Hi everyone,
Leaving for northern Italy soon and, except for my hideous head cold, I'm in pretty good shape! Thought you might like to see my art gear selected for this trip. The *palette is considerably warmer and more diverse than the ones I took to Iceland and Norway in the winter! Note the gorgeous sketchbook pictured, covered in burnt sienna and gold and umber paper. That is a handmade journal given to me by my dear friend Cathy Johnson. I have had it for a while and have been waiting for just the right time to break it open. I think a trip to the Veneto qualifies as just the right time, don't you? I won't fill it all this trip, so I guess I'll just have to plan another Italian trip next year. Too bad ;D.
I'm taking two sets of colored markers/pens, something I've never done before. I want to have access to color without having to depend solely on watercolor washes for it. (There is often not enough time to paint on site when I'm traveling with others and I'm impatient, anyway.) I've got chisel tip Prismacolor markers, chosen because you can get such varying line weights with them, and colored Sakura brush pens, too. I have a cartridge pen filled with Noodler's Lexington Grey ink and my trusty Pentel Pocket brush pen. I have two nero Cretacolor oil pencils and one in sanguine. Also, a Stillman&Birn landscape Alpha sketchbook and portable watercolor brushes, etc.
*Here are my (completely quirky and not very rational) palette colors: Daniel Smith transparent Pyrrol orange, DS quin rose, DS graphite gray, DS new gamboge, DS transparent yellow oxide, DS quin gold, Holbein ochre, DS terre verte, DS ultra turquoise, DS manganese blue, DS cobalt blue, Winsor Newton cobalt turquoise light, DS lunar blue. I don't need all those yellows, but Wendy Shortland, an artist friend now traveling through Italy, suggested I bring the yellow oxide. It's different enough from my the Quin Gold and the ochre, so I added it. The palette weighs about as much as two feathers, so it's okay to have so much.
So, the Italy trip is to come. Here's an interview I did last week, based on some previous trips, for a fabulous new website called Wander Arti that combines two of my greatest loves: art and travel. The questions about travel and about artistic style are interesting, so have a look. And leave a comment, if you like. I'm sure Lizzie Davey, the site's founder, would love to have your feedback.
See you soon, on the other side of the ocean!
Have a wonderful trip!
Posted by: Lucy | April 29, 2014 at 04:07 PM
Can't wait to see what you put in the book! Have a wonderful trip, dear friend!
Posted by: Cathy Johnson (Kate) | April 28, 2014 at 05:18 PM
Thanks so much, Katherine. You and Chris Bonney both suggested this. Consider it done!
Posted by: Laura | April 27, 2014 at 05:32 PM
Lura, Have a wonderful time on your trip:) and your colors are wonderful can not wait to see drawings.
Be safe,
Linda
Posted by: Linda Colgan | April 27, 2014 at 03:24 PM
Have a great time - if you get the chance get up very early and go and sit on the edge of Piazza San Marco just before 7am - it's magical.......
Posted by: Katherine Tyrrell | April 27, 2014 at 11:58 AM