A whirlwind week

I did find some time to take a few studio photos this week. This was my workstation on Monday:


And I took this photo yesterday. If you look closely you can see how the prints have progressed:


Elisa's workstation featuring her handmade felt tool holder:


Guiseppe's rolling out some color. Forza viola!:

Chestnut season

In autumn castagne (chestnuts) can be found roasted and sold on street corners and in the open markets.

We have a daily post-lunch tradition, where the professors and students go to a local bar to take a caffe together. Even if we all do different things for lunch we meet in the courtyard afterwards to walk to the bar together. The professors are kind enough to pay for our caffe and in fact two days ago the barista said that we're so pleasant and friendly everyday that he himself would pay for us that day.

That same day as we walked back to the scuola there was a woman on a bicycle in front of us who stopped suddenly. My professor saw a fresh castagna on the ground in the middle of the road and shouted to her "Le castagne?" and she replied "Si!". The basket of her bicycle had broken somehow and her freshly picked castagne were scattered about, so we picked them up for her. I picked up about six myself and they were beautiful. She was quite grateful and as she rode away with the castagne we continued our walk back to the studio.

Truffle season

I usually leave my romantic life out of the blog, but this is sweet. It's a short story.

I went on a date last night and my date had a bag with him and he asked me if I wanted to see what was inside. Of course I said yes and he pulled out a jar with a really nice black truffle (tartufo) in it, a good size. He said he bought it earlier in the day for 20 euro. I'm no expert but I'm guessing in the states it would go for 150 dollars. He opened the lid and it smelled heavenly.

He drove me home after dinner and said if I wanted to I could take some of the truffle with me. I said I like truffles very much but no thanks, as most of you know I'm not much of a whiz in the kitchen. So he said that this week he'll make a dinner with it for his mamma. As we ended the evening I was invited to dine with them this week on something truffle-infused and I must say I'm quite looking forward to it!

Seeing Red

In Roma, someone threw red dye in the fontana di Trevi. Then ran away. Which resulted a bit of a photo opportunity until they drained and refilled the fountain. You can read about it in English or Italian. Each article gives a different reason, but both articles state there's no permanent damage, which is the important thing.

It's Friday (finalmente!)

It's Friday (finally!) and I'm home for the night. Today I etched 4 states of the two aquaforte (line etching) copper plates and worked on the sugar-lift for the large zinc plate. On Monday I need to etch more aquatint into the large plate to make the darkest areas so they will print velvety black. I apologize for the lack of photos but in my everyday morning rush I keep forgetting to charge the camera battery.

My professor approached me with the opportunity to do another stage (internship) here in Firenze. I would be able to work on conserving works of art on paper in a studio that specializes in restoring fine art prints. On Monday I'll learn more about where and when, but I'm glad they chose me for this, as I think I could learn a lot. My professor said they need someone who's work is precisa, precisa. I'm not sure here if that's a compliment or not. I'll take it as an, er, observation.

After working in the studio I took the #12 bus home and was welcomed by a dog who hugs and a note on the kitchen table. The flatmates were out of town car shopping and they asked if I could walk the dog. With pleasure! So we donned the leash and went for a walk along Viale Volta towards Piazza alle Cure. I walked while Buska peed on all the cars, which is regular behaviour for him. He met two dogs along the way and stayed away from the biciclette (bicycles), which made my job easier. We came home, drank our respective water and made comfy on the divano (sofa). I made a peanut butter sandwich, which always piques his curiosity, demonstrated by a pricked ear and tilted head, and I explained that it is a 'panino americano'. He had a taste and I enjoyed watching him lick his mouth endlessly. A simple pleasure.

So the flatmates returned home and we discussed cars and the prices of assicurazione (insurance) and how it differs based on the driver's gender, age, power of the car and such.

I'm excited to have a weekend with no plans (and more importantly, no high fever). I could just sleep or I may head into il centro to see what kind of trouble I can get into there. Vediamo (Let's see)!