Pasqualina

Pasqualina Verdi; R Williamson, sumie ink on rice paper, 10” x 8”; 1979

With the recent passing of my father, several old paintings found their way back to me. One was this little sketch that I did during a brief stint selling work in a low stall in Seattle’s Pike Place Market back in the spring of 1979. A bicycle accident had left me with a broken right shoulder and I ended up painting during that period with my left hand for a good 6 weeks. I bundled up a bunch of sumie paintings that I’d been doing at the fish ladder windows at the Ballard Locks, took the bus to downtown, and offered them for sale in the market. I was often lucky to set up next to a vegetable vendor who over the years had became a Pike Place Market icon - Pasqualina Verdi. An Italian immigrant babushka lady, born and raised outside of Naples, who helped popularize many types of Italian greens that back in the seventies were relative unknowns here. Things like sweet Italian basil, arugula, and Italian kales. This little painting was typical of the quick ink sketches that I did during the day as I watched the tourists stream by in front on me. It doesn’t particularly look like her but it takes me back to those early days. Little did I know at the time that I would be off to her homeland in 2 and a half years. Among other things, she taught me how important celery leaves were and to never discard them.