Sketching in Tuscany

We had a wonderful and inspirational week in Tuscany. Our trip started in Pisa, the air fresh and clear after overnight electric storms. The view from our hotel was spectacular. We sketched for an hour before journeying to Volterra for the workshop.

Leaning Tower, Pisa; pencil (Tina)

duomo, Pisa; watercolour, conte crayon and ink on altered book (Fiona)

In Volterra, we were greeted with a gentle and warm-hearted welcome by Klaudia, Wolfgang and Anton to the Villa Guadelupe, and over the next few days formed a firm bond with the group of diverse, talented and committed artists who had travelled from all parts of Italy, and from Spain, Germany and Russia, to take part in the workshop. The hospitality was fabulous. Simo and Caroline were supportive and energetic workshop leaders, taking us from sketching inside the villa, looking outwards to the gardens and hills beyond; then back to the ancient history of the area, sketching in the Etruscan museum and the Roman amphitheatre and the streets of Volterra; ending with a sketchcrawl to the final public exhibition of our collective work on the final day. Simo has written a summary of the workshop in english here  and in italian on her blog here.


We finished the trip off with a day in Florence. The warmth of the landscape and the people and all that we'd learned made us want to stay longer; a sign of a great week. Photos of the workshop and participants here

A few examples of our sketches:

Val di Cecina from Villa Guadelupe, Volterra; watercolour & conte crayon (Fiona)

Val di Cecina from Villa Guadelupe, Volterra; watercolour (Tina)

Olive groves and the Val di Cecina; indian ink (Fiona)

Volterra garden; watercolour (Tina)

Etruscan bronze statuettes; inktense pencil (Fiona)

Florence, from Santa Croce; ink & watercolour (Tina)

summer sketchbooks 2

Sue came back from St. Ives with sketchbooks filled with ink and watercolour studies. Her love for the town and surroundings began when she first went there on holiday as a teenager. Her sketches show great sensitivity of touch and deep affection for the landscape. All her sketchbook work is done from direct observation en plein air.

Here are some of her pen and ink drawings of boats in the harbour:

summer sketchbooks

Some extracts from summer sketchbooks, with more to follow over the next few weeks...

An ever-stretching wild river meadow of dandelions with fields of yellow oil-seed rape beyond, sweltering in the golden light of mid-summer, the river deep and fast behind me.
This was worked up from an in-situ sketch as preparatory work for a painting on canvas. I've started to work in a bigger format (A3 sketchbook) in an attempt to ease the transition from living in my sketchbook to stand-alone work.

Severn valley, Shropshire; 82cm x 30cm; inks, watercolour & enamels on gesso (Fiona)

This sunflower sketch was an experiment in using Ecoline watercolour inks. I bought a set a few years ago and have never really got to grips with them, mainly because I'm used to making a limited palette work hard, and tend to avoid brilliant colours.  However, the vibrancy of these inks really comes into its own using pen and wash. The subsequent Indian ink washes and cool conte crayon  work as a counter-balance.

sunflower; 30cm x 41cm; inks & conte crayon (Fiona)

bleached treetrunk, Himley Hall; 30cm x 41cm; inks, aquarelle & conte crayon (Fiona)

I sketched this old dead tree trunk in the teeth of a very brisk north wind, so worked quickly with a broad bamboo pen and various inks, flinging it all around in order to complete the entire sketch in about 15 minutes. That way I could get back quickly into the warm sunshine... but also a great way to free up a drawing and work expressively.