Sketching in Assisi

I love drawing in Assisi. Narrow, medieval alleyways. Two hilltop castles. A church on every corner. Plentiful walls, benches and stair steps to sit on. Dramatic views over the Umbrian farmland below, or up beyond the city into the depths of Mount Subiaso Park.

The morning yoga view from our B&B.

Sara and I have seen many artists painting or sketching here. Lucca has a major art school but we didn’t see anyone out sketching the city itself. Ten minutes after we arrived in Assisi, we met watercolor painters from Australia, Maria and Geraldine. In the days since, we’ve seen several urban sketchers out and about.

After Assisi, Maria and Geraldine are traveling to Fabriano for one of the world’s most famous watercolor shows. Maria’s paintings have represented Australia in three past exhibitions (mariafieldart.com).

The light here is incredible. The past few days have seemed to be constantly in magic hour. I’ll have to add color to some of my sketches later. There’s simply too much to draw and only so long I can ask Sara to walk around in circles with Wombat.

I’m not the only one who has noticed Assisi is a popular destination for sketching and painting. While I was drawing on the steep hillside below Rocca Maggiore (the big castle), a harried-looking tour group trudged past my position at the side of the road.

My sketch of Rocca Maggiore.

I felt some curious eyes on me, so I prepared myself for some looky-loos. The most common variety likes to admire my sketches by standing directly in between me and what I am trying to sketch. “You don’t mind if I watch, do you?” If they linger, they might mention their son/daughter/grandchild/vague acquaintance is also an artist. “Have you heard of them?”

My favorite looky-loos are those who mistake me for an Italian and have an entire conversation about me in English (mostly complimentary), then give me a thumbs up and a heartfelt “Molto Boner.”

But I wasn’t fully prepared to hear: “Christ. Another damn artist.” In a beautifully thick, if slightly out of breath, Texas accent.

Now, I’ve spent a good part of my life in Texas. My first thought was this man was teasing me. But he definitely wasn’t. No sign of humor when I glanced up. This poor man was clearly too far from his cruise ship buffet.

I have decided to make a t-shirt to shock those of his ilk from their black moods. Emblazoned across the front and back (with perhaps splashes of tie-die): Yes, another damn artist in picturesque Italy. Accomplished, consummate, elitist tourists since 1670. Approach with caution, or an offering of apertivi and snacks.

But enough meta-silliness (tourist complaining about the behavior of another tourist). Let’s have some more sketches of Assisi!

For those of you who might be missing footnotes…

See: The Voyage of Italy, by Richard Lassels, 1670, Paris and London. The t-shirt above represents a self-serving corruption of his “Grand Tour” idea.

Personally, I blame painters like Mary Cassat and John Singer Sargent for this recent (relatively, as in more likely to follow Baedecker than Pausanias) plague of tourist-artists in Italy. Within the current century, perhaps Nathan Fowkes and Gabriel Campanario (the originator of urban sketching).

Come to think of it, all that’s a bit too lofty for Sara and me. Just serve us a nice pasta and put on Under The Tuscan Sun. We’re pretty much halfway to the airport.

If we really want to put on airs, we might claim that E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View has inspired our trip. Especially the Merchant Ivory film. Here is where the birds sing! Here is where the sky is blue!

Come to think of it, my Texas friend could probably use a dose of the eternal “Yes!” Then again, the sight of Mr. Beebe bathing could well cause the poor man’s head to explode.