La Bella Roma: Romantic Piazza Navona

Welcome to La Bella Roma and the Piazza Navona

Perhaps my favourite place in Rome is the Piazza Navona. It is also home to three of my favourite Italian icons; Fountains, Churches and signage.

By day you can wander and absorb the majesty of the baroque architecture. By night the glow of the sculptured fountains, tourists and locals alike taking ‘la Passeggiata’ and the young & old delighting in a slice of authentic Italian pizza, surely followed by a sampling of gelato.

The piazza is adorned by three fountains, two by Giacomo della Porta, the ‘Fontana di Nettuno’ the ‘Fontana del Moro’, and the third, the ‘Fountain of the Four Rivers’ by Gianlorenzo Bernini.

I hope you enjoy my ‘Romantic’ interpretation of Piazza Navona and her glorious fountains and churches, and of course the famous signs that adorn her!

As you can see I am ‘Hooked on La Bella Roma and the Piazza Navona’. See other ‘Hooked On’ posts at Julia’s Hooked On Houses

Of course there are more Roma posts in the works.. so stay tuned!

IMAGES: All images by me [beingRuby]

FOOTNOTES: The 1st large image is a segment of the ‘Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi’ or ‘Fountain of the Four Rivers’ by ‘Gianlorenzo Bernini’. Legend has it that Bernini created the cowering figure here to depict his fear and revulsion of the baroque facade of the ‘church of Sant'Agnese’ created by his rival Francesco Borromini. Perhaps that is why I like it so much.. a bit of humour in the architecture!! More info available at Wikipedia [here]

INSPIRED BY ART: And Thoughts On Turning 100!

No I am not turning 100 years, but I have reached my 100th post. Yet this moment, although perhaps mundane in the big scheme of life, has made me think about how I would feel if I had reached the age of 100 years! What would my life be like? Who would I have become? Where would I have invested my energies and what could I look back on and feel proud of? Would I have achieved my life goals? Will I have led a happy and purposeful life?

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Well.. I just don’t know! Every year that passes, I am less sure of what my life goals are. I think though blogging has helped me to find new aspects of my nature or abilities that I did not know existed. It has helped me to recover some lost passions long forgotten. So perhaps it is becoming a little clearer what pursuits I enjoy, even if the actual ‘goals’ still escapes me. It is also clear that even with a goal in mind, our behaviour and habits will either assist, or hijack our dreams.

I strongly believe we are all born with certain traits, archetypes if you will. Some will be more obvious and active in our lives, others may lie dormant, waiting for fate, destiny or inspiration to come a knocking. Whichever, there will most likely be a dark & light side to accompany each of these attributes, and each will influence the direction our lives take. What makes it interesting though, is whether we allow the ‘dark’ side to be the dominant aspect, or work towards developing the ‘light’ side.

In this busy busy world we live in, it becomes easy to let habit dictate our behaviour. The problem with this is years can pass and we can find ourselves still in the same rut, still postponing our dreams, and still having the same kneejerk reactions to certain scenarios and not realising our dreams at all. Blogging at least allows you to practice developing some of these traits, exercising the atrophied muscles of our childhood passions, and fuelling the desire to put our dreams into action.

So to celebrate the big 100, here are some portraits that have caught my eye over the years. Funnily I am often drawn to images of single, strong women. Feng Shui will tell you, this is not desirable artwork to have in the home if being single is not your goal [the law of attraction]. I’ve long since stopped worrying about my single status, but what is it about these images I admire? Is it purely the artistic appreciation? Or something more that is speaking to me? Not having personal knowledge of the individual portrayed allows the imagination to find the character within the image.

I think each of the following images represents a certain archetype, or trait to me. Positive traits that I would like to grow and strengthen.

The Hermit: Independent, Self Sufficient, Content with one’s own company

The Adventurer: Brave and curious. Steps outside their comfort zone to find new worlds. Willing to explore the unknown

The Observer: Patient and unbiased.

The Traveller: Embraces new cultures. Inquisitive & open minded

The Mother: Compassionate, Considerate and Nurturing

The Scholar or Student: Seeker of the truth. Thirst for knowledge.

The Judge: Discerning , loyal and fair. Weighs up the options and acts with a measured response.

The Artist: Creative, Individual and unique. Actualizes ideas and concepts. Expressive.

The Inner Child: Retains ones youthful innocence and humility.

So to sum up, I think these Women [real and fictional] have many qualities I admire. All from varied backgrounds, with varied interests, but common in their desire to be their best and develop their interests. Reminds me of all my new blogging friends really.

As you can see I am somewhat ‘Hooked On Portraits’. I hope you have enjoyed this latest addition to my ‘Inspired by Art’ series. I know I am also inspired by all the wonderful blogs out there in cyber land, and their fabulous blogger owners. In fact I could also say, I am ‘Hooked on Blogging’.

See other ‘Hooked On’ posts at Julia’s Hooked On Houses

Have a great weekend everyone

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FOOTNOTES:

I’ll get back to more light hearted posts soon. This post took a more serious tone as it has been one heck of a week [year really]. Time poor and exhausted from work, I haven’t been visiting blogs, nor my friends, nor doing what is necessary to keep life moving forward. Sort of in survival mode and also had a colleague hospitalized through working too hard. A bit intense and makes you think what your real goals should be. So when I got home from work at 1am this morning!! this is the direction my mind wandered.

IMAGE SOURCES:

1. Elderly Lady [source: LIFE Archives] 2. Amelia Earhart [source unknown] 3. Mona Lisa [source: wikipedia] 4. Jinx by Ruth Orkin [source: Orkin Photo] 5. Sybil of Delphi – Sistine Chapel [source: scanned from poster I bought at the Vatican Museum] 6. ‘Blue Lady’ [source: found via Absolutely Beautiful Things Blogspot] 7. Birth of Venus [inset] [source: wikipedia] 8. Coco Chanel [source: LIFE Archives] 9. ‘Child’ portrait by Mira Hermoni-Levine [source: Jewish Women's Archive]

VINTAGE Venezia: Faded Beauty

Venice Week: The Final Chapter

Not many memories stay with you as fresh as the moment they occur. My first sighting of Venezia however, stays with me now! The anticipation was was filled with ideas of grandeur, thoughts of regal architecture steeped in byzantine history with a generous touch of fantasy. A land of bejewelled castles floating on a crystallized sea. Well that is what I had dreamt and hoped she would be and Venezia did not let me down.

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Bella Venezia, clothed in her full bloomed domes, sequins & diamantes glistening against her gracefully aged fabric, crowned with her turrets and spikes. The sea below attempting to reflect her ethereal beauty, broken by the feathery white foam of the vaporetto speeding to greet her. This is a moment when time stands still. The moment when hopes and expectation are surpassed. I am grateful this moment has remained in my memory. Exact details perhaps a little faded like these images I have created below.

Of course this elegant moment was then brought down a peg or two by my excited jumping and clapping like a child finding the Xmas tree laden with gifts. Now that was not a pretty moment, but my glee could not be contained and I didn’t care who could see it. Every wish I had for Venezia had been realized. La Vita e Bella!!

I hesitated to visit her second time. Fearful her glory would be faded and the memory tainted by some new reality. But like a loyal friend, she did not let me down a second time. A second time I was overwhelmed by her beauty and mystery, and thankful she would share these gifts. From the pinks of her sunrise, to the amber glow and dusty greys of her sundown.

So here she is presented in her various poses [the remaining segments of Tuesday’s photo!] Enjoy!

There you have it… I’m Hooked on Venezia! See other ‘Hooked On’ posts at Julia’s Hooked On Houses

Thanks for stopping by this week and joining me on my Venetian Adventure. Ethel and I are both thankful for all your kind comments and support during our Dust Storm.. It seems crazy even saying that phrase.. it is Sydney after all and not the outback, but this week the distinction was blurred. Although by no means a disaster it was a rather frustrating and exhausting week and, believe it or not we had another one this morning, not as severe, nor as red! Thankfully I continued my theme of ‘Procrastination’, so will only need to clean up once!

IMAGES: ALL photos and artwork by me [being Ruby]. This new ‘altered’ style was inspired by the gritty dirty dust storm and the colours of gelati!

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Links to Previous Posts in Venice Week: