artist's retreat has had its first artist staying for a month.........

Since I bought my little house to use as an artist's retreat ( and a  place to rent out  as a "Pisticci Experience")
I have had a lot of guests from all over europe. But this is the first time I have had an artist come for a whole month.
( As the artist was married to a musician....I have been wondering where that could go too-as  there are a lot of musicians here and possible scope to play.......)
However back to art and Pisticci .
I am including part of an email Royane wrote about her experience here.  (  royanemosely.com  )

"I realized within a few weeks how important it is for a creative person to step out of the familiar and into  a different culture, surrounding oneself with the people, the food, the landscape and the light and the rhythm of daily life which is so different than our own. It's like unused circuits in the brain begin to fire.
The retreat has a spiritual quality - I don't mean in a religious way. It just feels good. It feels comfortable and somehow allows one's mind to open to new possibilities in one's chosen art form."

This is pretty much the affect I was hoping for.


Today I am sorting out a few small details and getting  the artist's retreat ready for the summer. I am almost completely booked until October - except for a few days in june and the first 2 weeks in september.
I am hoping for some longer term guests in the autumn and even the winter as there is now a pellet stove which should keep the house warm. ( I provide an electric blanket too.)
You can find me on AIRBNB as "small house in Pisticci"

I bought this little house because I wanted to share the experience/joy/fun/inspiration/love  that I have found here. Hope to see you soon..............

1st of may- summer is a coming...........

I gave up on writing 500 words a day for 31 days , because I was just too busy. My Artist's retreat is now as ready as I know how but it took a lot more work than I anticipated to get it ready.
And along with several commissions - I  thought I had more than enough to do.
It did however teach me that if I had to I could write 500 words on pretty much anything in a reasonably short period of time. I would like to think also that if I do it again later in the year that a month of writing would improve my writing skill. It did help with the perfectionism which was the reason I wanted to do the project in the first place.
So having said that I am just going to write about today.
I have been at home all day as I would like to have the weekend off- if you can count getting up at 5.30am on sunday morning to go to a market with paintings time off?
So I have been getting up at about 6.15am every morning in order to have a longer day. (some days it works- other days I just fall asleep at 5pm for half an hour and  miss the bus to yoga class.....)
But today I worked on a large painting all morning and finished it. In between advising my guests in the Artist's retreat where to find the instructions for the washing machine. ( I am hoping that they will give me a demo before they leave as working machinery is not one of my skills)
Then while making lunch I had to decide whether to sit outside - using heat of sun but not able to use computer or sit inside and put on gas heater and work on computer. It was very frustrating but it is that time of year when it is warm outside but still chilly inside.
I also had another little job to do which involved painting over a figure on a table top which I had previously painted. It wasn't difficult but was quite funny at one point when there was only head and hands left showing. It is nearly covered up now and only remains to be varnished again- and again -- and again. as it's to be used in a cafe. It's quite fun to do something like that- I have another one to do when that one is delivered..
After that I started work on something I am doing as a sort of translation. It was quite a lot of work but I really enjoyed being challenged.I have a large pile of books (dictionaries, thesaurus, both english and italian) which makes me feel very industrious. I hope to finish it tomorrow - if I get up at 6.15am -yawn!
After that I went outside to get some inspiration to write a blog post and found something rather peculiar. . I have had a yellow rose for the last 2 years which I have broken bits off ( there is probably a technical term for this , but I don't know what it is.) and stuck them in soil and so now I have about 6  little rose bushes. But now, one of them has pink roses. How is that? There is also another plant which seems to have 2 different kinds of flowers on it. Very odd!
However my flowers are looking wonderful and  my street is so pretty at the minute. I am intending to paint it as often as I feel like . I never used to be much of a gardener so I am fairly impressed by how good it looks.
Now it must be about time for a glass of wine so I will plonk some photos on this post and welcome the weekend.

something different for an exhibition

sold this painting of my flowers

love this 

finished this today (60x80cms)

my industrious desk

thinking of giving up already........

Yawn.....am a bit tired and it's only 8am. I didn't realise that there would be so much work to do in getting my artist's retreat ready for Sunday. As soon as I finish this I am off to buy more paint and then paint the last coat of paint upstairs.
Yesterday was filled with painting and cleaning and arranging  and sewing . It was a lovely sunny day and it was very enjoyable but following on from the previous day when I  had to come back in the evening and then put my studio in order as some of my furniture had been moved to the other house , it was a lot slower pace.
Want to make sure I don't get much slower today..... but is definitely getting there.
Am getting some logs delivered to "artfully" decorate the fireplace and another chest for storage ( and because it looks nice)
My artistic  interior decorator/ restorer and next door neighbour is away for 2 days so I will be doing all the little fiddly bits and making sure all the bedding is clean etc.
The downside of my artist's retreat looking so beautiful is that my studio looks scruffy and not so good in comparison which means I now feel that I will have to get started on cleaning and painting here too. I forsee a busy weekend.
(How is my excuse for missing yesterdays 500 words sounding so far?)
As I have now 2 outstanding commissions to paint I would like to get all the house work done before I start work next week on painting.
It is nice that it is spring and the sun is shining in he windows but all the shadows on the walls in my studio are actually damp or mould patches. It was not noticeable before - in the corners or up high where the light didn't reach. But this is a normal problem here and painters and decorators will be seen everywhere over the next 2 months. The houses here were built when it was much drier in this area and in the summer they are cool and dry but in the winter even

getting there.....

the best insulated and heated ones still have problems.
So I have discovered painting with a roller. Oh what fun- and this is what should make fixing my studio less of a chore. I painted the whole of the upstairs floor in about 30 minutes yesterday so fixing up my house ( It really needs replastered and all sorts done- which is not happening.) with several coats of paint and some energetic cleaning and  throwing out of everything I can bear to part with  should be possible over the weekend.
Then it's back to semi- normal on Tuesday.
Must go and buy more paint now. Apologies for wittering on in a tired manner.... but might be back later after all........

a dayful of feelings......

Got up this morning feeling a bit down. No particular reason  I could think of. Didn't have too much to drink the previous evening and had several things organised for the day ahead.
I have found from experience that  the best way to deal with mornings like this is 1. ignore  feelings and  2. do what I feel like as far as possible.
So after breakfast I went out on my scooter to pick up a prescription at the docs. That was my first try. no sign of doctor or prescription.
Went for a coffee.
Back to doctor's. Still no sign of doctor.
Went to hardware shop and bought some paint brushes
Back to doctor's. Waiting room full- no sign of prescriptions which are usually left lying on the table, but the doctor was in her room - with a patient.
Waited another 5 minutes and a good friend came in and we had a nice chat. Decided I would phone and find out about my prescriptions later - but thought it had been worth the effort to meet my friend.
Scootered back to house and met friend to discuss electrics in my new house . Found out all I needed to do was plug in an extension ......DOH!!!!  (Temporary measure but quite ok for the time being.)
Back to studio and had substantial lunch to prepare me for an afternoon of cleaning and painting..... aha  reason for feeling low perhaps......
Then off to artist's retreat to paint ceiling - nothing as simple as flat ceiling but pitched roof with rafters. However thanks to my new sleeping area/upstairs I was able to reach much more of it with a paintbrush and only had to use the extending handle for the middle. It wasn't as bad a job as I had imagined but my dear little house still looked pretty rough when I had finished so I thought i would make a start on putting the furniture back.
It was complicated . In fact it's too complicated to explain  but it had to do with beds and bathroom ceilings.
While standing there wondering what to do one of my neighbours looked in, then another and soon there was an animated discussion going on about where to put what  in which I got the occasional word. But I was offered a coffee and I figured I needed one as I was getting nowhere.
Along with the coffee I got some inspired advice from my neighbour and he offered to help.
What a transformation. To have someone help was great but to have someone who was really good at  arranging interiors - like an artist was downright brilliant.  Halfway through this process we were further inspired by a very nice glass of wine.
I was so relieved and happy and in fact almost emotional. I had secretly been worried that by adding the upstairs I had spoiled the look and the atmosphere and the dimensions of my little house but thanks to Luca It looks amazing. But even more so the few paintings I had there are now displayed in a way that makes me feel proud to be the artist, I didn't know they could look so good.
I think now that it looks even better than before.
By this time I was late for meeting friends for pizza and now its well after 11pm ( late for me) but I have written this  cause I said I would....yawn .... and a few more yawns will surely take it to 500 words.......zzzzzzzzzzzz

haphazard holiday hunt.........

Kind of a dumb title maybe but it's fairly accurate.
I have a big birthday this year which I am not looking forward to. Whoever says numbers don't matter is not correct in my opinion. I have been feeling 19 plus experience on the inside for some considerable time. So I know  that  the expression  "you are only as old as you feel" is fair enough but , see, when you write down the numbers- it doesn't work.
 I am having a problem with numbers.
So I decided that I should do something a little adventurous, that I have never done before and go somewhere by myself  for this birthday. (possibly trying to prove to myself that life does not stop at ??, but perhaps lots of adventurous holidays begin.....at ??.)
My first choice was a break in  Copenhagen. I think I wanted to go there because of the little mermaid story. I also read  that it is a very safe place. And it looks very beautiful. Friends have said that the Danish people are lovely too. So that was my plan and I looked for places to stay, lots of possibilities. And then I looked at flights - and I even looked at traveling all the way by train.
And then I bought a pellet stove for my artist's retreat ........then a sleeping platform... and a washing machine......and I thought - maybe next year.
Next big plan was to find somewhere in Italy that I would really like to visit. I could have gone to Florence again (I love Florence) or I could have gone to Lecce - the Florence of the south and considerably nearer. I toyed with going to Sicily  or the Amalfi coast. All good ideas - and I checked trains and hotels and B and Bs and different dates. But I didn't book anything.
Then one day when I wasn't really thinking about it it popped into my head- what I had always wanted to do was explore Basilicata- where I live. Because I don't drive and a scooter is not so good for longer distances I have rarely been anywhere.Two or three times I have gone exploring with an artist friend and I have treasured these times. To live in an area like this and never go anywhere is just plain frustrating.
Buses are not very plentiful and worse; the timetables are non existent. What is on the internet - is mostly incorrect and so it is only recently that I have begun to get a little more confident with buses. (You need to ask at the bus station and cross your fingers.)
It would be an adventure indeed to explore Basilicata by bus. I would need to stay overnight as it would probably take me all day to get very far. I wanted to go north.I didn't really know where I wanted to go so I started with Bella which is actually a town north of Potenza- for no better reason than  having chosen years ago my internet name Bellabasilicata (beautiful basilicata) I thought it would be fun to go there and be Bellabasilicata in Bella, Basilicata. (I had no idea previously that there was a town called Bella.)
Then I had read a book about Tricarico  (Torregreca) so that was another place I thought I would have some connection with. Then when I first came here I read "Christ stopped at Eboli" by Carlo Levi so I could also go to Aliano.
I got on the internet and could find no guesthouses, rooms or hotels in any of these places. I checked site after site and then I started to look at neighbouring towns . (Not having a car or expectation of regular buses it would have been best to stay in these towns rather than attempt to visit.) So I widened the search and checked for accommodation in towns and found two possibilities. On looking through the photos advertising one of them there was a photo of a lovely little village called Sasso di Castaldo which must have been a local place to visit. I kept on looking at more places in the same area and then noticed that there was actually a place in Sasso di Caldo at a very affordable price. I clicked on it and there it was - my holiday  destination.
Il rifugio stellata (the starry refuge) It sounds and looks amazing.
I pressed the "book" button and  for my birthday this year I will be in Sasso di Caldo , exploring the beautiful scenery, enjoying a new experience of another village, meeting some animals, painting  and celebrating the fact that i have lived this long. (fingers crossed)

whoopee... another booking in artist's retreat.......

Funny how something can completely change the way you are feeling- or at least that happens with me. It has been , shall we say, a challenging week.
My artist's retreat , ( a little house I bought and am hoping to encourage artists, writers and anyone who wants some time out  to use.) has been getting  a sleeping area put in. It is a one roomed house like a lot of the houses here and I thought that it would make good use of the space to add an upstairs and put the bed there - leaving more room for living in the downstairs. It was a big decision as I really liked the high ceiling and the space there was.
However , although it is not quite finished and its difficult to imagine it downstairs while all my furniture is piled in a heap at the back, the upstairs is beautiful. I think  with a bit of judicious arranging of the bed that there will be room to sit upstairs and in fact if I was living there I would be painting upstairs. There is a cute little window with views across the  rooftops to the sea. The wall was stripped back to the stone and I can easily imagine sitting up there reading or writing or painting.
Like any work it has been a bit stressful with a few unexpected problems needing dealt with. These are all  fixed now I hope.  However until it is completely finished I won't know exactly how it is going to work out and what might need changed. I have measured where I think the bed might fit but frankly have no confidence in my measuring. I usually need to actually put something somewhere to see if it will work. My next guest should arrive in about a week so I will be busy.
Then I have also been struggling to come up with an idea for a painting for an exhibition in the summer. I am not too keen on the theme but I would like to be in the exhibition so have spent ages on the computer this morning researching the subject and getting more and more fed up.
I want also to paint a picture to fit in the space above the door in my artist's retreat- this will solve one of the unexpected problems I hope , but I have no canvases or wood to fit the space. Once I had measured it I thought I would just hunt around in my studio and find a large board I could cut to size - but I don't have anything big enough. This would not be a problem if I had a car but large boards and buses don't go well together.
So I had a break.  Got on with reading the next Inspector Montalbano book and had a cup of tea.
Then my phone beeped - and I have another booking. for my retreat!
What a mood lifter!
I went back on the computer and found an image I hadn't noticed  before which I can use part of to start building up a composition.
And it's now occurred to me that I could get the man in the hardware shop to cut a bit of wood for me or sell me some hardboard which I can cut myself. (I can easily carry it through the town)
All sorted then for today .... and that should be about 500 words I think....

upstairs

A rainy day off... and how I can't eat like an Italian

I shouldn't really have a glass of wine at lunch time if I want to do anything else in the afternoon but when the rain is pouring down outside and you are in a little trattoria where famous people have occasionally eaten - so it is said - then it's a bit hard not to have a glass along with a plate of  mushed up beans and some dark green vegetable.
I think the dish is called fave e verdure (beans and veg) . It loses something in the translation it is true but it tastes really good and I get to feel like I am doing a good thing for myself by  choosing this. Not that I exactly chose it- more agreed with the waitress/owner's recommendation. It's a complicated situation
Eating out in Italy has almost always led to me feeling like I am a sad failure.
And today was no different.
I don't know what it's like in other parts of Italy but down where we are lunches are big- in general.
Theoretically one would begin with antipasti which could include up to a dozen different small dishes. It could be vegetables, hams, cheeses, fish- lots of variations and I love antipasti because trying lots of different things is great- like a buffet. But that is only the first course so I rarely have antipasti because its too embarrassing  to finish with the starter.
Then there is the primo  ( first course) That would be pasta or rice and something. I love this course too. one of my favourites is pasta arrabiata  which I once saw translated as "pasta to the angry"   Its really hot and spicy and makes me laugh when I remember the name.  Or lasagne is one of the primo dishes. I had a very delicious  pasta course last week in Scanzano with sausage and various other things. In this restaurant they have a gorgeous selection of antipasti which you help yourself to, but I have to decide which course to have as I have tried to eat both but I just can't. At least in this particular restaurant they know us and are resigned to the fact that we don't eat "right".
Then there is the secondo. That is usually meat, or fish served on its own so you need to order separately a salad or patatine fritte.(chips)  Sometimes this looks so delicious . There might be a choice of meats or sausages or various types of fish. I have once had  a secondo- while missing out antipasti and the pasta course.
Then there is a sweet course. And Italian sweets are wonderful.
That would be followed by coffee and a digestivo.( like limoncello or amaro lucano or grappa)
And that is a sort of basic meal- all of that!
Scottish friends, visiting ,went to Aliano to see the town where Carlo Levi lived and when they asked if there was anywhere to eat they were shown to a back street and ushered into a large room where it looked like half the town was dining. There was no menu. And there were nine courses. I have always wanted to visit Aliano but I was glad to have missed this.
I am reading the Inspector Montalbano mysteries just now and food is so important in these stories.
Everybody here talks about food. Hearing teenagers in a supermarket discussing what they are having for lunch and how it is being cooked is so strange...
So back to the trattoria in Bernalda where the lovely lady who served us was so nice and offered us so many lovely dishes and I hated to disappoint her but ...... I just can't eat like an Italian.