Europe19: At the Six Week Mark

June 10, 2019 | 2 Comments

I’ve just completed the first six weeks of my big European trip and I’m not quite halfway through yet! I’ve had a fantastic time but it has been a very intensive period of work – teaching four Palladian Odyssey Tours (each one being 6 days in length). Most of the other days have been in some way prep/planning so I certainly don’t feel as if there has been any holiday/vacation time.

The Palladian Odyssey Tours have been incredible – two new groups in Veneto and two groups in Umbria (most were Veneto graduates).

There are no words to describe how much I love having an extended amount of time with these wonderful people – getting to them and their work. It’s an unbelievable honour to be part of their creative journey and to see significant development during our time together. And we have had so much fun together. (BTW My report from Veneto Tour 2 coming soon!)

In the past six weeks I have sketched a LOT – filling six A4 Moleskine watercolour books. Yes! six books, one per week. I’m really loving the new portrait format. It’s so much easier to handle and this means that I am more likely to open it up and sketch in the in-between times and at meals. I’m loving the new compositional challenges of the portrait format but also know that it is less efficient than the landscape books ie. I’m using up pages faster.

It’s been an amazing time and I still have 2 days to go in Italy (today I’m off to Venice for a day trip.) I’m really looking forward to heading to Scotland next, slowing my pace and most of all spending time with family and very good friends.

Do you have any questions about my travel sketching? Please fire away and I’ll try and share some answers in the coming weeks.


 

2 Comments

  • Astrid Kahane says:

    Hi Liz,

    I’d love to hear more about your experience with the Roman Szmal Aquarius watercolors. Have you used them more extensively while in Italy? What is your overall feeling about them? Any special color you enjoy more? Or any new mix? And which colors have you been using more while sketching mediterranean buildings and countrysides?

    Many thanks for your posts, I really enjoy reading about your trips and your sketching.

    • Liz Steel says:

      Hi Astrid. Will definitely be sharing more about them in the future. In the meantime check out a post a few weeks ago about my Umbrian stone mix. These are th Aquarius paints I have been using the most.

Leave a Reply