Or maybe a big bit of excitement. Sheila and her college friends are in the habit of taking a holiday together and after sitting down to consider what I might do in her absence it seemed to me to make sense to get away myself. That decided it only remained to decide on where to go. A trawl around the web sites of the budget air lines informed me that I could fly to Venice for a modest fee. It just remained for me to find some reasonably priced accommodation and the trip became a real possibility. I remembered another painter recommending a place to stay and a quick phone call established availability and cost that rapidly became a booking. So I'm off to Venice for a week with bushes and paints.
Venice is obviously a mecca for painters and some would say overdone by the artistic community but for me it's a place that is impossible to tire of. My visits there in the past have just reinforced my urge to return. On previous visits, since starting to paint, I've had little time to devote to my art so a concerted week's work is a real bonus.
The next job is to select the kit to take with me, check my stocks and sort out any necessary purchases.
Having organised the trip I dug out my photographs from my last visit and got a sudden urge to do a quick watercolour sketch. The result is below.
San Giorgio Maggiore - Watercolour on Not paper 14" x 11"
8 comments:
You lucky devil Mick, enjoy your Venice vacation. Look forward to the paintings to follow. And Mick could you please make it easier to comment, test words are a real test!
Ray - Apologies, I didn't realise that infernal feature was operating on my blog. It must be a default setting. I've squashed it this morning.
You lucky thing wow! I hope you have a lovely holiday and look forward to seeing your paintings from the trip. Have you thought about a no camera holiday where you have to paint each day to journal it all? I have heard that can be a challenge. This is a lovely painting Mick.
Caroline - Your suggestion is basically what I'm intending. At least one canvas board per day and one large watercolour plus a watercolour sketch book for small memory pieces that I can annotate in terms of painting and other impressions. Having said that I will have a small compact camera with me as a further note taker. As I'm going alone I don't have anyone else to think about and can immerse myself in trying to create some images and try out some techniques. At the moment I'm poring over guide books and maps to try and plan the basic structure of my days. Hopefully I'll manage a bit of the familiar and mix it with some of the less known corners.
Venice eh! Get off the beaten track Mick. Much of interest away from the tourist bits.
Oh man!! That is awesome! Keep us up to date with an image or two? Safe travels friend.
Peter - Good advice as I know from previous visits. Once away from the best known sights Venice is quite a quiet place to wander with lots to interest the artist.
Dan - I'll certainly post a few efforts. I'm looking forward to having a week of nothing but painting in a magical place. Pity that the spending on this trip probably means I'll not get back to Maine in the near future. You'll just have to get over here with Raquele. There's always a room here for you.
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