns of Pompei and I used them for another of my paintings for my one man show.

Sorrento became one of our favorite stops on our trip and a place that we hope to return to someday. We could have spent a whole day in Pompei and the town of Sorrento was absolutely lovely with it's tight streets filled with shops, quaint hotels and cafes, affordable food and souvenirs, fascinating wood work, and steep cliffs overlooking the sea. Ah, Sorrento.

Messina

Nighttime falls on our first excursion day and I find that sleeping on a cruise ship as it runs from port to port is indeed enjoyable. The humming of the engine lulls you to sleep and if there is a slight roll it just rocks you like a baby in a cradle.

Then here's another of the reasons that we really loved traveling through Europe on a cruise ship. Each dawn brings a new location. Like magic, you awaken with a new city and a new site to see. Fortunately we most always seemed to be on the dock side of the boat. On this particular morning, day two of our excursions, we awoke to this site of Messina, Sicily before the boat docked. This is a good shot of what the view looked like out of our room window. Remember I said we got a "deal" for taking an obstructed view room. Well, our window was approximately 5 feet by 6 feet (no small porthole here) and it never bothered me to have a lifeboat right outside.
From my studies of Messina I found that most of the city was destroyed during WW II and rebuilt so all the ancient buildings were pretty much gone. We found it to be just a nice city and with no particular place in mind that I just had to see while I was there, we slept late, met up with some fellow travelers and just walked the downtown streets. Aimlessly we went armed only with a city map and ultimately got kinda turned around and lost. We stumbled upon some pretty rough sections of the downtown and had it not been for our sheer numbers I might have felt ill at ease. Bums and hobos abounded and most of the people who looked like they belonged there were city workers on their way to jobs.

One thing that my husband wanted to make sure I got a picture of was the motorcycles along the street. It seems that they have super engines that we can't get in motorcycles in the states mainly because of environmental issues. All you motorcycle fanatics take note and enlarge the picture and you can see better what he's talking about.

I found the streets to be incredibly crowded with cars, motorcycles and buses. Motorcycles and small cars were parked anywhere and everywhere they would fit. I couldn't imagine anything larger than a smart car maneuvering through the traffic when I happened upon their means for supplying all the stores along these tight streets. Just take a small car and load it top to bottom like this one.

One of the highlights of Messina was an opportunity to taste my first gelato (Italian ice cream). I told the vendor that it was my first and he added the red waffle cookie to the top.

We didn't start our walk til about 9:00 or 10:00 and with all the wandering around I figured we would miss one of the only events that we needed to see in Messina, the clanging of the clock tower at noon but low and behold just down the street from the gelato store was the town square with the church and clock tower.

This was the Cathedral of Norman and the bell tower is a famous astronomical clock built in Strasbourg and moved here in 1933. It has a lion that roars, a rooster, and many Biblical figures that react to the chimes at noon. We were there just in time and it was well worth the wait.

Along with all the tourists to see this tower were bunches of street vendors with scarves to sell. They were only 5 Euros so here was the perfect souvenir of Messina and it kept me well within my budget as I picked up several for relatives and friends.

After noon, the crowd dispersed and we entered the cathedral, one of many in Europe. As my husband said, "you can't spit in Europe without hitting a cathedral". Upon entering I was flabergasted at the beautiful artwork. Paintings, statues, wood carvings, marble floors - you name it and all so reverent and beautiful.

But as we returned to the dock I took a photograph of a "Jane's Perspective" sort of thing. On the wall across the street front he boat dock were these enlarged pictures. Kinda neat, huh?

Back onboard, it's happy hour time, time for supper in the Grand ballroom and then straight to bed cause I was feeling a little woozy. Tell you why in the next blog.