Landon Library: watercolour, pen and ink

I've been walking through Wortley Village with my friend Cheryl Radford, sketching and taking photographs and looking for inspiration. Along with my friends, Len Hughes and Amelia Husnik, Cheryl and I will be having a show of Wortley based art in November of 2013. It may seem a long way off , but time has a way of flying past so quickly these days, that it seemed like a good idea to start looking for ideas.The piece above was done in the studio and is based on one of the photos I took. I drew the scene and then washed it with several layers of watercolour and finished it with pen and ink.

The second sketch was done on location, around 5:30, sitting on the steps at the front door of one of the churches in Wortley Village. It's a sketch of a house on Elmwood Ave. The view of the house was partially obstructed by trees, but I enjoyed sketching it anyway. This time I used watersoluble ink and water.

Sketching In Italy

I was fortunate to be able to travel to Italy with a group of artists lead by Daphne and Kevin Bice in a Novack's Avid Traveller tour called Artists in Italy. We flew to Rome and then travelled by bus to Cortona. Along the way we passed through some enchanting countryside and I took photos like mad from the bus window. Many of these will be the inspiration for paintings I am sure. In Cortona I did several sketches, some of which are posted below.We did a day trip to Florence, which was magnificent and again my photos will inspire some paintings! After a week in Cortona we went to Venice. I did a few sketches in Venice but had succumbed to a rather nasty cold which developed into bronchitis and found it difficult to work while coughing. Again I have several photos to inspire paintings.