Florence Street Scene

I was inspired to do this Florence street scene, because Borromini Bear (who went museum sketching with me) told me about this blog where they are painting a different city each month from Google Maps Street View. It seemed like a good idea to draw something different instead of going through my photos again and again as I have done since I started Kate Johnston’s Watercolour Pencil Class.

This street is in the Oltrarno area of Florence. It goes from the Ponte Vecchio down past the Pitti Palace.  Last time I was there was in July and Florence  was packed solid with tourists. To get away from the hordes we crossed the river and went to the Pitti Palace and walked around the small streets where many artisans (printmakers, shoemakers, etc) have their studios. Far more interesting than standing in queues to see the David again.

In the past year I have discovered the books of  Magdalen Nabb . These are detective mysteries. The hero is Marshal Guarnaccia, a member of the carabinieri, whose ‘police station’ is in the Pitti Palace. The Marshal doesn’t seem the brightest, and he’s Sicilian, doesn’t fit in Florence, and looks at it with an outsider’s eye, which I find very interesting. So I took Google’s little yellow man for a walk around those streets, to get the atmosphere.  I looked first at Sdrucciolo de’ Pitti which has the most marvellous name and is mentioned often in the books. I realised that I walked all around there, but I chose another view, because I wanted somewhere that was more open. Of course I was so busy with the course that I missed the end of June for the Virtual Paintout blog, and now it’s Barcelona. That’ll be my next drawing.

Casper

This is my blue-point Himalayan cat, Casper. He’s drawn in watercolour pencils on Fabriano Cold Press paper. He looks grumpy, but he’s not – he’s just a nervous one. And he’s ccertainly got two eyes, but he’s got a beetling brow and doesn’t look up much, and one friend says she’s never seen either of his eyes.  He’s a very clingy soppy cat and loves me a lot.

Drawing at the Australian Museum

It is already two weeks since we had this great day drawing at the Australian Museum. The weather had been bad for weeks, rain upon rain. I wanted to meet up with two of my fellow students from Kate Johnston’s Watercolour Pencil Class. In view of the weather, our decision to draw at the museum was just fantastic. It was bucketing down!

I had been to the museum once previously, when I was at art school, so I knew to head for the Search and Explore room.  There, you can make yourself comfortable in a good light, in the warm and dry and draw.  We could each choose a stuffed bird or an animal on a plinth, bring it to where we were sitting, and draw.

The rain continued to thunder down outside, and I was feeling very smug about the decision to go to the musem.  Lunch in the museum was absolutely fine – quick to arrive and good to eat. Although we had met at 10am, we didn’t leave till 4.30 pm. Personally I can’t wait to go back there.

Australian Wildflowers and a book

In Kate’s watercolour class, we had to draw ‘fields of flowers.’ I searched some photo sites for Australian wildflowers and came up with this one. www.sxc.hu/photo/887153 I could work on this a lot longer (DARK=TIME) but I’ve cut my losses at the moment. I may go back to it. It’s on Fabriano Hot and I’m starting to decide that I like the Cold Press better. You can’t get too ‘precious’ and the rough texture allows you to lay more pigment down that this one will.

Last week I finally read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society . I must say I really enjoyed it. It’s a runaway best-seller, and I guess the story of the war in the Channel Islands is new to a lot of people. Not me. I lived in Jersey in the 1970’s. This is where I used to work. It wasn’t so fancy then, though it looked the same from the outside. In the shops at that time were several books about the Channel Islands during the war,(the only part of the British Isles to be occupied) and I read them all. The one I liked best was THE SILENT WAR.by Frank Falla, a local journalist.I wish I had a copy of this one and I just must buy one.

So a  lot of the things in the best-seller were familiar to me, like for example, the Red Cross ship VEGA, whose parcels stopped the islander from starving. The ship’s name is carved into the pavement in Jersey. And we celebrated Liberation Day. We toured the German Undeground Hospital. I used to go to Guernsey for the day on the mailboat, so I knew a lot of the places that were written about too. I was surprised to find that the author of the book was American. I didn’t pick that, at all. It seemed to me that it was very well researched. The only thing that was missed out was Winston Churchill’s speech, referred to every Liberation Day,  “our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today.” Perhaps, leaving that out, made it seem all the more authentic. Very much recommended!

Watercolour pencil lake with waterlilies

This drawing is from a photo I took at Sukothai, in Thailand. I was a bit stumped for what to draw for multiple flowers. I couldn’t think of anything relevant, but then I came across this photo. It was such a beautiful place – the photo was beautiful, and I’m pleased with the drawing.  You can see the photo here. Again, it could do with a few more darks but as I said before DARK=TIME in watercolour pencils, and we’re on a tight schedule here.

Sketchy flowers – conclusion re watercolour pencils

This drawing for  Kate Johnston’s Watercolour Pencil Class was meant to be a sketchy one. Still the flowers have about three layers, as I can’t ignore tonal values – just not capable of it. The background of the source photo was mostly very dark greens and blacks, but I just put sketchy stems & leaves in yellows and blues & washed over them.

Kate thinks it would be better with the dark background, and I agree, However I have come to a conclusion. In watercolour pencils DARKS=TIME and sometimes you just have to cut your losses.