Ceres Gathers Her Grains	Love At Three Fountains	Afternoon of The Faun	Strolling Through The Gardens	Guardians Of The Sun And The Underworld
Strolling Through The Gardens	Sunrise On The Terrace	Fountain Of Vices I	Fountain Of Vices II	Evening Shadows
Fountain And Pond	Ostia Antica Shrine	Sottopassagio	Temples of Saturn And Concordia	Summer Tower

I have painted in 16 classical Renaissance gardens in Rome. As I spread oil paint on canvas, I wonder what drives me to go such distances to seek my unknown places. So, I write down my experiences from the easel.

I am driven toward landscape architectural wonders which have miraculously been restored and preserved and I am thankful to Italy for love of its history. Such a garden is Villa Sciarra, where statues are fauns, half-human, half-goat. They line the walkways which wind among the spreading trees and cypress and up toward the villa which turns a bright orange in the light of the setting sun.

Stately cypress line a path of gravel ascending up a slope. Behind and running with the cypress is a high wall dating from the Renaissance. Shadows cross the path, reflecting the shapes of the cypress. At the crest of the slope is a yellow stuccoes gate house. I liked the staccato pattern of the trees enough to set up my canvas on an easel.

Near the gravel path is the gardener’s tiny six-sided tool shed. Shadows fall in strange angles across the yellow ochre walls and steeply pitched dark brown

roof. As I move around the shed in search of an interesting composition. A faun nearest the tool shed carries a water jar on his head and is cloaked by a hood. Suddenly the relationship between the faun and the old tool shed created a dialog as if a caveman returns to his cave. Yet the hedges, trees, grass and distant villas give the meaning a strange juxtaposition.

The historic landscapes borrow stories from Greek and Roman mythology. Late one afternoon when the setting sun cast an eerie glow, I discovered lovely marble statues of gardeners, women draped with garlands and mythological creatures against a green hedge. And as a bonus for me were two topiary trees of pine cut in upward spirals placed in the middle of the garden. The late afternoon shadows partially darkened the topiaries and statues. I was totally happy sitting on my stool before a canvas on my easel doing a painting of statues, fountains, stairways, hedges and glorious spreading Pines of Rome and cypress, all arranged artfully around great architectural villas. Along the walkway, by eye or by foot, I can walk past one lovely place to the next, sketching as I go. As shadows and shafts of light move, so changes the whole visual feast.