Italy is probably my favorite travel destination for so may reasons. Over the years I have been there maybe a dozen times as a student, painter, teacher, and tourist. The country never disappoints. The tall, slender, crooding cypress trees punctuate the idyllic, rural landscape. The geometry of the tierra cotta rooftops in the mountain towns just beg me to paint them. The textures of the ancient stucco of Venice and Assisi lend themselves perfectly to my love of the palette knife.