saturday morning in Pisticci

Its been a while since I wrote a nice relaxed blog about an ordinary morning.
So this was Saturday morning just passed, yesterday in fact!
I had come up to my studio about 8.30am as I had a commission I was working on and I wanted to get it finished. It included a very shiny red sports car which I had left till last as I wasn't all that sure how I would do it.
So having arrived here I decided to go out shopping for food - putting off the evil hour. It was a lovely morning . I jumped on my scooter and headed for the supermarket. I like this particular one (Qui) because apart from being reasonably affordable , the staff are all really friendly. I was taken aback one day when one of the girls at the till asked if I had had my hair cut. (That was way more observant than someone else I can think of)  I like the car park too. There are trees to park under if its hot ,and often one of those cute little cinquecentos which look like you could pick em up and put them in your pocket, parked diagonally in the corner or anywhere else at any angle. I think I would learn to drive for one of these. And they are painted such bright colours too. Sigh!!
Anyways off home I went with more choc ices and other important stuff. But I still had not had a coffee - you know - to wake me up and help me paint more .So not giving myself any time to argue that the time was getting on and I could make coffee myself I sped off again.
Only my two favourite cafes were closed so I went to another one down by the fruit market with the most gorgeous views.  I sat there for a pleasant 15 minutes , took some photos and chatted to the nice guy working there who told me some of the history of the area. I just love that particular view as you look right down over a lot of old roofs with the original tiles and then accross the valley and on to the hills, then the mountains in the distance. Apparently there is a man's hairdresser 2 or 3  doors along where you can get your hair cut and look out over the same view.

Having had my stimulating cup of coffee I dawdled up the corsa margherita and had a look round the chinese shop. Oh what lovely things they have, but I resisted. (Only have 15euros left to end of month so wasn't that hard.)
Decided I should go to the farmacia next and stock up on decongestants. I tell myself I will be much better when I stop eating so much ice cream. While I am waiting in the the queue I hear  drums and trumpets  coming closer. I decide that, having my camera I am obligated to take photos so leave just before it's my turn.
It's a small parade with men in tights and velvet tunics carrying large flags, girls dressed up and playing drums and trumpets and various other people dressed in beautiful outfits just walking or carrying a large banner. They go into the piazza and hang about , so after taking some photos I go back into the farmacia. There is now a bigger queue, but am in no hurry.
By the time I come out the procession has reformed and the guys with the flags do a display of flag throwing, twirling , catching, juggling and dropping.  They are mostly quite young. I take lots of photos trying to get the flags in the air.
After about 20 minutes it is over and they march off loudly back down the corsa.
By this time someone has offered to meet me for a coffee so ,as its's saturday and whatever hurry I was in I am successfully ignoring, I arrange to meet him in the cafe with the lovely view and as he joins me there I am being offered a guided tour of historical basilicata. I really hope this happens as I have seen pitifully little of this area.
Decided I had better have a fruit juice this time as I don't want to be over stimulated . It is a beautiful cafe inside too. There is a balcony on two sides upstairs and a pitched roof with beams. There are lovely old tiles on the floor and a gorgeous antique cupboard right next to where we are sitting.
So after a last stroll up the corsa I go off through the narrow streets to where my scooter is parked. I love scootering in the town, though its neccessary to be alert as you just never know what the other drivers will do. 
What a lovely morning - and now for that red car!
Have added a photo of my flowers outside my door as I am awfully proud that they are still alive. And the three little girls in the drawing thought that if I drew them they would be famous, so I look forward to telling them next time I see them that their drawing has been seen by people from all over the world.

End of August, Hope It's Not The End Of Summer!

I am sitting here at the computer wearing vest, shorts and sandals. The door is open and there is quite a strong breeze blowing the net curtain in and out. My thermometer on the mantlepiece says its 30c in here, so its probably warmer outside. It's after 6pm.
I don't want the summer to end. This year in particular has been so good. I enjoy feeling warm, having to shut the door to keep the midday heat out, sitting outside in the evenings, scootering around in shorts and tee shirt, wakening up to sun streaming in every morning and opening the door, looking up and down the street and smiling at the start of another sunny day.
It is the official end of the Italian summer holidays today and most of the tourists from the north have already left. The town is much quieter than  two weeks ago.
On the beach all the temporary bars will be being taken down and by the end of next week the beach will be deserted apart from a few people who come down with camper vans  and spend September by the  beach. The temperatures should still be good for most people (25c -30c or maybe more.)
In the next few weeks all the people who worked all through August in shops and bars will have a chance to take a holiday. They deserve it , some bars have been open 7 days a week from 6am till  midnight- or so it seemed as they were always open when I passed.
The last two weeks were not uneventful even after the buzz of the feste etc. There have been some bad fires around Pisticci and there was a serious chance that the country house could have been burned. The fire stopped about 200m from the house. Some friends' houses escaped when the fire passed much closer. Most damage has been done to the trees planted on the hills round Pisticci to prevent soil erosion.
It was quite frightening as you can see from the photo I took in the dark of the hill up to Pisticci on fire. Now driving up the road its all black on both sides.
Round by my studio you wouldn't know there had been a fire as it was mainly the other side that was affected.
So maybe next week, when my bottle of fake tan arrives in the post , I will go to the beach. (Am not appearing  without some sort of colour- and I just havent had the time or the inclination to sit or be outside getting brown. Though I did notice my toes are very brown, but that's not enough!)

And if this weather continues then maybe I can stretch summer out for another month.before I have to accept it's over.

Out every night till 2am - film festival and feste 2012

The last official day of the feste was yesterday, but there are still events for at least the next three days, so will get to continue to practise my new skill of staying up till 2am.
What a wonderful month it has been. There has been virtually no rain since June and the temperatures have been above 30c every day (including some days at 45c) so a lot of things happen in the evenings when it is cooler.
August began with fireworks, bells and a brass band at 6am not counting the all night party held round the corner.
Then there was my very first exhibition in Pisticci on the 7th and 8th of August . (http://bellabasilicata.wordpress.com )
And immediately after that the lucania film festival began with 4 days of films from all over the world. This year's special guest was award winning film director Emir Kusturica who spoke about film making to the many film makers from various countries who had come to Pisticci to compete for various prizes and also have a great time meeting people and no doubt enjoying Pisticci in the sun shine. I watched several feature length films, including  one directed by Emir Kusturica called , Black Cat, White Cat. I have ordered a copy with english subtitles as it was dubbed in Italian but was so funny I want to know what i missed. I have never seen anything like it, but would reccomend it . I also loved a film called Father ,Son and Holy Cow.I don't know who made it.
The finale of the film festival was a concert by Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra which was absolutely amazing. Teaching the Pisticcese to swear in english was only one of the many things that happened along with the music. It was great all round entertainment  with a Serbian flavour. You can find  short extracts from other concerts on youtube but you just had to be there in an open air arena with 4000 people all shouting "Fuck you MTV " jumping up and down, laughing, dancing and singing.. Indescribable!!
After that, a hard act to follow, there has been three days of Feste. That includes, processions, brass bands , horses, fireworks, bells, market stalls, thousands of people and at least three different entertainments on every night, from traditional plays, dancing and singing, rock singers, sixties group, accordion group and finally a burlesque performance. (Very funny)
I will have missed out lots but it was almost impossible to go to everything - though i did try! Tonight I am going to another traditional event, tomorrow night there is an italian film night , organised by the film festival and on tuesday night , I think , a classical evening. whew!!

I am the one with the camera and the strange expression.

The feste is best described in photos, though they don't do justice to the incredible noise of people talking and shouting, competing outdoor concerts  and finally fireworks.

...and then another horse floated by.....

Life is a little surreal here and never more so than at a feste. The noise , the crowds- its overwhelming and fantastic.
When we arrived , we were early .Stalls lined the roads and we pottered about looking at stuff and dodging the traffic which was still using the road. What amazing shoes I could have bought - if I had smaller feet. All colours, and with loads of decoration. Was particularly taken with a multicoloured strappy pair with roses all up the front.
I could have bought lots of jewelry for a euro, but there was so much it was too difficult to choose.
As it got darker, the traffic was stopped, the decorative lights came on and the crowds started to thicken. The noise gradually increased as the food trailers, all turned on their music, the fairground started up with even louder music and people shouted to and greeted friends.
We sat in the "William Wallace" courtyard. (Nothing remtely scottish about it except the name). I managed to get a glass of wine. Despite being in Italy is not always possible to just have a glass of wine , without having a meal. But a nice young man opened a bottle specially for us , so we were able to sit and watch what was going on.
It was deafening. The fairground was on the other side of the road and there was a man with stripey trousers doing a little dance to attract customers.There was a large swinging ship at the back which I very much wanted to see, but definitely not to go on. By now the street was packed with people. Between us we knew quite a few of them.
Everyone looked like they were on holiday, but most of them live here. I think its because of all the brightly coloured clothes.
Its hard to describe being there unless maybe I say it was like sensory overload.  The crowds of brightly coloured people, the feste street lighting, the flashing coloured lights from the fairground, the amazing variety of music all playing together, people shouting and screaming on the fairground rides , the smell of pork and sausages, and nuts  and then horses floating by.............

To end the evening we went to hear the band play. They were loud enough, and far enough away to drown out all the other noise. The evening for us ended as we listened to a wonderful Italian operatic song . And then another horse floated by........

July 7th in Pisticci

These last few weeks since I returned from Scotland have been hot. Average temperatures in the mid thirties. So I need to get up early to have breakfast outside as by 9am it's too hot. I find that it doesn't matter what I plan ;I rarely start painting before 11am so in going with the flow mode I have been going out with my camera for a coffee, a wander round the piazza and to just generally breathe in the atmosphere.
I haven't been walking into town as its too hot, but I have loved getting on my scooter and whizzing or dawdling or dottering around .Its the only way to get a breeze.
Every morning I pass the most beautiful large clump of oleanders, growing in front of the retaining wall beneath the half houses. Its breathtaking, with the blue sky, which can sometimes even be seen through the empty windows, above, and masses of red, pink and white oleanders clustered at the bottom and virtually spilling on to the road. This morning I stopped and took some photos. They give an impression of what its like but, you need to be there.
I went by the garage, where the friendly man usually speaks in english and I answer in Italian.( He says "full" and I say"pieno" and we're both very pleased with ourselves and grin.)
I decided to take the long way round as my parking spot has been blocked off ,and because of the one way system - and being a cowardly parker. I  head for the scooter spaces. Not that its a hardship, just longer with a breeze and more things to see. Yesterday I met a scooter coming towards me with something the size of a small door carried on it. It was carefully balanced at the guys feet and stuck out about a metre on each side. It's quite difficult to concentrate on driving when you see such things. I have to remind myself not to dream too much as meeting cars coming towards you on the wrong side of the road is quite common, along with wonky parking, stopping suddenly to talk to ones friends and variations on all these.
So I parked carefully in a scooter place in front of 2 cars also parked  there!
I went to the nearest cafe and ordered a cafe cream- its like mousse- gorgeous. It's served in a little cup with a saucer and you eat it with a teaspoon. I also had another reason for going to that particular cafe as one  of the guys who works there had asked to be part of my 50 people of Pisticci project. (I am having a great time getting subjects for it, completely randomly, just whoever I happen to meet, or like the look of. The subjects are so not planned) Or in this case - a volunteer. He was there, so I took his photo and strolled off to do some errands and also with this post in mind to take some photos. It was still only around 9am and when shops are closing at 10pm or later the previous evening , then that is early.
As I passed the florist, I decided that it might be possible to cram another 5 little plants into my pots outside the studio. It was lovely and cool inside and the owner was busy making a bouquet for a man with red roses and white "frothy" things and then finishing it off with a large complicated red net bow.  I commented that she was an artist with flowers and she said she had seen my painting of the  three old men. We got talking a bit as I chose my plants and then she became another of the 50 people and I left well pleased.
Getting back I started work and finished a portrait I  was doing for someone who had seen  the three old men painting and wanted one of herself. She is really pretty and I hope I have done a good job. I spent the rest of the day inside, chatting to family on skype and quite a lot of time on the internet checking out videos on portrait painting. I have picked up some good tips that way and am looking forward to using some new ones in my next portrait..
After a short siesta, ten minutes, as I am not very good at sleeping during the day it was 5pm and time to cram in the plants. There is nothing planned colourwise in my pots, everything is just pushed in and crowded together. I think they look wonderful, but I may be prejudiced. Also I am so impressed that they are alive- I dont have a good gardening history.
It was soon time to go feed the cats at the country house  and then to a barbecue at a friends'.
I had a lovely time at the friends house and was honoured to be at their very first barbecue in Italy.  Sitting outside drinking red wine , chatting , looking round the garden and enjoying the view and the good food. It was perfect.
I had to drive back to Pisticci in the dark about 10pm and you might think the roads would be quiet then but no, there was more traffic than in the mornings. I have to admit that the lights on my scooter are wonderful, compared to those on the old ones. Even the dashboard lights up. I felt so smart!
When I got back to the studio I decided as there was a feste on in the lower part of town -and I was in town - it would silly not to go, so I picked up my camera , got back on my scooter (Am getting so lazy) and headed off.

I used to be a bit shy of going to events like this on my own , but now I take my camera and enjoy it. There were hundreds of people of all ages, stalls, lights, a fairground, a band singing and the noise was tremendous as everyone shouted to everyone else over the sound of the music from all over.There were the people who lived in the street sitting outside their doors watching as everyone in their summer clothes strolled back and forwards. It was difficult to move, there were so many people.
I bought a little handbag as a souvenir and then left.
On the way back to my scooter as the noise receded I took a last photo of the evening of a peaceful street corner.
It was still only 11.30pm. I felt like it had been a long day.

Another Summer in Pisticci

I got back from Scotland after a lovely time with my family. In true Scottish fashion no one let the weather stop them doing stuff. (It rained - and it was cold!)
So I arrived back in Italy and for the last 2 weeks the temperature has been at least 35c most days and has gone up to over 40c. What a contrast, though to be fair, Scotland's weather wasn't normal and neither is this heat in June.
Sometimes I have plans  for the summer and I am working towards markets or even an exhibition, but this year I don't know what I will do. I have one painting in an exhibition in Ginosa in July with artisti di bellezza. I am working on 2 painted portraits, with another one  to come and I have done 9 pencil drawings of people from Pisticci (only 41 to go), so I have plenty to do but no specific outlets.
The markets so far this summer have not been worth doing and apparently there was one in Pisticci recently but I didn't know about it.
So maybe I will just  go into town a lot, hang out and see what happens. I have lost count of the times when I have been working non stop, taking no time off, selling nothing and I have a day off and get a commission.
I am planning another ten days staying in my studio. That should be fun. I have always wanted to stay here in the summer when in the evenings people take their chairs out into the streets and chat and watch people going by. Then the houses fill up with people from the north of Italy . People eat outside in groups. Almost everyone is related to someone from here and so there is lots of meeting up and greeting old friends.
Maybe I will go out for walks in the evening and drop in on the people I got to know in January and have hardly seen since.
I hope I am not getting old and tired, I prefer to think I am conserving my energy  for the important things in life, like family, going out for coffee and cakes, pizza, the beach. This year my plan was to concentrate on painting and drawing better. That is going ahead.
I am writing this on Sunday when Italy and England are playing football. Am planning to go out for Pizza and watch the football on TV just  like everyone else . (I don't really like football, but it might be fun.)
Perhaps I will go some new places on my new scooter. There is so much of this area that I haven't seen.
Maybe I will take a siesta  every day and stay up late and not miss all the concerts, events etc that all begin about 11pm.
In fact maybe I will just start now, yawn!!



fire at the end of my street. hillside burned.




frisbee and a little bit of posing




adventurous me! That's me up near the top.




summer in the piazza



Off to sunny Scotland??

It's a lovely sunny day and I am getting organised for going back to Scotland for 2 weeks. I always have mixed feelings about leaving here. (Perhaps I am turning into my dad , who never liked leaving home and always found a reason to go back to the farm mid week of the holiday and then we usually left on the Friday evening instead of staying till the Saturday morning. I think home was where he felt good , like a snail with its shell and I think I am the same.)
I will miss arriving  at my studio on my scooter, having waved to people on the way here. Then my flowers are looking really pretty just now and the poppies are out at the end of the street. I went for a coffee in my Saturday cafe and thought how different it  would be next week. (Then I asked the 2 girls working there if they would like to be part of my project: so that is another two to photograph.)
Maybe I am getting older  and I like my routine.
I will miss being stared at, because although it was a little disconcerting at first , I find back in Scotland I feel invisible. I like being greeted and greeting people on my way up town. I still get a thrill out of being called signora. And I like painting and drawing because it has become a big part of who I am.
Then there is the sun! Enough said!

But I should be back soon and I will likely have a great time with my family, despite the weather, so I should shut up and just post these photos of my street and Pisticci today.
(Just had phone call from daughter and my grandson has been telling his friends that I am coming to stay, aw shucks, now I want to go. Presumably Pisticci will still be here when I get back.)