I have just had a wonderful three days in Venice doing lots sketching and walking around the city. This is my third visit and it is great just to wander the labyrinth and sketch whenever something catches my eye and there is a space to sit in the shade.

When I say lots of sketches, I mean it! Hmm, it’s currently 5pm, so I still have an evening to go crazy and do even more sketches.

Here is a summary of my adventures with Esther (I call her Eza) and today on my own.

 
Saturday:

Esther and I arrived mid morning and after filming a lesson for SketchingNow Buildings, headed straight for San Marco. It was very hot and humid and as I said on snapchat it was one of the toughest sketching days I have had. (Yes – comparable with Singapore and Cambodia!) An American lady I was chatting with today told me that her weather app said it felt like 103F. Yep, that is about right. The insane number of tourists and the constant up and down of bridges didn’t help either.

The highlight of the day for me was this sketch of the Salute. This is what I wrote on Instagram: As much as I love Palladio there is something super special for me when I sketch baroque buildings. Had SO much fun doing this one. At the end of a very long exhausting hot day.

Two other sketches that afternoon:

Sunday:

Like when I am home, Sunday is my day of rest and worship. Eza and I went for a walk to a quiet area to read, and as usual when we can’t find a similar church to attend, we watch the live streaming of a church in Wales that is very dear to my heart.

So no sketches – it is always great to have a pause when travelling and I really looking forward to getting to the UK – Scotland especially – where visiting great churches (and catching up with friends) will be one of the highlights of my trip.

Monday (today):

Eza left to go home but we sketched early morning before breakfast. Rain and then sun in our eyes made it fun.

Some of the other 8 sketches I have done (so far) today are:

Well it has been an incredible first 10 days of my big trip –  the Palladian Odyssey reconnaissance trip, meeting local sketchers in Milan, filming two demonstrations for SketchingNow buildings and re-visiting Venice with Eza (you can see the sketches that I did from that trip in 2010 in a Blurb book available for purchase).

It has been wonderful to be sketching alongside Mike Botton and Esther, who both work a lot slower than I do, so it has been fun to slow down and mix it up a bit. I especially love travel sketching with Eza as we are just such good friends and although our styles are completely different, we are very much inspired by each other. Eza’s commitment to accuracy does me a lot of good!

To have a day on my own has given me time to catch up with myself, find my own natural sketching pace, and then prepare mentally for the next adventure… teaching my Sketching Lucca workshop. Can’t wait for that!

And oh! by the way, I am having so much fun recording my adventures on Snapchat!

And here are all my pages from Venice!