A BRUSH WITH TUSCANY

In Trying Times, Art and Life Intertwine

Still-life painting: a cryptic journal where memory is the key

A view of part of my study where I sit down and paint. Here are all my memories on canvas, shell, or wooden board.

And artists often create still-life paintings when they want to hold on to a memory. A piece of something like warm happiness for when fear and cold arrest you, or the memories threaten to fade.

Saturday, April 12 2025 at 4:45pm —Our Tuscan home in Pistoia

We live in torrid times, but like mint growing through concrete, that doesn’t stop us. The rain pitter-patters into the balcony, softly dancing through the smoke rising from my bukhoor as I run jasmine and sambrani dhoop — floral and resin incense, made from recipes passed down to us by our ancestors — through my hair. Interlocking through my hair the rich fragrance, reminiscent of calming eucalyptus with the musk of hard vanilla, wafts through the air, and I decide to sit down and paint.

A little shell painting of our cat, Gustavo “Gus” sat at the balcony door looking out at the rain. This sits next to a breakfast shell painting, which will come up later.