Judy Adamson's Art and Design blog: Guest Post by Chris Fothergill - On the Back of an...

Judy Adamson's Art and Design blog: Guest Post by Chris Fothergill - On the Back of an...: "I'm sure many of our readers will be able to identify with today's guest post by Chris Fothergill - I certainly can and frequently bemoan th..."

Sunday 23 May Return to Todi

Writing this back at Perugia Farmhouse in early evening, sitting on a chair in bright sunshine overlooking a magnificent hilltop view across Perugia and the hills. Awoke this morning to a clear blue sky, and a warmth that was to last the day. I decided to return to Todi for the morning, as it was en route back, and at nine I was at the Porta Romana. Walking up the steep cobbled via Roma, I felt like I was the only person in the city, save a few older souls making their way to Mass.


However as I emerged into the Palazzo del Popolo there was a flower festival setting up, so I sat to one side, and painted a small detailed study of the main door to the Duomo. After a coffee the place was busying up, and I couldn’t resist doing a sketch of the delightful scene before me, in the book, which will make a lovely painting, with its colour, and festivities. Being happy in my surroundings, I carried on and drew again from a different angle. The light was so good I took lots of photographs before exhausting myself and returning to the car. I decided to return to Perugia Farmhouse by the slowest and prettiest route, but stopped almost immediately outside Todi, on impulse to record another quick watercolour of the city from a distance which came off OK. And all this on a day I was going to take it easier!

It’s been an enjoyable finish to an inspiring week; and the drive back, dawdling up hill and down dale via Masciarno, Spina and Pila was a treat. It seems like an indulgence at this point of great uncertainty in my circumstances, to spend a week in Italy with an old book, retracing the footsteps of another artist A.Pisa and the writer Edward Hutton. But then it is important, at a crossroads in life, when all is not clear, to believe in one’s own ‘story’. You create it with your family life and your work, and if you stop have faith in it, then it can lead to disappointment and regrets in old age. Better to keep writing the story as you would wish it to be; and weather the overcast day until the sun shines once more.

Saturday 22 May Spoleto

With only one week’s sojurn in the Umbrian landscape I have been necessarily selective in the places to which I have been. EH went on to Cita della Pieve (for the sake of Perugio, his birthplace), Foligno, Montefalco, Fabriano, and even Urbino, which now I now longer in Umbria, but way to the east, deep in Le Marche. But it was the frescos of Luca Signorelli, and paintings by Piero della Francesca and other Umbrian artists that he sought. My agenda is different.

Thus, as EH said; “Spoleto is a beautiful city of rose colour set on a high hill”, I set off back across country to the east, through high, twisting roads to reach Spoleto by nine this morning. Remarkably, I found a free parking area immediately to the north, and lower edge of the city walls, and climbed up through the narrow streets seeking coffee and inspiration. Pausing halfway up to consult the town plan I had wickedly torn from my DK book, I found I had left my spectacles in the car. No choice but to turn back. My arms are no longer long enough to read or draw. The trouble with all these hilltop towns, is that you either have to walk up, or down. Twenty minutes later I was ready for my first cappuccino of the day.

Without preconceptions of Spoleto, I was not disappointed, The sun shone for the morning, with reservations, and I settled to the view in the sketch book looking down over the Duomo and city from the via della Rocca. This held great appeal for me, despite the fact that the tower was shrouded in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. Thankfully local postcards provide the missing detail.

Down and round the corner and the façade of the Duomo was striking in its setting. I sat and drew it on my cartridge block, but somehow I haven’t quite ‘got it’. The drawing is in some way weak. It is a difficult perspective, and the solidity of the scene is missing. As I stopped for lunch the sunshine, erratic now momentarily blessed the Piazza della Liberta, and I thought what a lovely painting it would make with it’s cafes and air of joi-de-vivre. My sketch in the sketch book was fun to do, and I continued to sit there and write postcards to neglected friends, to prolong the moment.

After this the afternoon was getting on, and the weariness from my week was catching up. It’s hard on the limbs treading the steep slopes of Umbria, and crouching for hours on a canvas stool! I continued to photograph what I could, then found my way back to the car and set off to the west. The drive from Spoleto to Acquasparta is rather magical in the evening sunlight. The roads however require much concentration, as they are mountainous and unexpected. I managed to stop once, where the road widened out, by a crumbling farmhouse which detained me for a small sketch in my book, of which I may make something in due course. And just before returning to the hotel another farm on a small hillside looked so ‘typico’ in the evening sun, that again I had to try and catch an impression in the book.

There is a ‘last day’ feel about today, even though I have another full day tomorrow before flying home on Monday. I shall be content if I take home no more that I already have.

Thursday 20 May Todi

Rise to bright sunshine! A wonderful surprise and I’m parked in Todi by 8.30am. Do the sketch on this page immediately as it was irresistible (if not in EH) the hill top church of S.Fortunato to the right, and below Santa Maria della Consolazione. I am immediately taken with Todi, and after a delicious pastry and coffee, take as many photos as possible again while the sun is bright. I need not have worried today. Settle down to work, and first tackle the Duomo ( in the sketchbook).

To my amazement the tower appears to have been completely rebuilt since 1905, although this is not mentioned in my DK (Dorling Kindersley ‘Umbria’) guidebook. In EH there was an additional six sided upper storey with some sort of castellations and a short spire. Now the tower is squared off at its natural top, and instead of twin arches, there are single arched openings, one above the other into the belltower. Otherwise the façade is unchanged. Lovely.

Turning around 180 from the same spot, one sees the Palazzo del Popolo (Palazzo Pubblico in EH). This is entirely unchanged, but most enjoyable to draw, so that was the next one in the sketchbook. I was in good spirits already, when from the middle of the square a young voice calls out “Hi Chris!”. I look around, and an Italian schoolboy is delighted to see me again. It was one of the schoolparty that annoyed me in Spello.

As I waved back, another, a girl calls out “Hey Chris!” and smiles. It was charming and I eat my words from yesterday in Spello. How unexpected to be cheerfully hailed by an acquaintance in the middle of an Umbrian Piazza.

The day was fine, and I was keen to keep my last appointment, with Santa Maria della Consolazione. Not illustrated in EH, but very much recommended by the author as one of the finest Renaissance churches around. I entered the church, which was empty save for a cleaner, and sat for some time. It was indeed a cleansing experience. A perfect domed cross inside, it is uncluttered and pure, and retains the intention of simplicity and wonder. I could not find an obvious view to draw the exterior, so postponed this, and returning to the car, drove off into the hills. I photographed some views of Todi, and other subjects but didn’t settle (apart from one small sketch across some farms and hills). Then I had a brainwave and bought some food and wine/beer from a supermercato, and returned to my ‘ghost’ hotel (still no-one else visible) and spent the late afternoon and evening finishing off drawings etc on my terrace overlooking the hills.

Today as I wandered around the ancient walls of Todi and wound my way up on foot through the wooded and steep ‘via Serpentine’ path from S.Maria della Consolazione, I heard a cuckoo, and pausing to gaze across the sweet, quiet hills, I thought I could feel the real Umbria getting through. It is as though on arrival Umbria threw its rain at me, its wind and clouds and darkness, but I persevered. I kept drawing, ruined two watercolours and soldiered on, drenched, through Assisi. Then, quite simply this morning, she threw open her arms and said;” Look, this is how I can be, a paradise to rival any Arcadia of the ancients; come to me with an open heart and I will feed your soul!”. Now I’m beginning to sound like EH!