I’m writing this from Italy, still settling into the rhythm of being here. We began our journey in Rome, and soon we’ll continue on to Sicily, where we’ll spend the next couple of months before returning home to Canada. Travel always shifts something in me, but this time the feeling is especially personal.
Being here brings my parents constantly to mind. Italy was a place they loved and returned to often, long before I ever experienced it myself. Walking these streets now, I feel as though I’m moving through overlapping timelines — my present moment brushing gently against their past.
Pages from an old family photo album. Many days spent and memories made sailing with my Mum and Dad from an early age.
My father first came here in 1960, representing Canada in the Rome Olympics as a sailor. It’s strange and moving to imagine him here as a young man, long before the life I know him for had unfolded. My parents shared a deep connection to art, though they arrived there differently. My mother was always an artist; creativity was simply part of her nature. My father began as an insurance broker and only turned to painting later in life, inspired by her example. Watching that transformation taught me that creativity can emerge at any stage, waiting quietly until we are ready to embrace it.
Travel has become one of the ways I reconnect not only with them, but with my own creative self. Away from routine, I notice more — light against stone, unexpected colors, small human moments. Painting begins here, in observation and feeling, long before a brush touches canvas.
I felt this most strongly during a trip to Australia in November 2024.
From the moment I arrived, I experienced an unexpected sense of belonging. Gradually, I realized that the connection I felt was tied to my mother, who had spent meaningful time there years before me. People often told me after she passed that she was still with me, but it was only then that I truly understood what that could mean.
Since that trip, I sometimes look at my own hand and recognize it differently.
This hand is half hers — shaped by the same lineage, carrying echoes of her gestures while guided by my own thoughts. She is not separate from me. She exists within how I see and how I create.
Being in Italy deepens that awareness again. Traveling to places my parents loved feels like entering into a quiet dialogue across time. I begin to understand what drew them here — the effortless presence of art in daily life, the way beauty appears without ceremony.
Walking the dogs on the streets in Italy.
In Rome, moments of inspiration arrive unexpectedly: warm light on ancient walls, colors softened by age, life unfolding slowly in public spaces. These experiences remind me why I became an artist — to respond to feeling rather than to explain it.
Soon we’ll leave for Sicily, and I’m curious about how living there for a while will shape what comes next. Extended time in a new place always changes how I see, and eventually, how I paint.
Exploring Rome with David.
I’ve come to realize that travel doesn’t take me away from my life. It brings me closer to its roots. By visiting places that mattered to my parents, I feel more connected to where I come from — and more aware that my creative path is not separate from theirs, but a continuation of it.
Somewhere between memory and discovery, the past feels present, and creativity feels like a shared language carried forward.
2 comments
Hello Claire and David ☺️
I can’t find the proper words to express how glad I am to be part of your audience and how I enjoy following you 👌🏻
Your background as an artist means that what you share with us is imbued with aesthetics… from your colourful artistic eye.
Enjoy this wonderful stay at this quiet villa.
You had me at “oranges and lemons fall freely from their trees…”. 🌹🥰
I can so understand where you are coming from. My love runs deep as I spent my first visit as a young child with my parents in Viareggio.
I try to come yearly to soak in the atmospher, food and the people. I am currently in Parma soaking up everything about this wonderful city. Enjoy your time, I’m jealous you being here for a few months! Enjoy .