My art souvenirs

Here is the final version of my art souvenirs from my trip - where I got them and why... a 'good' reason each time!? In fact if i was in an art store with one of my online friends I tried to buy something that they used / was particular to the location. Now I have to use them all! Click on all sizes if you want to read all the crazy details - some of the more utilitarian purchases I am a bit hazy about where I got them and am still waiting for a parcel of documents to arrive from the UK which might have some of my receipts in it.
Anyway- it was a fun but time consuming page to do!

More Venice Sketches

I have done an enormous dump to flickr tonight but I will space the posts here out a little...
So time for a short break from Rome for some venice Sketches. Was a whole week in Venice with Eza - the best imaginable sketching companion!

Our first sketch in Venice!! Wow! Pity I had a migraine coming on when I did this and couldn't do it justice.

S Giacomo Dell' Orio - amazingly the only time when it was really wet when I was sketching the whole trip was two in Venice. But still we sketched...

San Marco - sketched while standing in the queue waiting for it to open.

The interior of San Marco - I have to admit that I made it a little brigther than it was on the day- it was very grey and dark outside.

Palace on the Grand Canal - of course it is hard to find spots to sketch from - I think you need your own boat to sketch many of the masterpieces along the canal.

Special moment was a free concert - not the standard tourist type. I will write more about this later.

SG Maggiore - a Palladian masterpiece.

On our last evening we walked for over half an hour trying to find a good spot to sit and sketch a typical local bridge - it is really hard to find them. Taking nice photos is easy in comparison.

Just a FEW(?) more Rome sketches and stuff

I hope you realise that I am scanning only SOME of my Rome sketches at this stage... still lots of pages still to go. Trying to find some non-Baroque facade sketches....

Do I need to say anything about this (of course it is the Trevi Fountain)- except for the fact that there was hardly any tourists that blocked my view the whole time I sketched. Early morning is the key - plus have a plastic bag to sit on as they give the bench seat a real drench and they were very wet.


A great place to have dinner - I went back twice (few wifi was a bonus) great food and staff - who made friends with the bear!

Ok- big moment... I drew a portrait on demand- and the guy was pulling facesand making silly comments the whole time. He was hassling me all night to sketch him so I thought that If I didn't give it a go when I was so in the groove generally when would I ever do it.

Didn't achieve a likeness but it was a breakthrough that I even attempted this... was under a LOT of pressure - two or three other people looking over my shoulder as well!

Here are the bears friends from the place.

While on food - Sketch of where we had breakfast every morning. You know, a sketch with selective details can describe a place better than photos - photos have a tendency to show too much detail - while a sketch is a memory of the nice parts.


My great friend and traveling companion for 2 of my 3 weeks in Italy, Eza (her real name is Esther- Eza is a joke Australian nickname that I gave her) has just added some of her amazing sketches to her flickr photostream eza2008
www.flickr.com/photos/see_eza/
Please check it out!!! She was working large in the A4 size moleskines.

This photo at St Peters, Rome was taken when a group of French students were looking over her shoulder without saying anything to her but talking about her in French. I surprised the life out of them by swinging around to face them suddenly with my camera and saying “Smile”. I am very happy at how well this photo turned out since I was looking into the sun and it was taken in an instant.

Normal Life Sketching

Catching up on sketches lately...(in between my scanning)


Trying to get back to getting outside at lunchtime sketching and sitting in the streets - but in the meantime it is nice to come back to the rest park near my office

Big Trip Art Supplies Souvenirs - WIP
I think this sketch has taken more time than any other I have EVER done and still a long way to go – I have been working on this for 1.5 hours – still remembering/finding more stuff I bought!I will post the final version later.... But you can see that I collected (either bought items or gifts or Urban Sketchers freebies) lots of art supplies – and this is not including the sketchbooks!It is pretty scary to put it all together ...so much stuff...but I was away for 11 weeks!?!

I will have to get around to finishing this off (it is almost there) and posting.

Saturday - Went out today sketching with the Sydney Sketch Club - while I have been away a real core group has formed. I did this sketch before I meet up with anyone....

Sketching (and a lot of talking as well) at The Hyde Park Barracks - so want to go back and actually read all the plaques and sketch more....a wonderful summary of Convict Sydney


Monday:
When I first got home I wanted to continue my trip so I started another identical volume to blur the edges of the trip. But I want to keep the second half of the book (yes, I filled half the book in 2 weeks- just haven't been posting my pages here) for additional trip pages AND I just feel like a change!!!
So I have finally started the very special sketchbook I bought in Rome in 2007. I figure now is as good a time as any to use it.
Also, today I started my reduced Urban Sketchers accordian fold moleskine- I used a few pages at the symposium but just found it too hard to use at the time. I cut them out and stuck in my Volume 1 - now I am going to fill this with sketches from lunchtime. It is a struggle but I am determined to stick at it!


here is my first spread in my rome sketchbook. Bought from here
www.pantheon-roma.it
Such predictable subjects - I know, I know...

BTW 1 Not only is the sketchbook new- but paints are too- using my MaimeriBlu set from Venice and a different brush.
BTW2 You know I never got around to sketching the full tea set Royal Albert 100 years- 10 cups each from a different decade - I got the first half of the set(19502-902) Jan 2009 and drew them all as art of thing-a-day challenge but when I completed the set this Jan never sketched them properly.Looks like I am making a commitment to do them now!
BTW3 Ruskin is SOOOO great to quote! Especially about non gothic buildings
BTW4 I would have loved to have sketched this when in Venice but I think Eza was relieved that we ran out of time! It really is a crazy building - just for the record much I prefer Rome baroque!

More New York Sketches

I have gotten into the habit of not posting here at the time I upload to flickr and so have neglected - so here are some more sketches from my week in New York - I loved that city.. but there is way too much to see and sketch in only 6 days!


The Empire State building from Bryant Park - my first good view of it

Central Park - The Terrace. From my wonderful afternoon with Veronica Lawlor and Margaret Hurst (Urban sketchers correspondents)

Have to include my sketch from Tea and Sympathy - this was a VERY GOOD tearoom! And this is also the start of a craze with rose petal tea.

The wonderful Flatiron Building - done directly after my tea overdose!

Waiting for the Met to open!

Something different - from a great exhibition in the Met - American Woman. (Colour added from memory later)


View from Brooklyn

Early morning sketch of the famous Guggenheim museum - of course I went in there mainly to visit the building!

My last sketches in New York before I headed to the airport to fly to Scotland

More Rome sketches - and there are still HEAPS more to post

Getting a bit carried away with my 'favourites' from Rome - most of these are from the one day - I did 11 spreads- crazy. Did I mention that I love Rome?


S. Maria della Pace- this was an expensive coffee - the price for a comfortable position in Rome - trust me I didn't find many!

A Borromini building - ie. the famous architect not the famous bear. It was great in Rome - all the locals I met knew who the bear was named after!

This is a none architectural sketch - and funny that it is tea related!?! Just for the record this was a sensational tea shop. I didn't really like the earl grey with the orange and lime black tea and the rose petal black tea are amazing!!! Bought a tea cosy there as well- I never expected to buy a tea cosy in Rome!!!

Colosseum - do I have to tell you that? ... there is something about that place. I couldn't stop sketching when I was there and now I can't stop scanning my rome sketches!!!

Arch of Constantine - sitting on the ground. Thankfully there was a large bollard I could lean against and kinda hide. I don't care about people seeing me but a few times a number of tourists got annoyed that I was in the way of their photo!

trying to find something which isn't a baroque building... how about a baroque fountain - at the base of the Spanish steps

A Rome Sketch - S Celso e Giuliano

I am supposed by be scanning my first Volume but I am impatient to post some of my Rome sketches.
I can't express how much I LOVED sketching in Rome - despite the difficulties (such as this one)Pre Symposium I would never have attempted this, standing up in a narrow street in a doorway, watching my possessions(ie. all across my shoulders- a real 'bag lady') hurting my neck somewhat... but oh! having so much fun!!!

BTW this is a very nice Baroque facade that I had never heard of before!

Even more favourites- Venice and Bologna

This is just a bit of a dump - don't have time to post properly as I have to start my systematic scanning from the beginning!
Venice.....




We totally LOVED Bologna and did a LOT of sketches in our brief 1.5 days there... here are three sketches...

A few more favourites- from the UK

Eteaket Tearoom Edinburgh - A bit out of order - this one should have been included with the other Edinburgh sketch yesterday - my favourite tearoom from last years visit. The china is very special but found the selection of tea not so great this time.


Harris Hills - Stopped to fill up with petrol (gas) and then realised the wonderful view so pulled over and did this 5 minute quickie

Dun Carloway Broch- Lewis. A very impressive old building!

Hardwick Hall - more glass than wall. I think this is my greatest achievement of the trip (and longest sketch) as doing all those window panes (neatly) is so not what I normally like doing. I did get a bit bored by the end but enjoyed it far more than I expected.

Blenheim Palace. My favourite building in the UK? Spent 'all day' here and certainly didn't run out of things to draw!

Blenheim Detail - loved doing this 'exploratory' drawing.