Creative in Cremona

I woke up this morning with joy in my soul knowing I would get to tag along with my hubby to Cremona, my favorite city, apart from Venice...which is like a dream come true floating on water but Cremona comes 2nd, floating on pigs and violins. Cremona still beats Florence. I went to Cremona today determined to be artistic. See, I borrowed two books from the library this week: one on Leonardo da Vinci and another on Galileo Galilei, then I bought some small paintings of Venice, so I felt that persuade me to take advantage of my 3 college art classes and draw something in Italy. It's not my first drawing though as I did make a rather sad and empty drawing of the immigration office in Brescia but depressed silhouettes of immigrants hardly qualifies as sweet romantic Italian inspired art.
Cremona is my place for relaxing inspiration. I love Cremona because it is strange: in the middle of the flat Po Valley

Surrounded by country and farms

And the city itself is like a gem full of violins, bikes, bacon and a little window of open-mindedness that I fail to find where I live in the Brescia region.

This basket is ideal for pets: I think Bentley would love riding in this!

 I packed my tote ready for whatever could inspire me: dressed with my sweet old soft blue sweater with a tiny hole in it that made me feel like a real artist, a small scarf at my neck like an artist, a drawing pad with loose leaf pages, my good Zebra pen, gum, crackers, and a Reese Peanut Butter cup. Snacks help fuel creativity and provide a good break when stuck.

It's sad and funny that my old beat up sweater made me feel more artistic.

Today was the market in Cremona that takes over the entire down town. My favorite part is in Piazza del Commune, the large square in front of the church, because it is where the florist and gardeners sell plants and bunches of flowers. I love watching people buy flowers, it makes them look beautiful. All the good spots to draw the church were at coffee shops so the only free place to sit for hours was next to the wall of the church facing out. Not the best spot but in retrospect there is no way I could have tackled drawing the church. I took my seat by the wall of the cathedral and started to sketch.


I drew, or attempted to draw, what I saw in the piazzas weekly Wednesday market. Here is what I saw:

A lady getting sun.

Beautiful flowers

So many flowers!

A discussion between two men

An animated conversation between the older men and the guys selling fake Gucci and Prada purses.

A lady with her flowers and another with her bike and bags.

The cheap clothing racks

It may not be identical but I am no Picasso and I drew for fun. Here you go:



Half way done...



Mostly done, as good as it's going to get.

I'm thinking that it could be very relaxing and entertaining for me to get out once a week with my pen and drawing pad to draw. I would have "authentic" drawings of Italy rather than questionable paintings of Venice. I wonder if they are real or not. In any case, I had a great time today and look forward to going back to lovely Cremona.