At the time I lived near the Po, the longest river in Italy. Ever since I started plein-air painting, I had wanted to paint him. So I finally decided, I’d do it, and started driving. I was a little suprised how little infrastructure there is around it, I had thought that this river would be a bit of a tourist spot, a little like the Garda lake. Alas, I was wrong, I didn’t find a spot where I could park and paint for a good hour. After awhile I decided to look for something on google maps, that’s where I found a spot marked as a sightseeing panorama spot.
I thought I’d find a little panorama platform or something, so I was very suprised when I found somebody’s house there. As it turns out though, the owner was very kind and hospitable, I told him what I set out to do, and he in turn said I could work wherever I wanted to.
Looking for a sport took quite awhile, so much so that it was almost sunset when I arrived, so I knew i had to be quick, there was little to no room for error. I skipped the unterpainting, and went in directly with undiluted paint, the result is a pretty impasto, something I’d like to incorporate a little more in my current paintings. To get back to my story, towards the middle of the painting, the owner came up to check on me, he told me he and some friends would have a “pizzata”, basically a pizza party, later. He said I was more than welcome to stay, and celebrate with them.
At that moment, I was hit by a wave of emotion, something like that had never happened to me before. A complete stranger had just invited me to stay for dinner. It showed me how much kindness people are able to give, and inspired me to be more forthcoming and hospitable myself.
I spent the evening eating pizza and listening to their life stories, funnily enough, that day was the 19th of september, one day before my birthday. I basically celebrated into it.
It was a really nice day-and painting as well. To this day one of my favorite ones, I’ll always cherish.
middle of the painting
The dinner table
The final painting.
