14 Days: Rome
Rome, June 2017
I drew the Colosseum as a gift for my son Charlie. I looked for a postcard to copy before considering taking the short ride a mile to draw it in person. A family from Florida talked to me and their young daughter had a fit because she wanted her dad to buy it but I wasn’t selling. The experience was awkward and exhilarating.
There were so many birds in the sky above my apartment in Trastevere every dawn and dusk. Big squawking swarms over the jumbled skyscape of rooftop patios and church tower silhouettes encrusted in satellite dishes and laundry lines. I followed the Colosseum drawing by going to my roof early and late to try and capture the crisscrossing avian waves like I had captured the Colosseum’s massive stillness. I drew everyday outside and thought how strange that this seems new to me. On the plane home I decided to try the same thing in Nashville, to be a tourist in my new hometown.
