sailing - photo

"sailing" 

......for the last few weeks we sailed from Italy to the Kronati Islands in Croatia and back

again ...i love being at sea ...i've always enjoyed sketching and taking lots of photos whilst we travel ... wanted to share a few photos here ....will add more

Thistles

"Thistles"

watercolour 2009

.....with the long 3 months school summer holidays of my daughters ...i haven't been sketching everyday as i love to do . .. i have had less time for blogging  ... just wanted to thank everyone for all your comments and encouragement to  date ...and wish you all a wonderful summer (for some winter !)

Ca'D'Oro - Gothic facade - sketch

"Ca'D'Oro"

 view from Grand canal 

a quick watercolour  sketch of a section of the incredibly beautiful  Gothic façade of Ca'D'Oro  in Venice

canto d'estate ...cicade song

 

"canto d'estate"..cicade song (cicale) 

the grapes are growing.....we're surrounded by the cicade singing dawn to dusk .... bird song and the sound of crickets by night ...a glipse of our summer.

passion flower

© JANE MINTER

"passion flower"

watercolour study summer 2009 ... painted from life ... no pencil  

sandals

"sandals"

watercolour summer 2009

cherry tomatoes - sketch

"cherry tomatoes"

watercolour sketch painted from life

a  small sketch of the first cherry tomatoes from our garden ... they are so sweet ...delicious

Time Lapses - Punta della Dogana and Tadao Ando

"MAPPING THE STUDIO" exhibition - PUNTA DELLA DOGANA - VENICE

Boy with Frog , CHARLES RAY

cast stainless steel and acrylic polyurethane

" MAPPING THE STUDIO - Artist from the Françios Pinault Collect "

exhibition - PUNTA della DOGNA - Contemporary Art Center

 

"Punta della Dogana"
sculpted by Bernardo Falconi

..... i've wanted to go to this since it opened last year to see the work of Tando Ando and the New Contemporary Art Gallery ...finally managed to see the exhibition last weekend ...

i've added a  video above of the restoration work which i liked......i hope you might it find interesting ............

you can see a couple of videos of the exhibition here    MAPPING THE STUDIO - Punta Della Dogana part 1  and MAPPING THE STUDIO - Punta Della Dogana part 2

Fish Market - Venice - study ii

"Fish Market" Venice

watercolour study ii of the Pescheria

The Pescheria - Fish Market - Venice

"Fish Market"  - Venice

initial watercolour study of the Pescheria 

Salt Warehouses - Skladišče soli Monfort Portorož - Oblane Gallerie Piran

   

 

last w-e we sailed  across the Gulf of Trieste  to Slovenia ....we walked from Portoroz to  Piran.... i wanted to share a few photos of the beautiful old salt warehouses Monfort  which stored salt produced in the salines ...  ( i hope in the near future to return to see the museum of salt making and the old salines saltpans which are now a nature park )....  one of the warehouses is currently used as gallery space by Oblane Gallerie Piran  

we were lucky to see an Exhibition of Tone Lapajne Zemilja v Nebu  Oblane Gallerie Piran /  Gallerie  Costerie  Pirano ... ...i was kindly given permission to take a few photos of the exhibition  and interior which i loved  and was completed unexpected.

 

......i'll post a few photos of Piran later .

reds - initial wash

"reds"

geraniums in a copper pot

this is a crop of an initial watercolour wash on a full sheet i painted last week... it's unfinished ... working at this scale is new for me ..i'm experimenting ...i like the freedom it gives ...i need alot of practice .

ADRIANA BUGGINO - Mostra di Fiori in Acquarello - Padenghe del Garda

"......... L'aqua porta a galla la nostra creatività , emozioni ed intuizione ."

"....The water brings/carries to the surface our creativity emotions and intuition. " 

Andriana Buggino

 At the weekend we visited an exhibition of watercolour flowers by Adrianna Buggino at Lake Garda . Her  transparent watercolours are  so very beautiful so loose and free ......  here is a link to her site ,

http://www.adriana-buggino.it/

wild yellow daisy

"wild yellow daisy"

crop of watercolour sketch painted from life

initial sketch mountains - Piccole Dolomite

"initial sketch"

Piccole Dolomiti IL GRUPPO DELLA CAREGA - IL FUMATE
Italian Pre- Alps

this is an intial sketch made from thumbnail sketches i made yesterday in the mountains ....as part of my course work i have to paint a mountain scene ...  IL FUMATE means "smokey"... the mountain tops are always covered in clouds  ..this is a start .. it's really stretching me ..i loved the two small openings above the submits

old green door

"green door"

old green door before restoration work

Castello Duino - Trieste

"sketch of Castello Duino"

 by my daughter Gloria

"sketching together" ... pages to treasure from a small colourful sketchbook of mine that my youngest daughter loved sketching in when we explored the coastline last week......here are a couple of links  Castello Duino and Castello di Duino



a couple of my very quick pen plein air sketches

"roman ruins"  Castello Duino

"water tower" further along the coast

wild thistle

"thistle"

there are so many beautiful wild flowers in the fields at the moment ..... this is a study i painted today of a single thistle with no pencil .

onions sketch

"onions "

inspired by a wonderful article in " the artist" magazine march 2010 Geometric forms  by Hilary Page on introduction to massing with an onion demonstration.....................

i painted this quickly whilst waiting for the water to boil for pasta .... you can see where i had to stop painting and cook !  

poppies

"a poppy"  

"poppies"

"poppy"

 studies  and an initial wash  painted  outside today

cherry sketches

cherry sketch

...a quick sketch i started  yesterday before all the cherries were eaten

.....a couple of  other sketches from last year

nightime scene initial experiment

....as part of my watercolour course work this is an initial experiment of  a nightime scene painted  from memory...alot more experimenting to do !  

  

elephant sketch

"elephant"

....this is a sketch i made a while ago but wanted to share it as  i like the effect of  pébéo colorex watercolour ink and watercolour together ..thanks debbie again for the wonderful reference .

five

" five"

susan liles tagged me on her blog to answer the 5 questions about ourselves ...so here's my rather short  edited version :)  

what were you doing five years ago?

living in Italy with my family ..we still are

full time mum of two beautiful girls .. they are 5 and 11 now :)

partner with my husband of an architectural and engineering company

where would you like to be five years from now ?

 painting !

what would you do if you were a billionare ?

.....let you know if it ever happens

my favorite snacks

"bruschette" 


things on my list to do today 

 enjoy my family , go to an art exhibition .

an artist and friend  i'd like to tag is  Kaye Parementer to answer the same questions  ..hope you find time Kaye

     

thanks susan for asking  ...hope you've had  a good w-e everyone

red rose sketch

"red rose"

wild roses

"wild roses"

this week the wild roses have started to appear..... this is a  watercolour study  i made at this time last year

FESTA della MAMMA

"FESTA della MAMMA"

hand made clay pendant made at nursery school by my youngest daughter 

ALLA MAMMA

Filastrocca delle parole

Si faccia avanti chi ne vuole

Di parole o la testa piena

Con dentro "la luna a la balena"

Ma le piu belle le ho nel cuore

Le sento battere:

MAMME - AMORE

happy mother's day

counting - abacus sketches

 quick initial sketches of my daughter's abacus

"learning to count"

woodland scene based on the demonstration - The Atmospheric Landscape - The Tao of Watercolour by Jeanne Carbonetti

As part of my watercolour and gouache course work my next project is to paint a spring woodland scene ....we have been  asked to look at the landscape paintings of COROT for inspiration

or to paint a painting expressing  a poem by SHAN-MAI which starts

The Green Spring
When Spring comes
I see the woods turning green...............


i've started making lots of  green colour swatches with watercolour and gouache and have made a few plein air woodland sketches this week ...it is a difficult challenge for me .

with the project in mind  i also decided to start  exploring a few demonstrations of a wonderful book called "The Tao of Watercolor" by  Jeanne Carbonetti , which  was recommended to me a few years ago.
i'm posting my first attempt based on Jeanne's  demonstration  of "The Atmospheric Landscape"

"woodland scene"

i'd like to thank Jeanne Carbonetti  for her kind permission to post my WIP  

here  is the link to Jeanne Carbonetti  

    

http://crowhillgallery.com/edencenter.htm

 As part of my watercolour and gouache course work my next project is to paint a spring woodland scene or to paint a painting expressing a poem by SHAN-MAI which starts