The Italian paintbox

When I was in Rome earlier this year as part of this Pilgrimage year,  I remembered those tiny paint boxes that we used to get for Christmas when I was a kid. Each little square or tube of colour had an unfathomable name; Yellow Ochre, Warm Sienna, Burnt Umber, Terracotta, Vermillion. I had no idea what they were or how they should be used. Not for the green fields and purple hills of Ireland anyway....

Later when I studied art in college I began quite literally to get the picture. These were the paint colours of the Italian Masters because they were the authentic colours of their daily lives!

In Italy everything depends on this golden palette of colours. The washy watery tints that cover the buildings, the interiors, even the food seems to based on that little paintbox of warm hues. From the courgette flowers in the market to the majestic painted domes of the churches, colours are warm and deep.

As the Ireland begins to turn to away from the sun, I am travelling again to another majestic city, Stockholm in Sweden. I've enjoyed feeling at home in some beautiful places and if you are wondering what the colour palette in Stockholm might be, next week all will be revealed. Expect to be surprised!


For more of the Rome photos checkout the Gallery here

Finding portals

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.

~ Ayn Rand

Are you drawn to windows, portals, arches, and alleyways?  I am and wonder if it's the quality of light filtering through or if it's the promise of something?  Looking for how light is reflected, how the sun sets in the glass, what other images are captured there by the window lenses. It is an escape into a visual fantasy world. 

Along this Pilgrimage route and away from my usual surroundings there are new perspectives on photography to be discovered; looking up, out, in, down, around, between, beneath. Exploring all the possibilities and at a faster city pace. Immersed in Rome!

Photography has brought soulfulness acutely to the fore in my life and I want so much to believe Ayn Rand's words; the world you desire can be won......it exists.....it is real......it is possible......it is yours. 

It is right here everyday whenever I look through a lens......

Seeking the feminine #Pilgrimage ~ April

The city of Rome is a masculine environment. The might of the Basillicas of both Ancient Rome and Vatican Rome, the heroic figures in the sculptures of the Piazza Navonna and the Trevi Fountain. The strong backs of suited men drinking espressos at cafe counters in the early morning. Rome has a magnificent male energy which I'm sure is soaked up in litres by the beautiful sallow skinned male population of Italy.

So I went looking for the feminine.  

And I couldn't resist the beauty, the softness and the quietly subsumed presence of the feminine, always there under the surface. It's in the beauty of the young women riding bicycles through the narrow streets; in the clusters of religious women on their way in and out of churches; in the many images of the Madonna reverentially adorned with lighted candles and spring flowers and in the amazonian women represented in the mosaics of the Colosseum. 

Maybe the prominence of the masculine is all about looking back, while the influence of the feminine belongs to the world of the future? A world we are yet to fully imagine, where all that is now hidden is revealed. This is where women have often struggled; managing the balancing act between the artistry of our comfort zones of quiet knowledge, with the public world of engagement and power. 

Just before we left Rome, on our last legs from another meandering hike through the streets, we sat admiring four women holding up a beautiful fountain. Unlike many of the androgenous angels, they were female for sure!  And I couldn't take my eyes off them; their resilience, their quiet endurance, their unassailable beauty. 

Today as I look out at this Irish Spring, I know why we rest so easily in the reflections of water splashing in the puddles of April showers; why we will sit and meditate for hours on a drift of daffodils; why we are not always ready to take on the patriarchy at full tilt; how we are going about it all in a more knowing and quiet way.

And as the girl threw her coin in the Trevi Fountain and made a wish, I wondered if she knew all that too?




See more images from Rome here

Seeking light in Rome #Pilgrimage~ April

I skip the Pope's house this time. I am always cautious not to disrespect another's idea of beauty or religion, all I know is that I would never find light there. In the midst of droves of pilgrims making their way to the Basillica of St. Peter's I am as usual walking in the opposite direction, towards the pagan past.

I diverged from Catholicism when my father sent me to discuss my Easter Duty with the parish priest. Although they exerted great pressure I wouldn't come up with any interesting sins and refuted the idea of a 16 year old girl being forced to confess for some arbitrary feast day. I explained to the priest that people were basically good and anyway I had done nothing wrong...... 

Some how through steadfast argument I got away with it and never looked back. Instead I moved over to mystery as the only possible conclusion about life, death and who made the world. I fell in love with mother earth, constellations of stars, and the beauty of it all. I suppose I'm a kind of aesthetic/humanist if a label is ever needed.

That being said, I still harbour an appreciation of certain rituals and I especially love to indulge in candle lighting. These spaces where ordinary people are drawn to kneel are so full of hope in something magical and grander than ourselves. The congregation's collective adoration is soothing and healing. Throw in a bit of singing, some ethereal shafts of sunlight and I find myself connecting with something deep and unfathomable...... 

And as I say my own prayer wishing for strength and peace, my mantra for this pilgrimage is like a constant flickering flame ......seek light, embrace shade and live in glorious colour......



See the Pilgrimage Gallery here and the Rome Gallery here