Day 103: 24-Hour Flowers

Day 103: 24-Hour Flowers

In a country known for its midday closures, forcing us to slow down and relax, there is one thing that you can always get anytime in Rome: flowers!The Flower Stand, Piazza Vittorio6×8″Oil on Panel© Kelly Medford, 2012It seems odd, why 24-hour flower stands in a place where 7-11 or anything open 24-hours doesn’t exist? Your guess is as good as mine, and I’ve been asking this question ever since I moved here.Seriously, this phenomenon doesn’t even exist in other Italian cities as far as I know, just in Rome. In fact I really wanted to paint this at night, but as I was riding by and saw the diagonal light cutting through, I just had to stop and paint those light and shadows, I couldn’t pass it up.I really feel bad for the flower stands in the winter- out there freezing all night alongside their flowers. Do people really stop at 3 a.m. to buy a bouquet? I wonder.The only explination I’ve ever heard Italians give for the 24-hour flowers is that it’s too much trouble to put them all away and close up the stand at night, so they just stay open.Any ideas? I’d be curious to see what you can come up with. Maybe you know the answer? In the meantime I’ll see if I can’t get one of these at night (wihtout 1,000 cars parked in front of it), which would really be the time to paint this.Thanks for following the project- your comments are always appreciated!You can buy today’s painting here from my website for $120.