We’ve been travelling through Europe for seven months now and have developed a sort of astronomically high standard when it comes to things to see and do. Mediaeval hill-top towns with charming, impossibly narrow cobbled streets that would have once had me salivating are now generally met with a lacklustre “it’s nice but we’ve seen better”. Ditto for churches and castles. We went to Assisi and didn’t step foot into a church. When we saw photos of the Siena Duomo, however, the newly found HDR photographers in us couldn’t wait to photograph it and it didn’t disappoint.

One of the first things we noticed about this gothic masterpiece was the cacophony of detail in the facade. We’ve both often wondered at the practicality of such lavish detail that is going to be viewed from a great distance. A sculpture that may have taken months to complete may never be focused on for itself but will just blend into the rest!

We wandered the town before entering the Duomo in order to avoid a school group that was just about to go in. I didn’t find the town itself particularly captivating – there was none of the grandeur of Rome, the beauty of Florence or the charm of tiny villages but the piazza was rather impressive in its vastness.

We spent hours in the Duomo being generally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of photogenic goodness and not wanting to miss a great shot. Truly, we would have had lacklustre photos if not for our new found HDR skills given the bright spots of light coming in through the windows and the lamps with the rest being in shadow. Tripods weren’t allowed even if we had one so my shoulder and both of us holding our breath was the next best thing.

I love that those dudes above look like they’re at a rock concert, fist-pumping the air.

Another thing that’s easy to overdose on during an extended jaunt through Europe is religious themed art, especially in Italy. One of the highlights of the Siena Duomo for me was the library which had massive illuminated vellum hymn books on display. To my delight they were filled with creatures and floral designs that could easily slot into a pop surrealism painting today. This guy put me strongly in mind of an X-Men cartoon:

Awesome afro.

By far my favourite little guys were these dolphin-like creatures that I could totally see in a Greg “Craola” Simkins painting – they’ve even got his trademark pearls!

I felt such a powerful sense of kindred-spiritness through this vast span of time with the whimsical soul who conjured up these bizarre creatures. It’s the first time that I felt I could really relate to a specific person from another time period and it made me reel a little bit at the… I don’t know, interconnectedness of it all, I suppose. You can’t get much more modern than pop surrealism in the art world. Like the Impressionists and the Salon, pop surrealism artists are still largely unaccepted by mainstream galleries: That’s how new it is. Yet, here’s some dude illuminating hymn books with these imaginary slightly creepy creatures almost 600 years ago that could be published in the funkadelic Hi-Fructose magazine today. This to me, was much more interesting than seeing an umpteenth Madonna and baby Jesus.

After spending some time pouring over the books Mike asked me if I’d looked up yet.

Thank goodness for zoom lenses and digital SLRs because it turned out there were more creepy creature goodies all the way up there getting lost in the “more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-ness”.

We probably could have stayed and spent another hour or two photographing the cathedral but we were racing daylight so we headed off at peak hour, as usual, for our home for the night – a sosta in the delightfully named town of Poggibonsi.

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Mike and I have taken our photography to the next level by learning about “HDR” – High Dynamic Range photography. I was inspired by the blog of Trey Ratcliff – Stuck in Customs – to finally take the leap but had been a bit in awe of what I’d seen around the interwebs for a long time as well. I originally learnt how to use Photoshop because I was very interested in blending my paintings with photography. In a similar vein, the particular style of HDR photography that I am interested in results in a “painterly” looking photograph. However, my main motivation for learning more about this technique was the realisation that we’re seeing some pretty amazing places and things and if we put a little bit of effort into learning more and improving our photography we could build a fairly impressive portfolio. I had a stabby fear when I thought about coming to the end of our travels and thinking “huh, we really could’ve taken better photos“. I would never be able to forgive myself for that. No regrets!

As they say, a picture says a thousand words so here’s a before and after HDR photograph to give you an idea:

Before

After

Chieti Good Friday Procession

There have been many highlights since being back in Italy. Often it seems like each day is better than the last. An absolutely unforgettable experience though was the Good Friday Procession in Chieti. It’s an ancient tradition and going by the strange garb and bewildering symbology I suspect it hasn’t changed much since ye olde times either – apart from the glow sticks, of course.


I believe each of those doodads attached to the cross symbolise one of the 14 stages of the cross.






I haven’t the faintest why they wear those hoods, but man were the little children creepy. What really set the atmosphere though was the hundred-strong marching orchestra – mainly violins – and all-male choir booming their hymn through the mediaeval streets.

Now for something a bit more cheerful. We stayed at an agriturismo place just outside of a town called “Penne” for a couple of weeks. They had this gorgeous lawn filled with tiny white flowers and strewn all over it were these brightly coloured miniature play-things for children. I spent one sunny spring day snapping away and probably getting some very strange looks from the owners as I got down on hands and knees to capture the perspective I wanted.







To wrap up, here are some miscellaneous pretties for you. An Umbrian field:

And a very sexy tree in the back yard of a lovely Italian couple who had us over for a thousandth course lunch, dinner, and breakfast!

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I’m very excited to be a part of Andrea Schroeder’s new online group “Creating Dreams Come True“. Turns out, our first assignment is to start a list of 100 things we want to do, be, or have! Her theory (in direct opposition to mine) is that to come up with 100, stretches you to dream bigger and really expands your ideas of what is possible. So, in the interest of being open to new ideas and having a bit of fun, I’m going with it. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

1. Go on a hot air balloon ride somewhere spectacularly beautiful
2. Successfully sell my collage papers on Etsy
3. Successfully sell my paintings and digitally altered photography on Red Bubble and Image Kind
4. Find my community and make true friendships with other creative, kindred spirits
5. Build a wardrobe full of flattering, quirky, beautiful clothes with lots of skirts, gorgeous footwear, and accessories
6. Have several side projects that earn an income from our travelling – photography, e-books, blog, etc
7. Learn bookbinding
8. Be an accomplished artist
9. Be an excellent conversationalist
10. Own an original Heather Haynes painting
11. Learn how to make pottery
12. Learn to sew
13. Create a children’s book
14. See the aurora borealis
15. Travel Canada in our motorhome
16. Travel New Zealand in our motorhome
17. Make friends in every country we travel to
18. Accept, forgive, and let go
19. Learn the story of my adoption
20. Go paragliding somewhere spectacularly beautiful
21. Practise yoga
22. Join a lively, fun, and friendly book club
23. Patronise contemporary and jazz dance productions
24. Patronise the theatre
25. Own a cozy, rustic cottage in the hills with a studio and an open fireplace
26. Continue to travel Europe in our motorhome
27. Hike the Alps
28. Patronise classical music concerts
29. Attend the Venice Carnival
30. Experience the midnight sun
31. Live in Ireland
32. Live in Paris
33. Live in London
34. For Mike and I to meet our target monthly income from our creative endeavours alone
35. Get to know my brother’s fiance and be a part of my niece’s life
36. Practise meditation
37. Travel Tasmania, Australia, in our motorhome
38. Feel strong and powerful in my body (I totally plagiarised that from Andrea but her wording was just so perfect!)

Wow, over a third of the way there and there’s still such a long way to go! I can see what Andrea means, I really am going to have to get a bit outrageous to make it to 100!

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Driving through Southern Italy and especially Sicily it seems every other hill top has a village or remnants of one perched precariously on its summit. Given that Sicily was conquered by anyone who was anyone throughout human history I’m guessing building delightful villages on the most inconveniently high precipices they could find was not an endeavour in aesthetics and picturesque vistas. I am very glad they went to the trouble though coz it’s just so cool.

Erice’s castles and churches were home to all sorts of shenanigans, including sacred prostitution, animals to be sacrificed allegedly strolling up to the altar, and the goings on of a mysterious cult who claimed descent from Venus’ famous Trojan son, Aeneas. Mike and I ascended the tower’s spiral staircase that was evidently made for vertically challenged people and took in some lovely views of the village and visited the main church, Chiesa Matrice.

While we were strolling past ceramics stores in the town I pondered the tragedy of travelling the world and seeing beautiful things but not being able to buy any of them because we live in a motorhome. I came to the happy realisation in Erice that I can and should be buying (small) local hand-crafted items for our future cottage in the hills. So, I bought a small circular hand painted ceramic tile that I just can’t wait to hang on our cottage wall and smile every time I look at it.

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hiking up mountains with spectacular views…

and blissfully stumbling through bogs to get to places like this…

So understand that when I say Zingaro National Park is spectacular know that my bar has been set pretty high. There are several walking trails and we took the coastal route so of course there were the obligatory pebble beaches and spectacular coastal views with the clearest of waters that we have come to expect of Italy’s coast.

Curiously there were charming, sometimes dilapidated buildings throughout the park. Some were being used to display local crafts or house exhibits on the local fauna and flora but others just looked abandoned. Thankfully most of the human-made additions to the park were very much in keeping with the natural environment and only added to its beauty.

We were surprised by the lushness of the vegetation and the diversity of plants. Up until our visit to Zingaro, our experience of Italian flora has been of arid, desert like landscapes of cacti and dry scrub or agricultural fields of olive trees or vineyards. Zingaro had the expected cacti and spiky plants but it also had a ground-cover of thick lush clover that you’d expect to see in Ireland, wild fennel everywhere, and is apparently home to over 25 species of orchards. Basically, there was a lot of green stuff.

In conclusion, it was pretty.

P.S. Most photo credits go to my very talented partner Mike.

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As I wrote, ideas that have been marinating for some time became more fully formed and I managed to get them down on paper, despite my limited illustration skills, which often frustrate my attempts to portray what’s in my head. A lot of the inspiration came from words that have repeatedly popped into my head throughout my Europe adventure with my man over these past 3 months, namely “Together we are Courageous” and “None but you and me Little Bit” (actually a Buffy quote). Of course I also draw a lot of inspiration from other people’s artwork (too numerous to mention – see the BlogRoll!) and funky graphic design. I wanted to share a few of the pages of my sketchbook in which I was having so much fun and getting my list on (you can click to enlarge the individual pages):

I had a great time flipping through “Taking Flight” by Kelly Rae Roberts to re-visit projects and techniques I’ve been meaning to sink my teeth into as well as torn out pages from Somerset Studio magazines (I know, torn out pages! How could I?! It was a tortuous decision but half a dozen copies of Somerset Studio probably wouldn’t have fit into my backpack for Europe).

Really the time devoted to my neglected creative yearnings was the highlight of the day but a very close runner up is that I discovered Bowie.

Yes, David Bowie. How do you discover David Bowie in a motorhome in a little Sicilian village, do you ask? If you enjoy laughing and New Zealander accents, check this out, then watch the whole episode. I actually had an outrageous crush on the androgynous legging-clad bloke from the Labyrinth when I was a wee thing in the 80’s so it seems things have come full circle. I thought it was madness that Sarah didn’t join him in his goblin kingdom! It took me a couple of decades to be able to confess that to anyone but you know what, I’m pretty impressed with my 4-year-old taste in men. The man is a legend. I love his outrageous lyrics. I can’t believe Wade Robson hasn’t choreographed a piece to “Alabama Song” for “So you Think you can Dance” yet. If he ever does, I might just wet myself. Listening to songs from “The Labyrinth” gave me so much reminiscing-joy and inspiration! I must conjure up a painting based on these lyrics from “Magic Dance” : “What kind of magik spell to use? Slime and snails or puppy dogs tails? Thunder and lightening, something frightening”. Love it.

If that wasn’t enough joy for one day I should probably mention where we are right now. Nettle (our motorhome), Mike and I are currently in Casa de Franchis, Sicily, Italy.

We’ve been travelling for 3 months throughout Europe at a fairly prompt pace. It’s been brilliant but we’ve both been yearning for the slow travel lifestyle we had in mind when we packed up/sold/gave away all our worldly belongings and trundled over to Europe. Up until 3 weeks ago we’ve had people to meet and places to be, which have all kept us on a deadline. Since then we’ve been hoping to find a place to settle down for a while and get stuck into our respective projects and generally just chillaxing. Finally, after 3 weeks of driving through depressing, run-down, litter-strewn villages in the South of Italy we have found our diamond in the rough. Casa de Franchis has turquoise waters, a beach that does not look like a rubbish dump and a cute little field of olive trees over-looking the bay to park Nettle in. She likes it here, I can tell.

Luckily Mike and I managed to pull ourselves away from our respective obsessions long enough to enjoy the beautiful day and go for a walk. Our stroll turned into a photography expedition for me as I’ve taken to carrying my little camera everywhere and my arty nerves were a-tingle. Is it just me or are these plants really cute? Can a plant be cute?

I love the elegance of these droopy lines:

I just thought this shot was kinda cool:

It feels so serendipitous that we’ve found a “home” just when I’m feeling my most inspired and motivated and ready to get stuck into it. I’ve often agonised over feeling a need to create but not quite knowing What I want to create. Of course that question isn’t going anywhere any time soon but at least I’ve got a few doodles to go on with.

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