A Sunny Day at the Market

A Sunny Day at the Market

After affronting the daunting challenge of painting a farmer’s market in Bradenton, Florida last month, I thought I might keep up the challenging nature of painting moving things outside and go paint at my local neighborhood farmer’s market.

 

 

Morning Market, Pigneto
9×12″
Oil on Panel

 

Painting on the street in Rome is really fun and it’s a social affair. While there were lots of people coming and going from this particular fruit and vegetable stand at any given moment, I only had the chance to catch these 2 in a quick exchange. I got to know the locals a bit, everyone wanted to see what I was painting and to talk. The most curious bunch were the older people from the neighborhood and they all love art and told me about the paintings they have hanging in their homes. An elderly gentleman, dressed in a fine suit, wondered if I might paint him in his fine threads, but he didn’t think he could stand posing for hours on end!

The kind husband and wife who run this daily vegetable stand checked-up on my progress every hour or so and at the end of the morning brought me the most gorgeous strawberries for my efforts, I was touched.The most exciting result for me personally from this morning’s painting was a woman who lives just behind where I was painting decided to commission me a painting of her garden and to use it on her website, as she is starting a new Bed and Breakfast in this lively part of town and wants to use the painting on her website.

I started the painting last week, but it has rained ever since, so it might take a little longer than we both had anticipated to bring to completion. I am honored and excited  to paint her garden, which is one of the few remaining original old gardens that originally dotted this neighborhood.

This part of Rome called Pigneto and became known back in the 1960’s when acclaimed Italian poet, writer, director and film maker Pier Paolo Pasolini used this peripheral more low-class neighborhood to make several films about the less glamourous side to Roman life. His most well-known film from here is Accatone and a joy to watch now knowing so well the narrow streets and cute houses with their rambling gardens. All of the actors in his film were from the neighborhood and not professional actors, which is just one of the many wonderful, and what would become controversial, aspects to this important Italian film makers legacy.

Pigneto is a wonderfully rich neighborhood and full of life. It is a little off the beaten path, as it is just outside the historical center. It has now become a place full of young people with a great night life. I highly recommend taking the chance to visit this place and to walk the streets to get a sense of what Roman life is like.