Although I finished telling the visual story of the Feast of Saint Anthony in Pietrapertosa Italy, I made one more sketch of that charming town perched on a rocky Italian hillside. This final sketch is of the village from a few miles distant. I like a distant view as an ending because it symbolizes my status as an admiring viewer who no doubt misunderstood much of what she saw.
This story of the Festival of Saint Antonio in Pietrapertosa, Italy, ends with a young man climbing the newly erected tree up to where the two trees had been joined together, wrapping his legs around the trunk, hanging upside down, waving his arms and, I think, performing a blessing on the union of the two trees. The crowd clapped and cheered, and the climber came down.
The sketch above shows the big picture, and the sketch below shows a close-up of the climber.
The pride of the villagers and observers was always visible throughout the two days, and their worry for the climber showed too. Since good traditions build community, I want to end this three-part story with a sketch that shows pride, worry, and community.
Continuing the story of the Festival of Saint Antonio in Pietrapertosa Italy,
Saturday night, after the oxen dragged the colossal tree to the base of the church, groups of men worked to roll the tree up a slope near the church. Work stopped, and people celebrated late with fireworks, music, dance, drink, and food.
Sunday morning, we woke up to the sound of chainsaws and went to investigate. The tree, still on the slope, was being trimmed and bound together with a much smaller and very leafy tree.
Mid-morning Sunday, crowds began to gather, and for several hours they cheered on the villagers as they worked to pull the tree upright. The sketch at the top shows some of the hard work it took to erect the enormous tree. Teams of men were in the church tower, pulling on ropes. There were other teams on the ground, distributed so that they could pull and adjust as the tree went up. There were also many, many onlookers but I did not include many of them.
The next sketch shows two close-ups of men pulling from the four arches of the church bell tower. I did these on joining pages in my sketchbook and include them both because I like them both equally.
I loved how the end of the rope line had plenty of space for older men and little boys. This sketch is a close-up of a few of this group.
Finally the tree was up, and the crowd cheered. Then the street emptied, I think, for Sunday dinners and naps. This last sketch shows the tree standing alongside the church tower, with no soul in sight.
We came to a small Italian village, Pietrapertosa, for a few days and found the town celebrating the festival of Saint Antonio, an ancient ritual related to the renewal of life involving the symbolic marriage of two trees. Much of this event took place in the street below our third-floor rental, so we had a terrific view of an impressive parade with teams of oxen dragging an enormous tree trunk to the church.
I made two sketches the first evening from our balcony. This first shows one of the villagers with his oxen team. The second shows a portion of the parade below us as it progressed to the church.
Today we visited an Italian town, Cetara. The sun was bright, the sea inviting, there was a breeze, and it was a glorious summer day. While I sat in the shade sketching, three young women came along and exclaimed over the view. They were so enthusiastic it lifted my spirits even more, and I was glad to capture some of their feelings for this sketch.
We took a ferry to Amalfi from Salerno and climbed up one of its famous pathways until we were above the city. There were two shaded niches along the wall, one above the other, that were perfect perches for a rest and a sketch.
I liked how the walled path framed the beautiful coast and began my sketch, hoping to show this. After some time, I noticed the bend of my friend’s head as she drew below. Her body language showed a total focus on her sketch, and I wanted to include this in my sketch as well.
We spent the morning at Saint Matthew’s Cathedral in Salerno Italy, which was full of sights to see, people to draw, photos to take, and other tourists to chat with.
Deliberate Sketching 