Manchester and Sepulveda, just off the 405. An iconic Los Angeles landmark. (watercolor, 5x7")

Playa del Rey, home of the shackburger, and until you've had one you don't begin to know what a burger can be!

Malibu Creek at Pacific Coast Highway.

Los Angeles, the 405 North from the Palms overpass. We Americans show our disdain for precipitously rising gas prices by taking to our cars. (This was a good subject for an artist, because it didn't move very much.)

Santa Monica, 3rd Street Promenade.

 

I'm back in LA now, thinking of la Pietra, our place high in the hills outside Cortona gazing down into the valley where Hannibal defeated the Romans in the battle of Trasimeno, 200 BC.

Locals and tourists gather in Cortona's Piazza Signorelli to enjoy the Tuscan sun, Chianti, and espresso.  Cortona, one of the 12 Etruscan capitals sits high atop a hill with breathtaking views of the Val di Chiana far below. From the piazza take any of the narrow cobbled streets that wind their way upward precipitously. You might find yourself at the Porta Montagnina in the ancient Etruscan wall, or gazing at the tiny Church of San Cristoforo.

My mother-in-law, Lilianna Romanelli, 89-years old. Rome, March 2011.

Somewhere above America at 35,000 feet, headed toward Rome on 3/14/11.

On my way by train from Rome to Arezzo, I made the acquaintance of a priest who was reading and underlining passages in a book entitled Come Lui Ha Amato l'Eros di Gesu (How He Loved the Sexuality of Jesus). When drawing people I like to ask their permission first, and suggest they continue what they're doing without being distracted by me. In this case I didn't need to ask. The very friendly cleric never noticed what I was doing.