Ah, the eternal city. To step in and see it up close and personal is to revel in 3000 years of history, still quite alive and kicking. I haven’t been to Rome in a while and I forget what a complete feast for the senses it is, including color.

There’s a quality of light here unlike any other. It bathes the landscape and architecture in a golden pink light that also produces the blackest shadows. I can’t get enough of making wide laps around the old city via bicycle, by which you drink in ancient monuments to art and intellect at a rapid pace.

Buildings are painted deepest ochre and the same sorbet pinks you find along the Riviera, yet it’s all so masculine somehow. There’s a passion and sensuality to the street life, and an embracing of age that you simply don’t see in the States. I find myself taking more photos of old walls then of statues or people. And when it comes to pattern, ornament and adornment, the Romans did it like no other culture.

I’ve come up with a “Roman Palette,” based on architecture, frescoes and, I suppose, the vibe: light and deep yellow ochre, red ochre, vermillion; golden yellow, a weird mauve you don’t see anywhere else; green black, blue black, ivory black.

I'll leave this as a pretty pictures post - enjoy!

- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter