Monica MC Runs Away from Vicious Dogs

This weekend was really a fascinating experience and I'm glad I got to do a little traveling. I tend to get stuck in a routine and not think about taking a traveling break every once in awhile, so the trip to Venice was a nice change of pace. And boy did I get to see some awesome costumes! I've always been fascinated with mask-making, and the elaborate costumes even gave me some ideas for the marionettes I am making for Theme Sequence.
Even though Venice was an amazing and beautiful place to spend the weekend, I really enjoyed exploring my theme (city versus country life) in Tessera, a more remote suburb of Venice where our hostel was. I actually spent the whole first night with friends exploring Tessera and taking pictures of the beautiful fields that surrounded us. And much to my delight, as soon as the gate to our hostel opened, we were greeted by a rustic front yard complete with chickens (funny how my theme seems to pop up in one way or another when I least expect it). I noticed that, although people in Venice were cordial, the people in Tessera actually went out of their way to help us. When we missed our bus stop, the bus driver helped us find our way to the hostel. When we were still lost, a man driving a truck on the nearby street actually pulled over and ran to a cafe for us to find directions. Staying in a hostel was a little more like staying with my grandmother; we were expected to get up at a certain time to eat breakfast, keep our room clean, etc. But in a way it felt a lot more like being involved in a loose family of travelers rather than just one guest in a colossal Best Western or other chain hotel. Though getting confronted by a vicious farm dog was maybe one of the downsides of being out of the city.
Under my picture section for this week I have some shots from my new Little Lamb book, along with a tattoo design of Donatello's St. John the Evangelist that I hope to be "tattooing" on one lucky victim soon (that project is for Sketchbook class). The marionettes I am constructing will go along with my Little Lamb story, and hopefully I'll have a puppet show up and running soon.
Until next Sunday!
Monica McClain