Pete Torola's Homeless Page

My watercolor class in Vardenis where Evelyn teaches in this college.

I had to explain what a birch tree is.  (One girl didn't want to get into the picture.)

Vardenis is pronounced vardenEECE.

The kids were really interested, along with a few women who stayed the whole while to see what was going on.   They wanted another class the next day, but we were leaving.  A very enthusiastic bunch.

A few people knew Evie's mom, sis and gram were coming to her town; by noon, Ev said the whole town knew.  Everyone was staring at us, looking us up and down boldly.  While we were standing on the sidewalk, a car pulled up, full of people.  They all moved to the curb side of the car to get a good look at us.  We found it really funny.

We visited  Evelyn's friends.  This man, Hayk,  is a tombstone artist, who actually etches the likeness of the person who died onto the tombstone.  He also carves with this tool into stone to make "cross stones", or another kind of tombstone.  He also makes small cross stones for people to buy and have them in their homes.  Here he is demonstrating his tool.  He was happy to meet another artist. 

 Here Margie is trying her hand at stone carving.

Here is a pattern for the cross stone, and the finished product.

 Here is a tombstone he completed.  It's almost lifesize.  He traces the face, and the rest is tooled by hand with the instrument he is holding below.  It is 4 metal points that are rubberbanded together, then  pounded onto the granite to make tiny dots. (pointilism)  If you want lighter shade o the nose, chin, lips, etc. you pound harder.  It's an amazing thing that this portrait is "pounded by hand"!

 Here I am trying my hand with pointilism.  Notice the cup of coffee and basket of candies Hayk's wife served us while we visited.

Joyce "enjoying" her coffee at Hayk's studio.

This is a smaller cross stone.  The large ones are anywhere from 3 to 5 feet at the cemetery.