Doris Pontieri -“Paintings of Barga”

In what seems like a matter of moments, I will be boarding a plane to begin the long journey back to Toronto, Canada.  How do I write about the end of something that feels like it should in fact be the beginning?  My time here in Barga, although a mere two weeks, seems to have changed me and I don’t know if that is a good thing.  I have been content to live my life the way I always have, until now.  It’s kind of like that Todd Rundgren song “I saw the light”…sometimes you don’t know something until you are hit in the head with it

It is the middle of the night and I should be sleeping, but I don’t want to miss a minute of this place.  I can always sleep when I get home.  When I planned this trip, I had a full itinerary in mind including lots of day trips and travel to interesting places, but after just a couple of days here, I knew I wouldn’t leave to go anywhere.  I spent half a day in Lucca and couldn’t wait to get back here to Barga.

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I’ve travelled extensively in my life, but can honestly say that I have never been affected by anywhere I have visited as profoundly as I have here.  I have talked extensively about the beauty and charm of Barga Vecchia, the sites I have seen and the people I have met.  What is most difficult to put into words is the change that seems to happen for most visitors to this relatively unknown place.  It is slow in it’s’ approach and kind of sneaks up on you, but once it gets hold of you, there seems to be no turning back.

My paintings and sketches have been quick and loose, as I try to capture the light, shadow and feeling of my subjects.  I am anxious to continue the work and have already been contacted by a gallery I deal with regarding a “Paintings of Barga” show of this work.  I do hope I can transfer this feeling to the canvases that await brush and paint, as I don’t want them to be mere depictions of what I have seem, but rather that they are representational of what Barga has meant to me.n>

As I think about re-integrating into the rat-race I call my life, I wonder if I will be able to incorporate this new relaxed attitude into my days back home.  I hope it doesn’t fade, as in a beach holiday, where you get home and two days later you don’t even feel like you have been away at all.  I do however think that this is different.  I can’t imagine that what I have experienced and the elusive quality of life as it is here will disappear from my head.

So, it is with a rather heavy heart that I now say goodbye to my new friends and this lovely little oasis that I somehow stumbled into with no preconceived notion of what to expect.  One of my new friends, who I feel like I have known for twenty years, rather than 13 days, said that I was a little blue today.  That seems to be a huge understatement.  Oh well, oh Canada, here I come.

The last in a short series of articles from the Canadian artist Doris Pontieri chronicling her expectations and subsequent discoveries about Barga