Artist Amit Ambalal had always dreamt of a place that would inspire him to go all out. In May this year, the 60-year-old painter from Ahmedabad found just the spot. Ambalal, who prefers to call his paintings ‘impressions of the mind’, got invited to a 15th century castle in Umbria in central Italy. The artist says the 40-day trip courtesy the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship was one of the best experiences of his life. “We lived in the castle along with other fellowship awardees—a New-York Chinese artist and his wife, two music composers and their partners from New York and Holland, a poetess from Hollywood and a novelist from Canada.” The artist spent his days wandering through the majestic Civitella Ranieri castle and strolling across its lush lawns, with colourful poppies, he says, inspiring brightness not just to his paintings but to his moods as well. Ambalal got a further creative shot thanks to his visits to nearby towns and cities in Central Italy. “In Assisi, there were frescoes by Renaissance artist Giotto at the St Francis Church, a Roman amphitheatre in Gubbio, which was a town that looks like it is still living in the past. Plus we got to see some lovely paintings by Simone Martini and Lorenzetti in Siena.” The paintings that caught his eye were Madonna del Parto (the pregnant Madonna) in Monterchi and Piero della Francesca’s The Legend of the True Cross. Ambalal completed 30 paintings by the end of his fellowship along with sketches in his handmade-paper book that he never forgot to carry along for every walk within the castle and every trip beyond it. “There wasn’t any work pressure or compulsion to work upon a certain number of paintings,” says Ambalal. “Besides, no liabilities, obligations or disturbances ensured I did a lot more than I thought I would.”
