Erica on the Air

I don't have guests on the air with me much anymore, since Ric's departure from the show several months ago, so this was a nice change. I enjoyed the interchange between us as we meandered through Erica's trip to Italy. The show was very easy to put together since I first asked her to give me about thirty of her favorite photos, enhancing them with several of my own. What the viewer sees is a very typical first-time vacation in my cherished land, part of which I helped her plan.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Erica as she was the perfect person for whom to plan a trip to Italy, eagerly anticipating my suggestions, immediately doing whatever I asked her to do, implementing everything extremely well in a strange land, and then coming back from her excursion and providing me with tremendous feedback. I have planned dozens of trips for people over the years, and this was surely among the top five most enjoyable for me. Her promise of an appearance on the show was sufficient thank you enough to me, and yet she also gave me a beautiful gift of a book on my favorite artist, and topic of my next show, Domenico Ghirlandaio. I intend, of course, to immediately put the book to good use as I begin today to do my research. The added bit of enjoyment was having the pleasure of her husband Howie's company in the studio. He sat on one of the several chairs at the side of the studio, and I just loved his reactions to the show as it progressed.

The only regret I had was not having thought of providing her with suggestions on the Rome part of her trip. Thus, for example, she went into the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minvera and failed to take a look at the Michelangelo sculpture of the Risen Christ and the tomb of one of her favorite painters of the 15th century, Fra Angelico. She also went to the Vatican Area, but did not go inside St Peter's to see another of his masterpieces, my favorite, La Pieta, Michelangelo's first and most amazing major work. I would have also suggested the archeological site at Largo Argentina, and several other Roman monuments. Nonetheless, while in Rome she did get to see the Forum from the periphery as I would have suggested (rather than going down into the actual Forum where you just do not get the scope of the stunning majesty), spent time in the Borghese Gardens, went to the Vatican Museums and even spent time in the Raphael Rooms, and took a side trip with her cousin renting a car to Pompeii, not a short trip south of Rome.

While in Florence she touched base with Luca and especially Lidia, and of course, was given the royal treatment by Franco Sala in Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio. All things considered, Erica did a stupendous job of planning her first trip to Italy touching on some stunning places. All that is in order now would be a follow-up visit to Venice, the Dolomites, Lake Como, perhaps Cinque Terre, and a closer look at Central Italy, especially Tuscany. I did tell her that if she directed some of the inspiration she obviously experienced by the majesty of Italy into some paintings related to her vacation, I would be happy to give her another chance on a future show. Erica is a very talented artist, appearing in many shows (one with Laura Gurton), and if my followers would like to experience more of her art, please feel free to take a look at www.EricaHartArt.com.

And now for me, it is on to my next show on Ghirlandaio.