Day 63: Magical Places
This place is why I love living and painting in Rome. Here the ancient Roman aqueducts line up one next to the other and run through the open fields like silent towering giants in the landscape.Yesterday I took a bet on the rain holding off and got lucky. When I got to the park the wind was whipping and the clouds were on the move. The shepherd was out with the sheep and they were weaving their way in and out of the aqueduct making their way along the field.
Clouds Over Frascati, Parco degli Acquedotti6×8″Oil on Panel© Kelly Medford, 2012This is a timeless scene, one that has been painted now for centuries. It has hardly changed and thankfully these aqueducts remain preserved inside the Appia Antica regional park. In the park there are remnants of 3 of Rome’s main aqueducts built over different periods of time. The longest of the 3 was 45 miles in length bringing water to the entire city from the mountains of modern day Abruzzo. An engineering feat such as this is mind boggling, especially if you think that it was built well over 2,000 years ago.For an American, standing in the shadows of these giants and attempting to fathom just how old they are, one can almost conjure up scenes of Romans with their carts heading out into the endless horizon here into the hills.Taking such a small canvas to this wide open space seemed daunting at first. It was easy to picture painting the largest canvas I could manage to drag out there on my bike and easel. Instead, the intimacy and immediacy of this small canvas allowed me to paint a fleeting moment and to capture the morning just as it was.You can see today’s painting or buy it here for $120 from my website.Thank you for your interest in the 120 Day Project!