Hooooooly crud. I'm tired. And I'm pretty sure my feet are bruised. Just had the best shower of my entire life I think. As well as the best pizza. Aye.

Plane was uneventful, watched Gane of Thrones with my brother.

We got off the plane at 9am Rome time with very little sleep. Then, we hit the ground running, stopping to drop our bags at a gorgeous hotel and grabbing a light lunch.

After that we went and saw the sights! Took the Metro to the Colosseum then walked up a hill then down a hill then up another hill, saw an amazing church, then up a hill then saw the Forum, then up a hill and some steps to see Michelangelo's Captioline Hill and the Romulus and Remus Statue. What a walk for the first day! At least I was able to get a little sketching in. :)

But that's not all. Then, we walked all the way to the Pantheon, which was breathtaking. Then on to Contarelli Chapel to see Caravaggio's Saint Matthew paintings. I have no words for this church or these paintings. They were just too amazing.

Last stop was Piazza Navona and the Fountian of the Four Rivers. I freaking love this fountain, got to see as I was eating a wonderful pizza with my brother, Denise, and Brain.

Well I'm beat. Going to do some sketching and thinking on what I saw today. Maybe will make another post tonight, maybe in the morning. Will have to see if I pass out first.

Amazing first day!

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
My favorite of all the exhibits was Lynette¹s with the The Encyclopedic
Palace. These paintings are very dark in value with muted, earth colors
and painterly texture. There is lots of harmony between pieces and
balance too. They are so dark that when when i first saw them on the
screen I assumed they were just black canvases. But then I was like, no
way someone got just a bunch of black canvases in this show... Only to
look close to see they were paintings of people! All in different, in
different poses and all dark skinned. How interesting. Some have little
splashes of bright color, like blue or gold, while most do not. Its the
quality of line here that makes the people so fleshed and real seeming,
even though the style is obviously painted. It got me thinking as to why
they were do dark. Maybe its a comment on dark skinned people in general.
Perhaps they¹re overlooked and not coming to the front of things.
Blending Into the background so to speak. But about what? Politics?
Workplaces? World Stage?