Posted: August 17

Quiet days of late August

(Rome) I went out searching for a celular phone store yesterday so I could register my cell phone. After the London bombings the Italian government is implementing stricter controls over cell phones here. Every shop I found was closed for the summer holiday period of the final two weeks of August. Of course, people have been going out of the city all month long, but these final two weeks are sacred, and the city has really emptied out, more than I expected. People in Rome talk about the "Feragosto" period when everything closes, but I did not realize just how thorough the exodus is. Tourists still roam the streets around the Vatican, but the city is quiet and has its own tranquil beauty. It helps that the weather has been exceptionally mild, with cool nights for sleeping.

I came back from Brugge with 10 very nice paintings. The trip was an experiment which turned out very well indeed. I feel like I have reached a new level after going out on location to paint day after day. In part it has taken a while to learn how to do 'Plein aire" painting in which the goal is to finish a painting in one session of a few hours. The first time I tried to do that in Colorado six years ago, I could not even finish the painting, which I have kept as a reminder and benchmark.

One of the questions I frequently get from people who have seen me working or have seen the finished pieces is, "So, is painting a hobby for you?" The question is hard to answer. I always say no because a hobby implies an extra interest that you play at for recreation. Painting is much too important to me to be a hobby in that sense. And it is a lot of work. Playing guitar is a hobby for me, and I do it when I can. Painting is part of photography and design, part of my being an artist who works in various mediums. My professional work now is more in web design, but I take painting seriously if not yet obsessively. Even though I don't depend on selling paintings to make my living, it is part of who I am, this very Jesuit combination of priest and artist in many ways. It might be hard to explain, but there is a richness in the combination of interests and activities that validates the decision I made 41 years ago to enter the Society of Jesus. On Monday I will give thanks for entering the novitiate at Florissant all those many years ago. There has been so much I have learned, and so much more yet to learn.