Laurelines

Italy sketches, October 2014, part 2

I call this post Italy sketches, part 2, because I didn't want to use the adjectives 'last' or 'final.'

 I am now so thoroughly in love with Italy that I'm superstitious about using such words. I will be back. Italy calls me.

Still, here we are... for now.  A few representative sketches from my last, my final days ON THIS TRIP.

How, again, to render the Dolomites in a small sketchbook? It's a tough one. Here's the best I could do... just the energy, lines, subtle colors, and basic textures. 

Here is the double spread from that day in the Dolomites. I have Photoshopped out the big wire rings from my sketchbook and joined the two pages as best I could.

Can you believe this...those jagged peaks were once coral reefs at the bottom of a sea! This was in the Miocene epoch, 20+ million years ago. I remember it as though it were yesterday.

Enlargement of righthand side of spread:

My friends and I spent one glorious night in a hotel above Cortina. At the bar we drank our favorite aperitifs and I caught a moment on paper of the mother of the family who runs the place. She was looking a bit tired after a long day of dealing with guests.

 

After our trip to the Dolomites, my friends and I returned to their lovely home overlooking the Val Liona. Sitting on their terrace, I sketched Penelope's peach tree, edged by a bed of lavender, with the valley and Eugenean hills as backdrops:

And then it was one last round of coffees together before they drove me to the train station in Vicenza:

 

I miss Penelope and Michael, and I miss Italy. I'll be back sooner rather than later, that I promise.

(Oops, here's a sketch I forgot to include yesterday, the icing on the cake, as it were!)

In which we backtrack, briefly, to Portland

Just a few days before I left for Italy, I went to Portland, OR to be with my daughter while she had surgery (totally successful and not major) and for the immediate recovery period. The day before, she and I went out to sketch together... she's a wonderful artist.

 

I had not had time to even look at these Portland sketches when I got back. But I have now added some color and scanned them, so here they are, in Cretacolor oil pencil, two kinds of brush pens, and Ecco pigment pen, with watercolor washes.

Tiny glimpses of Portland, Oregon, voilà!

Cecelia and I went to Oui Café to sketch and here are my two results. I always (after all these years still) surprise myself with how differently I respond, stylistically, depending on the drawing tool I am using. These two show that difference clearly.

En route to Portland, I took a moment to sketch two men opposite me in the American Airlines lounge. People in this situation are almost always oblivious to their surroundings, so the sketching is easy, if not astoundingly dramatic. My pencil drawings, (as here, using a Big Fat Black Pencil from Jerry's Artarama) tend to be more muscular than my pen ones. Multiple Personality Syndrome or just highly adaptive? Feel free to weigh in ;D.:

Jamison Square is near the hotel I stayed in. Cecelia and I first had affogatos at a nearby café and then we sat outside and drew.I was smitten with the bear and seal sculpture.

Next up, more sketches from Italy. I am thoroughly enjoying this brief, quiet interlude between work and travel. Stay tuned, my buddies!